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1Unit Suicide Research & Mental Health Promotion, Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Center for Public Health, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
2Wiener Werkstaette for Suicide Research, Vienna, Austria
3Department of Communication, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Background: According to cultivation theory, distorted representations of social reality on television can lead to distorted perceptions of reality among viewers. For example, the death penalty has been abolished in most Western countries a long time ago, but is often portrayed or mentioned in US crime shows, which are very popular outside the United States. Previous research suggests that the amount of television viewing can be associated with erroneous perceptions of the use of the death penalty even when the death penalty is not used in the respective country. Unfortunately, available evidence on this association is inconclusive.