Journal of the Korean Society of Safety (한국안전학회지)

The Korean Society of Safety (한국안전학회)
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A Study on Mass Media and Risk Perception: Application of Facilitated Group Modeling to Social Risks

대중매체의 영향과 위험인식 특성: 현대사회 기술위험에 대한 집단인지모델기법 적용

  • Chung, Ik Jae (Department of Public Administration, Seoul National University of Science and Technology)
  • 정익재 (서울과학기술대학교 행정학과)
  • Received : 2018.01.30
  • Accepted : 2018.03.30
  • Published : 2018.04.30
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Abstract

In consideration of limitations of the classic economic approach to risk evaluation and the psychometric analysis of risk perception, this study applies a facilitated modeling technique to a group of college students in Korea. In this group activities, researchers did not provide a pre-selected list of risk items. Instead, 35 participants had group discussions to generate 63 risk items, to rate their risk level and to evaluate their characteristics in terms of the level of knowledge and dreadfulness. This study also analyzes the influence of mass media, online news papers in particular, on risk perception by counting the number of news articles covering key word corresponding risk items generated. The results show that there are significant differences between the rank order of risk items generated by students and that of statistical or objective risk. Psychometric analyses find that the levels of knowledge and dreadfulness have meaningful correlations with risk level. A well known or a dreadful risk demonstrates a high level of risk. Correlation analyses of media coverage and the risk level also re-confirms strong positive relations. The larger number of news articles a risk issue was covered by, the higher level of risk it showed. It means that college students generated risk items on the basis of what they were exposed by media. The role of mass media in risk perception and the importance of risk communication in risk evaluation are underlined. Implications of research findings and future research are discussed as well.

Keywords

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