Cultivation effects on quality of life indicators: exploring the effects of American television consumption on feelings of relative deprivation in South Korea and India.

Decades of research have demonstrated that television may affect viewers' perceptions of social reality, with the influence of television on viewers' perceptions thought to be particularly strong when viewers lack direct experience with the content being depicted. That is, when television functions as the primary or exclusive source of information about other people or cultures, it is predicted to have strong influences on shaping and often distorting perceptions.

Publics around the world often learn about the United States from imported media. Unfortunately, however, the "lessons" about the United States may be distorted. Indeed, researchers have argued that among other distortions, U.S. television programs are filled with images and representations that endorse consumerism and are populated by wealthy characters from privileged social classes (e.g., Butsch, 1992; Freeman, 1992; Hirschman, 1988; Lichter, Lichter, & Rothman, 1994; Thomas & Callahan, 1982).

Although distortions in media portrayals of wealth may have a variety of effects on viewers' perceptions, this paper focuses on several specific influences that such depictions may have on viewers outside the United States. That is, this paper explores the idea that exposure to U.S. television may cultivate materialistic values as well as perceptions that Americans are more wealthy than may actually be the case. In addition, this paper examines the idea that repeated exposure to the biased representations may culminate in a sense of relative deprivation among them.

The United States is currently the largest exporter of media in the world. The U.S. media industry has continually explored market expansion opportunities in the world, and recently, the focus of this expansion has been Asia (see Sinclair & Harrison, 2004). Therefore, the overarching objective of this study relates to how viewing of U.S. television programs may be associated with life dissatisfaction among people in Asia. South Korea and India were selected as countries where such effects can be explored, particularly because the two countries enjoy different stages of economic development and because they have different histories of penetration of U.S. media.

Literature Review

Television Viewing and Cultivation of Capitalist Values

Cultivation research has primarily focused on the relationship between the social reality portrayed on television and viewers' beliefs in the "television reality." Hawkins and Pingree (1990) noted that there are two different kinds of cultivation effects of television viewing: first-order and second-order social reality beliefs. First-order social reality beliefs refer to estimates of frequencies or probabilities of certain concepts or events (e.g., one's belief about the percentage of people who own luxury cars), whereas second-order social reality beliefs involve internalization of certain ideas, attitudes, or values (e.g., one's belief about the importance of material possessions in his or her life). Moreover, Hawkins and Pingree indicated that the two types of social reality beliefs are constructed independently of each other through different cognitive processes, and that "... research should explicitly treat first- and second-order beliefs separately, propose specific theory-based processes for each, and test the effects as directly as possible" (p. 47).

With regard to what Hawkins and Pingree (1990) called second-order cultivation effects, a body of research has explored the idea that U.S. television programming may cultivate capitalist values among international viewers. For example, Tan, Tan, and Tan's (1987) study of Philippine high school students found that heavy viewers of U.S. television were more likely to rate "pleasure" as an important value, while they deemphasized "salvation" and "wisdom" (see also Kang & Morgan, 1988).

Among many capitalist values, materialism may be the most representative. Materialism is often defined as a set of centrally held beliefs about the importance of possessions in one's life (Richins & Dawson, 1992) or as an attitude orientation emphasizing possessions and money for personal happiness and social progress (Moschis & Churchill, 1978). However, materialism has received relatively little attention in the context of international cultivation. In other words, little research attention has been paid to the effects of viewing U.S. television on materialism among people outside the United States. Instead, the effects of general or domestic television viewing have usually been explored either within the United States or within other cultures (Allen, 1992; Burroughs, Rindfleisch, & Shrum, 2002; Cheung & Chan, 1996; Churchill & Moschis, 1979; Kang & Kang, 1998; Shrum, Burroughs, & Rindfleisch, 2005; Sirgy et al., 1998; Zhang & Harwood, 2002).

For example, Shrum et al. (2005) found that there was a positive association between television viewing and materialism among their sample of U.S. respondents, and that the association was stronger for those who pay more attention while viewing and for those higher in need for cognition. Similarly, Churchill and Moschis (1979) found that television viewing, along with peer communication about consumption, was positively correlated with materialism among U.S. adolescents. Finally, in a study of Hong Kong high school students, Cheung and Chan (1996) also found positive correlations between the amount of weekday television viewing and the viewer's materialism and trivialization of moral value.

Television Viewing and Cultivation of Estimates of Americans' Affluence

Heavy exposure to U.S. television programs is predicted not only to affect viewers' value systems (i.e., second-order social reality beliefs), but also to inflate estimates of Americans' affluence (i.e., first-order social reality beliefs). However, this idea has not received extensive research attention in the context of international cultivation. Instead, a body of research has explored the idea within the United States that television viewing in general functions as a magnifying glass by which viewers may amplify their estimates of other people's affluence (Fox & Philiber, 1978; O'Guinn & Shrum, 1997; Potter, 1991; Shrum, 2001; Shrum, O'Guinn, Semenik, & Faber, 1991). For example, O'Guinn and Shrum (1997) found that heavy television viewing was associated with the overestimation of percentage of Americans who were believed to have luxury cars, hot tubs or Jacuzzis, and maids and servants.

In the context of international cultivation, Weimann's (1984) study of Israeli high school and college students found that heavy television viewers were more likely than were light viewers to overestimate the percentage of Americans employed in white collar occupations, the weekly earnings of male workers, and the ownership of and spending on material items such as electrical appliances and cars. However, the author did not specifically measure respondents' viewing of U.S. television in the study, making it impossible to conclude that heavy television viewers' overestimation can be associated with U.S. television programs in particular.

Linkage of Cultivation and Relative Deprivation

Social realities cultivated by viewing U.S. television, whether the realities are first-order or second-order ones, may function as a yardstick by which individuals outside the United States judge the quality of their own lives. The idea that one's subjective well-being is a function of comparative judgments has been well documented (Michalos, 1985; Ross, Eyman, & Kishchuk, 1986). To be more specific, it is possible to imagine that increased materialism may culminate in feelings of relative deprivation because increased materialism reflects heightened desires for an affluent life. A substantial body of research explored the detrimental effects of materialism on subjective well-being, particularly on satisfaction with personal life, within the United States or within other cultures (Belk, 1984, 1985; Burroughs & Rindfleisch, 2002; Fournier & Richins, 1991; Kasser & Ahuvia, 2002; Kim, Kasser, & Lee, 2003; Richins & Dawson, 1992; Ryan & Dziurawiec, 2001).

In addition to materialism, greater estimation of Americans' affluence may also result in feelings of relative deprivation among viewers outside the United States because such biased estimation may provide frequent moments of comparisons between the quality of their own life and that of better-off American people. However, research on estimation of others' affluence has not been substantially extended to the issue of subjective well-being because the primary purpose of this line of research has typically been to evidence a first-order cultivation effect per se.

Two Aspects of Relative Deprivation

The term "relative deprivation" was coined by Stouffer, Suchman, DeVinney, Star, and Williams (1949) in their study of American soldiers. The authors pointed out that people tend to compare their rewards with those of others in a comparison group, and that this comparison determines group morale among the troops, suggesting that one's experience of the feeling of relative deprivation may be a corollary of social comparison. One of the most important conceptual distinctions indicated in the relative deprivation literature relates "egoistic" and "fraternalistic" deprivation (Runciman, 1966). Egoistic deprivation refers to feelings of deprivation that develop out of a comparison of one's own situation to the situation of other individuals, whereas fraternalistic deprivation refers to feelings of deprivation that develop out of a comparison of the situation of one's group relative to the situation of another group.