Television Viewers' Exposure to Crime Shows and their Knowledge of Constitutional Rights

Abstract

This study looked at the amount of crime television a person watches, his/her knowledge of their constitutional rights, and the confidence a person has in that knowledge. Implicit learning and cultivation theory were used to predict that as the amount of crime television watched increased, so would knowledge and confidence levels. The sample consisted of 187 university aged students. Participants reported how much crime television they watched, then took a test about civil rights knowledge. Participants also indicated how confident they were about each of their answers on this test. Results showed there was a significant, positive correlation between crime television viewing and constitutional rights knowledge. Results also showed a marginally significant, positive correlation between crime show viewing and respondents’ confidence in their constitutional rights knowledge; although, this relationship disappeared after controlling for knowledge. Results are consistent with both implicit learning and cultivation effects.