Cognitive processing of cultivation effects on Korean viewers of U.S. reality competition shows

The purpose of this thesis is to study cultivation effects of U.S. reality competition shows as well as U.S. TV shows on Korean viewers' estimates of Americans' competitiveness based on the heuristic processing model of cultivation effects. To test this question, a 2 (TV viewing: Heavy and Light) x 2 (Stimuli: Systematic and Heuristic) post-test only between-groups design is used. The results show that the amount of hours spent watching U.S. TV shows or U.S. reality competition shows does not influence how Koreans perceive Americans' competitiveness. Furthermore, motivation and distraction do not result in different estimates of Americans' competitiveness regardless of the amount of TV viewing. The reasons for the findings are discussed.