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The Korean Society for Journalism & Communication Studies - Vol. 68 , No. 1

[ Article ]
Korean Journal of Journalism & Communication Studies - Vol. 64, No. 5, pp. 286-318
Abbreviation: KSJCS
ISSN: 2586-7369 (Online)
Print publication date 31 Oct 2020
Received 10 Jun 2020 Revised 14 Sep 2020 Accepted 05 Oct 2020
https://doi.org/10.20879/kjjcs.2020.64.5.008

신종 코로나바이러스 발생에 따른 경제위기 평가에 대한 비개인적 영향가설 검증 : 경제단위와 평가시점에 대한 지각분화를 중심으로
이완수** ; 최명일*** ; 유재웅****
**동서대학교 미디어커뮤니케이션학부 부교수 (wansoo1960@gmail.com)
***남서울대학교 광고홍보학과 부교수 (jhmi0410@nsu.ac.kr)
****을지대학교 홍보디자인학과 교수 (yoojw777@hanmail.net)

Impersonal Influences Hypothesis on the Novel Coronavirus(COVID-19) Economic Crisis : Perceptual Compartmentalization of Economic Levels and Evaluation Time Frames
Wan Soo Lee** ; Myungil Choi*** ; Jae Woong Yoo****
**Associate Professor, Division of Media & Communication, Dongseo University (wansoo1960@gmail.com)
***Associate Professor, Department of Advertising & Public Relations, Namseoul University (jhmi0410@nsu.ac.kr)
****Professor. Department of Public Relations and Design, Eulji University, corresponding author (yoojw777@hanmail.net)
Funding Information ▼

초록

본 연구는 사람들이 코로나19 경제위기 영향에 대해 개인, 사회, 그리고 국가단위 경제를 어떻게 평가하는지를 비개인적 영향가설(impersonal influence hypothesis)을 적용해 계량적으로 검증해 보았다. 이 논문은 성별과 인구비례 할당을 통해 수집한 전국 성인 579명의 표본 데이터를 대상으로 온라인 설문조사를 실시했다. 분석은 ‘반복 측정 ANOVA(repeated measure ANOVA)’를 이용하였으며, 사후검정은 ‘최소유의차(Least Significant Difference: LSD)’ 방법을 사용하였다. 검증결과, 첫째, 사람들은 코로나19 경제위기에 대해 개인 자신은 상대적으로 영향을 적게 받는다고 평가를 한 반면에, 이웃사람이 속한 사회경제나 국가경제는 상대적으로 영향을 더 크게 받는다는 상반된 평가를 내렸다. 특히 사람들은 개인 자신을 중심으로 사회, 국가단위로 사회적 거리가 멀어질수록 더 비관적으로 평가했다. 둘째, 사람들은 코로나19 경제위기 영향에 대해 평가시점과 관계없이 개인이나 사회경제보다 국가경제를 더 부정적으로 평가했다. 셋째, 사람들은 개인, 사회, 그리고 국가경제에 대해 과거의 회고적 평가를 할 때 가장 부정적이었으며, 현재에서 미래 순으로 갈수록 전망적 평가가 더 긍정적이었다. 넷째, 개인, 사회, 국가경제 위기에 대한 판단분화는 성별, 연령별, 소득수준별, 거주 지역별, 뉴스이용량 등 인구사회학적 속성과 관련성이 없는 것으로 나타났다. 다만, 사람들은 자신의 정치적 성향이 보수적이라고 생각할수록 과거, 현재, 그리고 미래시점 모두에서 국가경제를 부정적으로 평가한 반면에, 진보적이라고 생각할수록 국가경제를 더 긍정적으로 평가했다. 이론적으로 사람들은 불확실하고 위험한 상황에 직면할 때 본능적으로 자신을 타자들보다 더 긍정적으로 평가하는 이른바 ‘상대적 낙관주의’ 태도를 보인다. 사람들은 자기보호 동기와 자신이 다른 사람들보다 덜 불행하다고 생각하는 인지적 편향에 따라 ‘상대적 낙관주의’ 태도가 두드러진다. 특히 사람들은 직접 경험하지 못한 미래 상황에 대해 긍정적인 평가를 하는데, 이것 역시 “비현실적 낙관주의” 태도와 무관하지 않다. 이에 반해 사람들이 과거 상황을 회고적으로 평가할 때 부정적인 태도를 보이는 것은 머릿속의 부정적인 기억이 먼저 떠오르는 가용성 편향과 같은 휴리스틱(heuristic)이 작용하기 때문이다. 사람들에게 흔히 발견되는 “비현실적 낙관주의”는 부정적인 일은 자신에게는 잘 일어나지 않는다고 믿음으로써 심리적 불안감을 줄이는 “자기고양 편향” 관점에서 설명될 수 있다. 사람들이 코로나19 경제위기 영향을 평가할 때 비현실적 낙관주의가 어떻게 작동하는지를 중심으로 토론했다.

Abstract

This study applies the impersonal influence theory to quantitatively examine how individuals evaluate the economy at the individual, societal, and national level with regard to the crisis caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic. This paper conducted an online survey on sample data of 579 adults through proportional allocation by gender and population nationwide. We used the “repeated measure ANOVA” method and a post-test using the “Least Significant Difference (LSD)” method to examine the statistical difference between the three levels. To begin with, the results indicated that respondents evaluated conditions optimistically in terms of viewing themselves as not having been heavily impacted by the economic crisis, but negatively in terms of their prediction that the societal and national economies to which their neighbors belong will be affected to a relatively greater degree. Evaluations were found to be more negative when the societal and national levels were perceived as more distant from the respondents themselves. Second, respondents expressed negative attitudes regarding the economic crisis most strongly for the individual level followed by the societal and national levels, regardless of evaluation time frame. In particular, more negative evaluations were found for the national economy than for the individual or societal economy for the past, present, and future time frames alike. Third, the most negative attitudes in terms of the individual, societal, and national economy were found for the past time frame, with increasingly positive perspectives for the present and future time frames. Fourth, the compartmentalization of judgments regarding individual, societal, and national economic crisis were found to be unrelated to demographic characteristics such as gender, age, income, region of residence, or news consumption. However, respondents showed more strongly negative evaluations of the national economy for the past, present, and future time frames the more they identified themselves politically as “conservative,” and more positive evaluations when they identified as “liberal.” In theory, people have an attitude of so-called "comparative optimism," in which people instinctively evaluate themselves more positively than others when faced with uncertain and dangerous situations. People show this attitude of “comparative optimism” because of self-protective motives and cognitive biases, in which they consider to be less unhappy than others. In particular, the reason people give positive evaluations of future situations that they have not directly experienced is because of the attitude of “unrealistic optimism.” On the other hand, the reason why people show negative attitudes when making retrospective assessments of past situations is that “representative heuristic,” such as an availability bias, in which negative memories in their heads first come to mind. This unrealistic optimism found in people is linked to a “self-enhancement bias,” which reduces psychological anxiety by recognizing that negative things do not happen to the individual herself or himself. The discussion section focused on the ways in which unrealistic optimism operates when individuals are evaluating the impact on the economic crisis caused by the pandemic.


KeywordsCOVID-19, Economic crisis, Impersonal influence hypothesis, Judgment compartmentalization, Unrealistic optimism
키워드: 코로나19, 경제위기, 비개인적 영향이론, 판단분화, 비현실적 낙관주의

Acknowledgments

This paper was supported by Dongseo University, “Dongseo Cluster Project” Research Fund of 2020(DSU-20200009)(이 연구는 동서대학교 2020년도 “동서 클러스터 프로젝트” 지원으로 수행되었다).


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