A presentation by my German undergraduate students as part of the 2013 SPICE Study Abroad program at the University of Erfurt. This one, from the Media Psychology and Influence course. ABSTRACT: US-American television sitcoms have reached great popularity in Germany. They mostly depict their fictional US-American characters as being materialistically wealthy. The present research proposal hypothesizes that high exposure to the mentioned sitcoms results in high perception of real US-American citizens as materialistically wealthy. This effect is explained by cultivation theory. The effect only occurs if the recipients process the sitcom as portraying materialistic wealth. It is further hypothesized that intergroup contact can suppress or multiply the main cultivation effect. This depends on whether the US-American citizens, to whom the German recipient has contact with, are poor or wealthy - relative to the sitcom characters. Finally, a model is given which synthesizes the introduced constructs and identifies the mediator variable as processing the sitcom as materialistically wealthy. What is more, it identifies the moderator variable as intergroup contact.

1. Effects of US-sitcoms on the German
Perception of US-Americans’ Wealth
by Fabian Hellmuth, Sandra Naumann & Lea Schlue

2. PRESENTATION OUTLINE
1. The German TV-Viewer
2. Sitcoms, Wealth and Cultivation
3. Mediator: Processing Sitcoms as Materialistic
4. Moderator: Intergroup Contact
5. Synthetic Model

3. THE GERMAN TV VIEWER

4. • ...watched 32 minutes of
fictional series a day in
2012
(Gerhards et al., 2013)
• ...hardly watches any
German sitcoms (cf.
Riehl, 2012)
• because there hardly are any
German sitcoms on German TV
• and because they seem to be
rather irrelevant in Germany
The average German
television viewer...

5. ?

6. ...are sitcoms.
...are produced and take place
in the USA and they mainly
portay US-Americans.
...portray materialistic wealth.
What do many popular fictional series in German television
have in common? They...

7. SITCOMS, WEALTH & CULTIVATION

8. DEFINING SITCOM
According to Lacey (2000) a television genre can be
described by subdividing it into six categories:
• Narrative
• Characters
• Setting
• Iconography
• Style
• Stars

9. SITCOM CHARACTERISTICS
Narrative:
humorous, simple, ficticious, entertaining
Characters: recurring group of main
characters, supporting characters
Setting: limited locations
Iconography: laugh tracks, allthough not
necessary anymore
Style: one wall is never shown Stars: guest stars as characters or as
themselves.
Metz (2008), Mills (2009)

10. DEFINING WEALTH
Relational
Wealth
Quality of Life
Social Surrounding
Materialistic
Wealth
Standard of Living
Posessions/Money
Biwas-Diener (2008), Diwan (2000)

11. DEFINING WEALTH
Materialistic
Wealth
Standard of Living
Posessions/Money
Our research
proposal
focuses on...

12. WEALTH: TV vs. REALITY
Unlike suggested in the US-sitcoms...
... the average income per capita of US-Americans in
2012 was 50,000 US-Dollars (The World Bank, n.d.)
… 15.1 percent of the population, judged by their
income, lived in poverty in 2010 (Die Welt, 2011).

13. WEALTH: TV vs. REALITY
In sum:
US-Americans portrayed in US-sitcoms cannot be seen as
representative of real US-Americans, concerning
materialistic wealth…
...but German TV-viewers may think that they are
representative.
Why is that?

14. CULTIVATION THEORY
TV changes the viewers’
perception of social reality!
The more time people spend
watching TV, the more likely
they are to believe social reality
portrayed on television.
Gerbner (2002)

15. CULTIVATION THEORY
Assumes:
• Passive audience
• Media messages are
perceived in a uniform way
• Effect is stronger on Heavy
Users
Gerbner (2002)

16. CULTIVATION EFFECT
If:
Exposure to US-sitcoms  Perception that the US-
Americans are materialistically wealthy.
H1:
Higher exposure to US-sitcoms  Overestimation of
the wealth of the US-American population
This would be in an inaccurate stereotype of US-
Americans in the German viewers’ minds

17. MEDIATOR

18. PROCESSING SITCOM AS MATERIALISTIC
• Empirical studies show that viewers can
process the same fictional media content in
different ways (e.g. Green & Brock, 2000)

19. PROCESSING SITCOM AS MATERIALISTIC
• For the cultivation effect to occur, the US-sitcoms
need to be processed as portraying materialistic
wealth by the German viewers
Hence it is our mediating variable
• It challenges Gerbner‘s approach of a passive
audience that cognitively processes media
content in a uniform way

20. MODERATOR

21. INTERGROUP CONTACT
• Interpersonal contact between group members
reduces prejudices towards each other
(Allport, 1954)
• A meta-analysis of 696 samples showed this by
an overall effect size of r ≈ -.2 (Pettigrew &
Tropp, 2006)
 Hence it is our moderating variable

22. INTERGROUP CONTACT
• Our focus is on the group of German citizens and their
contact with the group of US-American citizens
• Thus our moderating variable predicts more altering of
the cultivation effect, the more interpersonal contact a
German TV-viewer has with US-Americans
But in which Direction?

23. TYPE OF CONTACT
• If the German viewer has contact with a
materialistically...
…very wealthy person,
 it should reinforce the image of the sitcoms.
…rather poor person,
 It should counter the image of the sitcoms.
So...

24. TYPE OF CONTACT
http://99against1.com/blog/wp-
content/uploads/2012/05/rich-guy1.jpg
http://stayviolation.typepad.com/.a/6a00d834515b
c269e20133f4606812970b-320wi
 Enhancement of
cultivation effect
 Suppression of
cultivation effect

25. MODEL

26. Intergroup
contact
Perception of
US-Americans‘
as wealthy
Processing
sitcom as
materialistic
US-sitcom
exposure
Expected Correlations

27. Intergroup
contact
Perception of
US-Americans‘
as wealthy
Processing
sitcom as
materialistic
US-sitcom
exposure
Existing vs. Spurious Correlations

28. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!

29. References
• Allport, G. W. (1955). The nature of prejudice. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley Publishing
Company.
• Biswas-Diener, R. M. (2008). Material Wealth and Subjective Well-Being. In M. Eid & R. J. Larsen (Eds.). The
Science of Subject Well-Being. New York: The Guilford Press.
• Bundesverband für audiovisuelle Medien (2013). Der Videomarkt 2012. Retrieved July 16, 2013, from
http://www.bvv-medien.de/jwb_pdfs/JWB2012.pdf
• Chandler, D. (1995) Cultivation Theory. Retrieved July 19, 2013 from
http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/short/cultiv.html
• Chirot, D., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2001). Ethnopolitical warfare: Causes, consequences, and possible
solutions. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
• Die Welt (2011). Fast jeder sechste Amerikaner lebt in Armut. Die Welt. Retrieved 19 July, 2013 from
http://www.welt.de/politik/ausland/article13603680/Fast-jeder-sechste-Amerikaner-lebt-in-Armut.html
• Diwan, R. (2000). Relational wealth and the quality of life. Journal of Socio-Economics, 29, pp. 305-340.
• DWDL.de (n.d.). TV-Quoten. Retrieved July 16, 2013 from http://www.dwdl.de/zahlenzentrale/#tvquoten
• Gerbner, G. (2009). Cultivation Theory. In M. Ryan (Ed.). A First Look at Communication Theory. New York
City: Frank Mortimer.
• Gerbner, G., Gross, L, Morgan, M., Signorielli, N., & Shanahan, J. (2002). Growing Up with Television:
Cultivation Process. In J. Bryant & D. Zillmann (Eds.). Media Effects: Advances in Theory and Research. New
Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

30. References
• Gerhards, M., Klingler, W., & Blödorn, S. (2013). Sparten- und Formattrends im deutschen Fernsehen.
Media Perspektiven 4, 202-220.
• Green, M. C., & Brock, T. C. (2000). The Role of Transportation in the Persuasiveness of Public Narratives.
Journal Of Personality & Social Psychology, 79, 701-721. doi:10.1037//0022-3514.79.5.701
• Griffin, E. (2012). A First Look at Communication Theory. New York: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social
Sciences/Languages.
• Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company (Ed.) (2011). The American Heritage Dictionary. Retrieved
July, 19, 2013 from http://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=situation+comedy
• Lacey, N. (2000). Narrative and Genre: Key Concepts in Media Studies. London: Macmillan Press Ltd.
• Marc, D. (2005). Origins of the Genre: In Search of the Radio Sitcom. In M. M. Dalton & L. R. Linder
(Eds.).The Sitcom Reader: America Viewed and Skewed. New York: State University of New York Press.
• Metz, W. F. (2008). How Sitcoms Work. Retrieved July, 19, 2013 from
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/sitcom.htm
• Mills, B. (2009). The Sitcom. Edinburg: Edinburg University Press Ltd.
• Naor, M., & Milgram, R. M. (1980). Two preservice strategies for preparing regular class teachers for
mainstreaming. Exceptional Children, 47, 126 –129.
• O'Guinn, T. C., & Shrum, L. J. (1997). The Role of Television in the Construction of Consumer Reality.
Journal Of Consumer Research, 23, 278-294.

31. References
• Pattigrew, T. F. & Tropp, L. R. (2006). A Meta-Analytic Test of Intergroup Contact Theory. Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology 90, 751-783. DOI: 10.1037/0022- 3514.90.5.751
• Riehl, K. (2012). Schluss mit lustig. Süddeutsche Zeitung. Retrieved July 17, 2013 from
http://www.sueddeutsche.de/medien/comeback-der-sitcom-schluss-mit-schluss-mit- lustig-
1.1254908
• Savorelli, A. (2010). Beyond Sitcom: New Directions in American Television Comedy. North Carolina:
McFarland & Company, Inc.
• Schneider, D. J. (2004). The Psychology of Stereotyping. New York: Guilford Press.
• Shrum, L. J. (2001). Processing strategy moderates the cultivation effect. Human Communication
Research, 27, 94–120.
• Shrum, L. J., Jaehoon, L., Burroughs, J. E., & Rindfleisch, A. (2011). An Online Process Model of Second-
Order Cultivation Effects: How Television Cultivates Materialism and Its Consequences for Life Satisfaction.
Human Communication Research, 37, 34-57.
• The World Bank (n.d.). GNI per capita, Atla method (current US$). Retrieved July 19, 2013 from
http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GNP.PCAP.CD
• United States Census Bureau (2012). Table 622. Unemployed Workers - Summary: 1990 to 2010. Retrieved
July 19, 2013 from http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s0622.pdf
• Works, E. (1961). The prejudice-interaction hypothesis from the point of view of the Negro minority
group. American Journal of Sociology, 67, 47–52.

32. Picture Sources
1. http://mhstatic.de/fm/1/thumbnails/sh_TV-Konsum_800x462.2909378.jpg.2909389.jpg
2. http://blogs.coventrytelegraph.net/passtheremote/the%20big%20bang%20theory%20dec%2020
12.jpg
3. http://dispositiv.uni-bayreuth.de/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/001__1_.jpg
4. http://www.gbheld.com/upload/0fe94df5.jpg
5. http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01385/women_laughing_1385493c.jpg
6. http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110725161642/bigbangtheory/de/images/5/52/Sheld
ons_Superblick.jpg
7. http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Travel/Pix/pictures/2009/8/19/1250694261816/Friends-
character-Phoebe--002.jpg
8. http://blog.ponoko.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Personal-Applause-Sign.jpeg
9. http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120527003703/himym/images/5/50/The-kids.jpg
10. http://www.serien-load.de/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/himym.jpg
11. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YJb4tIq
ToAI/UY5sZtkkrWI/AAAAAAAAO-4/b4IELUQQAqk/s320/TV-shutterstock_23301313.jpg
12. http://www.pocketyourdollars.com/2009/05/outsmart-financial-temptation/
13. http://www.heibel-unplugged.de/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/pleite.jpg
14. http://www.123inspiration.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/batman-thumb-600x401.jpeg

33. CONTACT
Fabian Hellmuth:
f.hellmuth@yahoo.de
Sandra Naumann:
kanin-chen@gmx.de
Lea Schlue:
lea.schlue@gmail.com