Question

All her life, 15-year-old Trina has watched American television shows that depict life in a middle-class, two-parent home. Trina believes that this type of family life is typical of life in America. This example best illustrates __________.

Answer 1

The answer is: cultivation theory.

Step-by-step explanation:

Cultivation theory is a communication theory that analyzes media effects on people's beliefs and attitudes. This theory affirms that television influences the way people percieve social reality, the more time a person spends watching tv, he or she will start to believe that reality is how it's portrayed on tv, or that it is how it should be.

In this case, television has shaped Trina's beliefs of family life, as a result of watching the type of familly life usually portrayed in television, midle-class and two-parent home, she now believes that all of American families are like this, and that it is how the should be.

This theory has helped analyze the implications of media in people's beliefs but also it has helped theorize the construction and reproduction of stereotypes.