Extract
Is the mainstreaming effect of cultivation an artifact of regression to the mean?
About twenty years ago the media effects model known as cultivation theory, originating from and advocated by George Gerbner and his associates of the Annenberg School for Communication, came under a series of attacks from Paul Hirsch (1980; 1981a; 1981b). It was not the first (see, for instance, Doob & Macdonald, 1979; Hughes, 1980; Newcomb, 1978; Wober, 1978), nor the last (see Rubin et al., 1988; Potter 1991), but it was definitely one of the most elaborate and serious attacks. Gerbner and his colleagues reacted sharply (e.g., Gerbner et al., 1981a; 1981 b; Morgan & Signorielli, 1991). It is probably the most quoted criticism of the cultivation hypothesis.
Gerbner and his colleagues went to great length to respond to Hirsch's remarks (Gerbner et al., 1981a; 1981 b; 1981 c), even though Hirsch (1981 b) claimed that this still left many of his criticisms unanswered. One remark in particular was never addressed by the Gerbner team, even though Hirsch repeated his accusation in an ensuing a...See the full content of this document
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