Daytime Television Talk Shows and the Cultivation Effect Among U.S. and International Students

Abstract

Many critics have chided daytime television talk shows because of deviant behavior that they highlight. This study examined if exposure to daytime television talk shows cultivated negative attitudes and perceptions of interpersonal relationships in the U.S. among international and U.S. students. The hypothesis that international students would demonstrate more of a cultivation effect than U.S. students was tested using three dependent measures: (1) estimates of the frequency of certain inappropriate behaviors in the U.S., (2) attitudes about interpersonal relationships among certain primary groups in the U.S., and (3) perceptions of certain interpersonal relationships among primary groups in the U.S. The hypoth-sis received support on all three measures.