Television exposure measures and the cultivation hypothesis

Abstract

This study tests five different operationalizations of television exposure in terms of their relative abilities to predict cultivation among adolescents. The creators of the cultivation hypothesis argue that cultivation is an effect resulting from a person's total exposure to television. In this study, total exposure is compared with four alternative operationalizations of television viewing: exposure to types of programs, program‐type exposure under controls for total viewing, proportional exposure among show types, anda weighted proportion.