Acculturative Understanding of Korean Social Psychology among Western Sojourners in Korea

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The present study investigated acculturative understanding of Korean social psychology of interpersonal interactions among Western sojourners in Korea. We examined 1) how the Western sojourners perceive social psychological characteristics of Koreans and 2) what types of individual differences influence this perception; we looked at the acculturation strategies (integration, separation, assimilation, & marginalization), the duration of stay, and Korean language proficiency. The acculturative understanding of Korean social psychology was assessed through critical incidents (CI) method. Eight CIs were constructed based on previous study and presented to 50 Western sojourners. The responses to the CIs were compared to those by Korean collegians. Response of Westerners who stayed more than six months was more similar to the response of Koreans than those who stayed less than six months. Westerners have a better comprehension for CIs that deal with issues concerning vertical relationships in Korean society than for CIs that deal with we-relationships (cheong, woori). Only those with some Korean language proficiency showed better understanding of cheong interactions. Four types of people using different acculturation strategy did not show any meaningful difference in their response to the CIs. Possible reasons for this no-difference were discussed.

국문 초록 (Abstract)

본 연구는 대인교류에서 나타나는 한국인의 사회심리 현상에 대하여 한국에서 일시적으로 체류하는 서구인들이 어떻게 이해하는지를 한국인의 이해와 비교하고, 이들의 이해에 영향을 주는 개인차 변인이 무엇인지를 보고자 하였다. 핵심적 사건(critical incidents: CI) 방법을 이용하여, 호남지역에서 영어를 가르치고 있는 50명의 백인들에게 8개의 사건장면들을 설문으로 구성하여 제시하고 개방형 답을 받아 이를 분석하였다. 이러한 인식은 동일한 핵심적 사건에 대하여 70여명의 한국인 학생들이 보인 것과 비교되었다. 개인차를 보기 위해서 서구인들의 체류 기간(6개월 미만과 그 이상)에 따라 차이가 있는지를 분석하였다. 아울러 이들에게 문화적응 양상을 구분하는 척도를 시행하여 그들의 적응 유형에 따라 4가지 유형(통합화, 동화, 고립화, 및 소외화)으로 구분하여 유형간 비교를 하였다. 연구결과, 서구인들이 위계적 관계(위계)를 반영하는 CI 의 상황에 대해서는 한국인들의 인식과 큰 차이가 없지만, 우리성 관계(정, 우리성)를 보여주는 CI 들에서는 한국인들의 인식과 상당히 차이를 보이는 것으로 드러났다. 아울러 CI 들에 대한 인식의 분석에서 체류 기간이 긴 사람들은 짧은 사람에 비해서 한국인의 이해양상에 보다 근접한 것으로 나타났다. 그러나 우리성 관계의 작용에 대한 이해는 한국어를 익히는 사람들에게서 그렇지 않은 사람들에게서 보다 적절한 것으로 나타났다. 한편, 적응 유형에 따른 분석을 했을 때 통합화와 동화 유형이 고립화와 소외화의 적응 유형과 아무런 차이를 보이지 않았다. 연구의 의미와 기존 서구의 연구결과와 달리 나타나는 차이에 대한 논의를 제시하였다.

참고문헌 (Reference)

1 Han, G., "Value changes in Korea from hierarchical collectivism to horizontal individ- ualism" 13 (13): 293-310, 1999

2 Han, G., "Understanding of social psychology" Hakjisa 2002

3 Wang, M., "Turning bricks into jade: Critical incidents for mutual understanding among Chinese and Americans" Intercultural Press 2002

4 Hsu. F., "The self in cross-cultural perspective, In Culture and self: Asian and Western perspectives" Tavistock 1985

5 Bhawuk, R., "The measurement of intercultural sensivity using the individualism and collectivism concepts" 16 : 413-436, 1992

6 Nisbett, R., "The geography of thought" The Free Press 2003

7 Bruech, A., "The cultural assimilator for Korea" Asanger 1989

8 Choi, S. C., "The conceptualization of Korea tack, Noon-chi, In Innovations in cross-cultural psy- chology" Swets & Zeitlinger 49-61, 1992

9 Ward, C., "The U-curve on trial : A longitudinal study of psychological and sociocultural adjustment during cross-cultural transition" 22 (22): 277-291, 1998

10 Han, G., "Social interaction in Korean society, In Koreans and Korean culture" Sagyejul 1998

11 Thomas, C., "Responses of employees to cultural adaptation by a foreign manager" 80 (80): 133-146, 1995

12 Choi, S. -C., "Psychology of the Korean people" Dong-A Publishing & Printing Co., Ltd 1994

13 Berry, J., "Psychology of acculturation: Under- standing individuals moving between cultures, In Applied Cross-Cultural Psychology" Sage Publications 232-253, 1989

14 Graves, T., "Psychological acculturation in a tri-ethnic community" 23 : 337-350, 1967

15 Cushner, K., "Preparing teachers for an intercultural context" Sage Publications 1994

16 Hermans, H. J. M., "Moving cultures : Perilous problems of cultural dichotomies in a globalizing society" 53 : 1111-1120, 1998

17 Choi, S-C., "Methodology for cultural psychology" 14 (14): 36-42, 2000

18 Redfield, R., "Memo-randum on the study of acculturation" 38 : 149-, 1936

19 Hui, C. H., "Measurement of individualism-collectivism" 22 : 17-36, 1988

20 Lim, T., "Interpersonal relationships in Korea" Sage Publications 1996

21 Brislin, R., "Intercultural inter- actions: a practical guide" Sage Publications 1996

22 Triandis, H. C., "Individualism and collectivism" Westview Press 1995

23 Berry, J., "Indigenous psychologies" Sage 1993

24 Choi, S. -C., "Indigenous form of lamentation in Korea, Han: conceptual, philosophical, and empirical analyses" Institute of Social Sciences, Chungang University 6 : 185-205, 1993

25 Brislin, R., "Improving intercultural interactions" Sage Publications 1994

26 Han, G., "Implicit theories in a hierarchic society" 89-98, 2004

27 Schmitz, P., "Immigrant mental and physical health" 4 : 117-131, 1992

28 Choi, S-C., "Immanent trust: Cultural psychology of trust, In Trust: Dynamic and cultural per- spectives" Information Age

29 Kagitcibasi, C., "Family and socialization in cross- cultural perspective; A model of change, In Cross-cultural perspectives: Nebraska symposium on motivation, 1989" Nebraska University Press 135-200, 1990

30 Lillard., "Ethnopsychologies; Cultural variations in theories of mind" 123 (123): 3-32, 1998

31 Han, G., "Effects of family, region, and school network-ties on interpersonal intentions and the analysis of network activities in Korea, In Individualism and collectivism: Theory, methods, and application" Sage Press 1994

32 Choi, S. -C., "Does the multiple self need an identity? Concerning alternative constructions of the “self”" 1998

33 Hofstede, G., "Culture's consequences" Sage Publications 1984

34 Ohbuchi, K., "Cultural values in conflict management" 30 (30): 51-56, 1999

35 Berry, J., "Cross-cultural psychology: Research and appli- cations" Cambridge University Press 1992

36 Choi, S. C., "Cheong : The socio-emotional grammar of Koreans" 30 (30): 69-80, 2001

37 Choi, S. C., "Chemyon: Social face in Korean culture" 44 (44): 30-51, 2004

38 Choi, I., "Causal attribution across cultures : Variation and univer-sality" 125 : 47-63, 1999

39 Gudykunst, W., "Bridging differences" Sage Publications 1994

40 Hall, E. T., "Beyond culture" Doubleday 1976

41 Matsuda, T., "Attending holistically versus analytically : Comparing the context sensi-tivity of Japanese and Americans" 81 : 922-934, 2001

42 Choi, S-C., "Analysis of cultural emotion: Understanding of indigenous psychology for universal implications, In Cambridge Handbook of Socio- cultural Psychology" Cambridge University Press 2007

43 Gudykunst, W., "Across-cultural test of uncertainty reduction theory : Comparisons of acquaintance, friends, and dating relationships in Japan, Korea and the United States" 3 : 407-455, 1985

44 Sam, D., "Acculturation: conceptual background and core components, In The Cambridge Handbook of Acculturation Psychology" Cambridge University Press 11-26, 2006

45 Dyal, J., "Acculturation, stress and coping" 5 : 301-328, 1981

46 Ward, C., "Acculturation strategies, psychological adjustment, and sociocultural compe-tence during cross-cultural transitions" 18 : 329-343, 1994

47 Dona, G., "Acculturation attitudes and acculturative stress of Central American ref-ugees" 29 : 57-70, 1994

48 Berry, J., "Acculturation and adaptation. Handbook of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 3" Allyn & Bacon 291-326, 1997

49 Ward, C., "Acculturation and adaptation revisited" 30 (30): 422-442, 1999

50 Chun, K., "Acculturation" American Psychological Association 2002

51 Langer, G., "About response rate: Some unresolved questions. Public Perspective, May/June"

52 Anderson, L., "A new look at an old construct : Cross-cultural adaptation" 18 : 294-296, 1994