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Report from the Mercyhurst College Civic Institute

Inside the Report

Cultivation Hypothesis and
Psychological Milieu

The purpose of the

Mercyhurst Civic Institute
Enhance and facilitate citizen participation in
decision-making.
Provide high-quality, objective information to
assist local decision-making.
Convene community forums that encourage
reasoned reflection and free and open
discussion of regional issues.
Educate the Erie community and Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania about various issues through
Institute reports and publications.
Foster human networks that enhance
communication, link resources, strengthen
community participation and build social capital.
Promote research, learning, teaching and service
opportunities for the Mercyhurst community.

Vol.3 Issue 2

June 2011

Unreality TV: The Media and Crime Rates

By: Adam Saeler
Based on recent news headlines, it would be Crime Rates
easy to conclude that the United States is on In order to make any argument regarding the
the verge of becoming a country filled with illogical or unreasonable fear of crime, it is
a band of ruthless criminals that prey upon first important to note the documented crime
weak citizenry. The recent shooting of U.S. rates and trends of the United States. Data
Representative Gabrielle Giffords and others was accessed from the FBIs Uniform Crime
in Tucson, Arizona, the fraternity house Report in order to gain the most up-to-date
shooting at Youngstown State University, the accepted measure of crime rates. It should be
shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, the noted that 2009 is the most recent year that
events surrounding the murder of Caylee data is available due to data collection and
Anthony, as well as many other high profile distribution lag. During the early 1990s, crime
crimes support the fear of crime as a logical rates were considerably higher than current
response. However, is this fear of crime really levels. This is especially true for rates of violent
logical? Where does the fear of becoming a crime, which peaked during a three year span
victim, which seems to be ingrained among from 1991 to 1993. Since the peak rate of
the general population of the United States, 758.2 violent crimes per 100,000 population in
come from? Is it the actual crime rates? Or 1992, the violent crime rate has fallen by 43.4%
is it something completely independent, yet to the current level of 429.4 violent crimes
intertwined, with the accurate crime rates? per 100,000 population in 2009. Overall, the
Could the instant access to information many violent crime rate has decreased by 41.1%
citizens currently take advantage of be the during the 20 year time span examined (1990
reason for at least some fear of crime?
2009).

Table 1:
Violent crime
rates 1990 - 2009

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It is important to point out that property crime rates were also considerably higher during the early 1990s, peaked in 1991, and have decreased or
remained relatively stable ever since. Property crime rates have declined by 40.9% since peaking in 1991 and have decreased by 40.1% during the
20 year time span examined.

Table 2:
Property crime
rates 1990 - 2009

With the realization that crime rates have been on the decline for the past 20 years, does the publics perception match the data? Based on Gallups most recent annual crime report, the answer is no. Conducted in October of 2010, Gallup found that 66% of those surveyed thought crime
rates were higher than a year ago (Jones, 2010). Jeffery Jones of Gallup (2010) noted that the percentage of respondents that perceived an increase
in crime is below what was measured in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but is higher than levels from the late 1990s and early 2000s. Below is a
chart which graphically illustrates the gradual decrease in the perception of the amount of crime beginning in 1992 and ending in 2002. Since
2002, with the exception of a drop in 2005, the general publics perception regarding the levels of crime as compared to the previous year has
generally increased. The question should be then, what is driving this increase?

Table 3:
Perception of
Crime Levels
1989 - 2010

*The above data is from Jones 2010.

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Cultivation Hypothesis
The cultivation hypothesis was first proposed in the early 1970s by Dr. George Gerbner. The theorys premise is that people who are avid media
consumers begin to adopt worldviews similar to those presented in mass media content that they view (as cited in Grabe and Drew, 2007, p. 147).
Michael Morgan and James Shanahan (2010) concur by suggesting that those who spend more time watching television are more likely to perceive the real world in ways that reflect the most common messages of the world as portrayed on fictional television (p. 337). Since Dr. Gerbners
postulation, cultivation hypothesis has become one of the most widely researched theories in communication studies (Bryant and Miron, 2004).
But how does cultivation theory relate to the publics misconceptions of the increase in crime rates?
Upon further research review, Morgan and Shanahan (2010) came to the conclusion that Gerbner and others suggested that heavy television
viewing can cultivate exaggerated perceptions of victimization, mistrust, and danger, along with numerous embellished beliefs about crime and law
enforcement (p. 339). Additional analysis of cultivation hypothesis studies conducted by Goidel, Freeman, and Procopio (2006) found that refinements of the theory similarly noted that television viewing supported the hypothesis in that television does have some influence on perceptions of
social reality, especially in areas related to violence (p. 121). Goidel and others (2006) further point out that additional research has focused on
specific television content, with television news serving as the catalyst for increased fear of crime (p. 121). Is it possible that the instant access to
news (i.e. dedicated news stations broadcasting 24 hours a day) we currently enjoy is driving our perceptions of our society? It seems as though this
very well may be the case.
Gerbner, Gross, Morgan, Signorielli, and Shanahan (2002) suggest that television has become so ingrained that it has overtaken previously greater
influences such as religion or education. They go further to note that television is a source of an incredible amount of shared information, and that
even starting at infancy, television cultivates preferences once acquired from the other aforementioned sources. It is this repetition in viewership
that can create a perceived environment. Even early cultivation research conducted by Dr. Gerbner advocated against violence depicted on television. However, his suggestion is seemingly more fitting in todays world of instant information access via not only television, but also from access
by way of the internet. Gerbner (1970) suggested that
The mass production and rapid distribution of messages create new symbolic environments that reflect the structure and functions of the institutions that transmit them. These institutional processes of the mass-production of messages short-circuit other networks of social communication
and superimpose their own forms of collective consciousness-their own publics-upon other social relationships (p. 69).
Prior to his formulation of the cultivation hypothesis, Gerbner was advocating for the reduction of violence on television, and potentially other
media distribution methods, due to the perceived environments these kind of messages create. In other words, Gerbner realized early on that the
repetition of messages can, at times, create an environment, real or otherwise, in the message receivers consciousness. Such a warning should
especially be heeded in todays world of instant information access.
As the cultivation hypothesis gained momentum, researchers began investigating the implications of news media (as opposed to television in general) specifically as the medium for information dissemination and the subsequent implications on viewers perceptions of the outside world. As
Dorfman and Schiraldi (2006) noted, there are four major findings regarding news coverage and their implications to crime. They are:
(a) news coverage of crime is not connected to actual crime rates and focus largely on violent crime; (b) news coverage of crime is episodic, focusing on individual crimes and isolated events; (c) news coverage of crime connects race and crime, particularly violent crime and particularly on
television; and (d) youth are rarely in the news, and when they are it is usually in the context of violence (p. 119).
Dorman and Schiraldis work is primarily geared towards juvenile crime, and as Yanich (1999) found, almost one third of the crime stories focused
on juvenile crime, that most of these stories focused on violent crime (especially murder), and that nearly 80% were covered in the first block of
the newscast. As Romer, Jamieson, and Aday (2003) noted that although news sources presume to give factual stories about their media region,
they rely heavily on sensational coverage of crime with particular emphasis on homicide and violence (p. 89). Romer and others (2003) further
note that local news casts are particularly influential:
One news source that has the potential to cultivate stable expectations in the public is local television news. Not only has it become the most
widely used news source for Americans, but it also has unique conventions that make its content especially relevant for the publics views of crime
(p. 89)
Romer and others (2003) further note that this sensationalism could, in fact, increase the perceived reality of crime levels and potential risk
towards viewers. The television news coverage of crime could, in turn, increase fear of crime by cultivating expectations that victimization is both
likely and beyond our control (p. 89).

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The realization that television news broadcasts, specifically local news broadcasts, rely so heavily on crime is particularly troubling when one also
considers the cultivation hypothesis. The issue is that, as noted, local television news broadcasts are quickly becoming the most predominantly
utilized news source, and that they typically sensationalize crime stories, which can present the viewer with an exaggerated sense of crime in their
neighborhoods. But do perceptions really drive how people view their world?

Psychological milieu
What lies at the heart of the issues being described is the fact that perception can truly drive peoples reality. Not only is it possible for avid consumers of mass media to adopt the view of the outside world as projected by media, but that perception can, in turn, drive their reality. During the
1960s, two American political scientists, Harold and Margaret Sprout, formulated the premise of psychological milieu. The Sprouts (1968), whose
background was primarily geopolitics and foreign policy, postulated that a persons perception could drive their reality irregadless of that perceptions truth. Criekemans (2009), in his research of the Sprouts and their impact on geopolitics and foreign policy, noted that the environment as
perceived by an individual has great implications on the future decisions made by that individual.
Prior to their psycho-milieu hypothesis, the Sprouts (1957) suggested that environmental factors become related to the attitude and decisions
which, in the aggregate, comprise a states foreign policy only by being apperceived and taken into account by those who participate in the policyforming process (p. 310).
A second thesis by the Sprouts further cements the suggestion that perception can truly drive ones reality, and in turn decision making. The theory, offered by the Sprouts (1957), directly related to the hypothesis of this text is the theory that environmental factors can be significantly related
to the operational results of policy decisions, even though such factors are not apperceived and taken into account in the policy-forming process
(p. 310). This view, along with the previously mentioned cultivation theory, suggests that any outside factor (i.e. news stories regarding crime)
witnessed by the decision maker can drive their decision making process irregardless of whether or not the individual ever experienced what was
portrayed in the environmental factor. Put simply, perceptions of events, irregardless of whether the decisions maker ever directly experienced the
event, have a great impact on a persons decisions regarding the outside world.
Conclusion
To briefly conclude, a warning must be made. Although clich, the author would simply tell the reader to consider digesting any media crime
story with a grain of salt. This text is not an attack of television news, but a consideration for consumers of news as a whole, regardless of the
medium. It should be further noted that there is considerable research regarding the impact of reality news television (i.e. COPS), crime drams,
and other television shows on viewers perception of reality. However, with the realization that television news, especially local news, is such a
cornerstone when considering news consumption, we must realize that news agencies are also businesses. With that understanding, and keeping
the old marketing adage sex sells in mind, we may soon realize that our society is not so chaotic. As the Sprouts noted, psycho-milieu denotes
a human individuals perceived image of a situation, an image that may or may not correspond to reality (1968, pp. 33-34). The basis of their
hypothesis is that environmental factors, irregardless of whether or not an individual ever experienced the event (i.e. perception of event) can
drive a decision makers reality. It is in this assumption that, with the aforementioned cultivation hypothesis, lays the potentially troubling nature
of over-consumption of crime driven media stories. By becoming informed consumers of media, our consensus fear of crime may begin to mirror
the continually falling crime rates. With the consideration that news media is a business, and that violence and crime are exciting ways to garner
viewers, we may begin to consume television news with that realization. Viewers should understand that, yes violence and crime are occurring, but
the rate at which they are occurring does not correspond with the rate at which they are portrayed in news media. If this realization were to occur,
then fear of crime may decrease to more appropriate levels.

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References
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