Compare methods

	Spiral of Silence Survey	Cultivation Analysis
Field	Communication	Communication
Family	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Year of origin	1974	1976
Originator	Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann	George Gerbner & Larry Gross
Type	Survey approach to opinion expression under perceived social pressure	Two-part method linking media message systems to audience worldviews
Seminal source	Noelle-Neumann, E. (1974). The spiral of silence: A theory of public opinion. Journal of Communication, 24(2), 43–51.	Gerbner, G., & Gross, L. (1976). Living with television: The violence profile. Journal of Communication, 26(2), 173–199.
Aliases	Spiral of silence measurement, Willingness to self-censor survey, Opinion climate survey, Suskunluk Sarmalı Anketi	Cultivation theory analysis, Cultivation research, Mean world / message-system analysis, Kültivasyon Analizi
Related	4	4
Summary	The spiral of silence survey operationalizes Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann's 1974 theory that people who perceive their opinion to be in the minority grow reluctant to express it for fear of social isolation, which makes the apparent majority seem ever stronger — a self-reinforcing spiral. The method measures individuals' own opinions, their perception of the opinion climate, their fear of isolation, and their willingness to speak out, then models how these combine.	Cultivation analysis is the research method underlying cultivation theory, which holds that long-term, cumulative exposure to television gradually shapes viewers' conceptions of social reality. Developed by George Gerbner and Larry Gross in the 1970s as part of the Cultural Indicators project, it combines a systematic content analysis of recurring media messages with survey comparisons of heavy versus light viewers to estimate how much television 'cultivates' a shared, often distorted, view of the world.