Processing strategy moderates the cultivation effect

This study tested the hypothesis that processing strategy moderates the eff ect of television viewing on social perceptions (cultivation effect). One h undred twenty-two male arn fe male students provided estimates of the preva lence of crime, occupations, affluence, and marital discord under one of th ree conditions. Some participants were induced to process heuristically (he uristic group) through instructions to provide their estimates spontaneousl y with little elaboration. Other participants were induced to process syste matically (systematic group) through an accuracy motivation/task importance manipulation. A third (control) group received instructions to simply answ er the questions. The results indicated that processing strategy moderated the cultivation effect such that cultivation effects were rioted in the heu ristic and control groups brit not iii the systematic group. These results are consistent with the notion that the cultivation effect carl be explaine d in part as the result of heuristic processing through lack of source disc ounting, and they provide support for the heuristic processing model of cul tivation effects.