Date of Award

Spring 2021

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts (BA)

Department

Communication, Media and Culture

College

College of Humanities and Fine Arts

First Advisor

Corrine Dalelio

Abstract/Description

Television and its effects have been frequently studied due to the prevalence of television in today’s society. Cultivation theory examines these effects by claiming that people’s perceptions of the real world are shaped by the social reality portrayed on television. This paper used this theory to examine a link between college student’s viewership of television crime dramas and their opinions about forensic practices. It used quantitative survey questions and previous research to come to conclusions for the research questions. The three research questions asked whether frequent viewing of crime dramas cultivated false beliefs about three forensic practices, (fingerprint analysis, polygraph tests, and DNA analysis). Results found that crime dramas cultivated perceptions about all three practices, but with DNA analysis to a lower extent than the others.

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