Science on Television in the 21st Century

Twenty-five years after George Gerbner and colleagues’ seminal report on television and science attitudes, there is a need to update the data on television’s portrayals of science and to revisit the cultivation question. We address this need by analyzing 21st-century television depictions of science and examining the relationships between exposure to television and attitudes toward science with an analysis of 2006 General Social Survey data. Content results show that scientists appear infrequently in prime-time dramatic programs, are typically White males, and are frequently cast in good or mixed roles rather than as evil scientists. Regarding the cultivation effect, we do not find a significant direct relationship between television viewing and negative attitudes toward science after relevant controls are taken into account. Additional results, however, indicate a displacement effect of television viewing on science attitudes and show significant interaction effects consistent with mainstreaming.