George Gerbners cultivation theory provides a framework for the analysis of relationships between television viewing and attitudes and beliefs about the world. Since the 1970s, cultivation analysis has been a lens through which to examine televisions contributions to conceptions of violence, sex roles, political attitudes and numerous other phenomena. Hundreds of studies during this time have (mostly) found that there are relationships between television exposure and peoples worldviews, but important questions remain: just how big are these relationships, are they real, are some people more vulnerable to them than others, do they vary across different topics, and will we continue to find them in new media environments? In this collection of nineteen chapters, leading scholars review and assess the most significant developments in cultivation research in the past ten years. The book highlights cutting-edge research related to these questions and surveys important recent advances in this evolving body of work. The contributors point us toward new directions and fresh challenges for cultivation theory and research in the future.

Contents: Larry Gross: Foreword: George Gerbner and Cultivation Analysis – Michael Morgan/James Shanahan/Nancy Signorielli: The Stories We Tell: Cultivation Theory and Research – Mary Beth Oliver/Keunmin Bae/Erin Ash/Mun-Young Chung: New Developments in Analyses of Crime and Fear – Dana Mastro/Riva Tukachinsky – Cultivation of Perceptions of Marginalized Groups – Erik C. Nisbet/Teresa A. Myers: Cultivating Tolerance of Homosexuals – Erica Scharrer: Television and Gender Roles: Cultivating Conceptions of Self and Others – Bruce W. Hardy: Cultivation of Political Attitudes in the New Media Environment – Dominique Brossard/Anthony Dudo: Cultivation of Attitudes Toward Science – L. J. Shrum/Jaehoon Lee: Multiple Processes Underlying Cultivation Effects: How Cultivation Works Depends on the Types of Beliefs Being Cultivated – Rick Busselle/Helena Bilandzic: Cultivation and the Perceived Realism of Stories – David R. Ewoldsen/Nancy Rhodes: Cultural Models and the Media: Exploring the Interplay between Culture and the Individual – Samuel D. Bradley/Curtis B. Matthews: Temporal and Narrative Bases of Cultivation: Insight from Neural Networks – Jan Van den Bulck: International Cultivation – Helena Bilandzic/Rick Busselle: A Narrative Perspective on Genre-Specific Cultivation – Karyn Riddle: Developing a Lifetime Television Exposure Scale: The Importance of Television Viewing Habits During Childhood – Amir Hetsroni/Hila Lowenstein: Cultivation and Agenda-Setting: Conceptual and Empirical Intersections – Donald L. Diefenbach/Mark D. West: Cultivation and the Third-Person Effect – James Shanahan/Dietram Scheufele: Cultivation and the Spiral of Silence: Theoretical and Empirical Intersections – Andy Ruddock: Cultivation Analysis and Cultural Studies: Ritual, Performance, and Media Influence – Michael Morgan/James Shanahan/Nancy Signorielli: Looking Forward, Looking Backward: Ten Questions about Cultivation.