Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

8-1991

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Communication

Major Professor

Michael Singletary

Committee Members

Sam Swan, Herbert Howard, Roy Ambrester

Abstract

For three decades cultivation research has dominated the field of mass communication. Scholars continue to debate whether or not the mass media cultivates an individual's perceptions of social reality. Much of this research has examined fictional television content, crime/adventure, soap operas and drama. Few cultivation studies have looked at the factual content of news. This study, a survey of 181 adults, explores the relationship between TV media-use and perceptions about flying. Specifically, this dissertation tests TV news-use and fear of flying and TV news-use and estimates about flying. Tests of the hypotheses posited in this dissertation reveal that TV news-use is not significantly related to respondents' fear of flying or their estimates about flying. These findings are consistent with previous cultivation research examining the news genre of television.

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