Comparing what han (한, 恨) brought to mind for college students in 1994 and 2019, the study found today's generation thinks of han more as an emotion, while older meanings still linger at an unconscious level.
The Generational Difference of HAN Representations for Korean
한국인의 세대별 한(恨) 표상의 차이
QUESTION
If a 1994 study of college students (Lee & Choi, 2003) is repeated with 2019 college students, has the cultural representation of han (한, 恨) changed across generations?
FINDINGS
Asked what han brings to mind, 1994 students named objects (woman, nation, etc.) and emotion words about equally, while 2019 students named more emotion words.
2019년도 대학생은 대상 단어보다 정서 단어 의 빈도가 높은 경향을 보였다College students in 2019 tended to produce emotion words more frequently than object words.p121994년도 대학생은 대상 단어와 정서 단어가 대등한 빈도를 보였지만…college students in 1994 showed equal frequencies of object words and emotion words, whereas…p121994년도는 ‘여인’, ‘민족’, ‘일제’ 등의 대상 어휘의 생성빈도가In 1994, the generation frequency of object words such as “woman,” “nation,” and “Japanese colonial rule”…p10How strongly words felt related to han was weakening overall.
한(恨) 관련 단어의 평 정치 자료는 한(恨) 연상단어의 전반적인 의미 적 강도가 약해지고 있음을 보였다The rating data for han-related words showed that the overall semantic strength of han associations is weakening.p25At the conscious level han's meaning had shifted, but at the unconscious (implicit) level traditional meanings likely still remained.
암묵적 수준의 한(恨) 어휘는 전통적 문화적 의미의 잔재가 아직은 남아있을 가능성이 충분함을 관찰하였다…observed that it is quite possible that remnants of the traditional cultural meaning still remain in the han vocabulary at the implicit level.p25비록 한(恨) 어휘의 외현적 수준의 의미가 시간적으로 변화함에도 불구하고Although the explicit-level meaning of the word han changes over time…p25Among 2019 students, 38% said han is a uniquely Korean cultural concept and 62% said it is not.
52명(38%)이 그렇다고 답하였고 85명(62%)은 아니라고 답하였다52 (38%) answered yes and 85 (62%) answered no.p9IN DAILY LIFE
In everyday Korean, people say “han is knotted up (han-i maechinda),” “it is han-ful (hanseureopda),” or “let's release our han (han-ina pulja),” using han for states of mind, metaphors, and actions beyond emotion.
‘한(恨)이 맺힌다.’, ‘한(恨)스럽다.’, 혹은 ‘한(恨)이나 풀자.’ 등의 정서를 넘어선 심적 상태, 비유, 행위…“han is knotted,” “it is han-ful,” or “let's release han” — expressions of mental states, metaphors, and actions beyond emotion.p4Drinking alone (honsul, 혼술) and eating alone (honbap, 혼밥) are no longer new words — the rise of living-alone culture is part of why the study asks how such change affects representations of words like han.
이미 ‘혼술’ 혹은 ‘혼밥’ 등은 더 이 상 새로운 언어가 아니며Already, “honsul” (drinking alone) and “honbap” (eating alone) are no longer new words…p2특히 개인의 나 홀로 문화가 급증하는 한국 사회의 특성을 고려하면 한(恨) 같은 타인의 심정Especially considering Korean society, where the culture of living alone is rapidly increasing, (the question arises how) feelings toward others such as han…p5In depth
This paper, more closely — every sentence carries an original quote and page number.
Background
Han associations from 1994 students spread across objects, emotions, events, and actions/states — suggesting han may be more than a simple emotion.
대상 단어(36%), 정서단어(21%), 사건단어(14%), 행 위/상태 단어(10%) 등으로 다양하였다…varied: object words (36%), emotion words (21%), event words (14%), action/state words (10%), and so on.p3한(恨)의 문화적 의미는 단일한 개념이나 정서를 넘어설 가능성을 시사한다…suggests that the cultural meaning of han may go beyond a single concept or emotion.p3Cultural meanings shift with context — so how would han be represented by college students today, in 2019?
그러면 최근 2019년대 대학생의 표상은 어떠할까 하는 의 문이 제기된다The question then arises: what is the representation among college students of recent years, around 2019?p5문화적 표상은 고정적이고 안정적으로 지속되기 보다는 맥락에 따라 변화한다는 특성을 지니기 때문이다…because cultural representations tend to change with context rather than remain fixed and stable.p5Method
The same questionnaire used in 1994 was given to 2019 students to compare generations (Experiment 1). Then participants saw a film scene or word first and read han-related words aloud while their speed was timed (primed naming task, Experiment 2).
실험 1은 모두 207명의 참가자로부터 한(恨) 개념의 기초 자료를 수 집하였다Experiment 1 collected baseline data on the concept of han from a total of 207 participants.p9이 연구는 Lee & Choi(2003)의 연구를 2019년도의 대학생 참가자에게 반복하고This study repeated Lee & Choi's (2003) study with college students in 2019…p25심리학개론을 수강한 대학생 142명이 설문지 연구에 참여하였고, 한(恨) 연상단어의 평정은 65명의 참가자가 참여하였다142 students taking Introduction to Psychology took part in the questionnaire study, and 65 participants rated the han association words.p9계명대학교에 재학중인 대학생 64명이 모집 공고에 의해서 자발적으로 참가하였다64 Keimyung University students volunteered in response to a recruitment notice.p14참가자에게 개인별로 제시한 다음 7점 척도에 반응하도록 하였다…presented to each participant individually, who responded on a 7-point scale.p9한국 영화(서편제), 한(恨) 단어, 서양 영화(인생은 아름다워)를 3 수준으로 조작하였으며…manipulated at 3 levels: a Korean film (Seopyeonje), han words, and a Western film (Life Is Beautiful)…p14목표자극의 단어가 제시되면 참가자가 그 단어를 준비된 마이크에 빠르고 크게 발성하게 하였다. 이 과제를 명명과제라고 한다When the target word appeared, participants said it quickly and loudly into a microphone. This is called a naming task.p17Detailed findings
The word 2019 students most often linked to han was “sadness,” followed by “unfairness/resentment (eogulham, 억울함),” “anger,” and “ghost.”
‘슬픔’이 가장 많았고, ‘억울함’, ‘분 노’, ‘귀신’ 등이 그 뒤를 이었다“Sadness” was the most frequent, followed by “eogulham (feeling wronged),” “anger,” “ghost,” and so on.p101994 students relatively often named “woman,” “tears,” “sadness,” and “nation.”
1994년도 대 학생은 ‘여인’, ‘눈물’, ‘슬픔’, ‘민족’ 등의 빈 도가 상대적으로 높았다College students in 1994 had relatively high frequencies for “woman,” “tears,” “sadness,” “nation,” and so on.p10Among object words, 2019 students most often named “ghost,” which the author read as a possible weakening of cultural representations of concrete objects (woman, nation, etc.).
‘귀신’ 단어가 많았는데 이는 구체적인 대 상에 대한 문화적 표상이 약화될 가능성을 시사한다There were many “ghost” words, which suggests the possibility that cultural representations of concrete objects are weakening.p11한(恨)의 대상단어는 ‘여인’이나 ‘민족’을 연결하는 구체적 혹은 추상적 대상의Object words for han are … of concrete or abstract objects, linking to “woman” or “nation”…p3In relatedness ratings (1 = very related), “knotted (maechim, 맺힘)” scored 1.7 in 1994, but in 2019 even the strongest words — “separated families” and “Japanese colonial rule” 2.7, “knotted” 2.9 — scored weaker.
2019년도는 ‘이산가족’이 2.7, ‘일제’ 2.7, ‘맺 힘’은 2.9에 불과하였다In 2019, “separated families” was only 2.7, “Japanese colonial rule” 2.7, and “knotted” 2.9.p11특히 1994년도는 평정치가 ‘맺힘’은 1.7, ‘정신대(위안부)’는 2.0 등이었지만In particular, in 1994 ratings were 1.7 for “maechim” (knotting) and 2.0 for “jeongsindae” (comfort women), whereas…p11제시된 단어가 한(恨)과 매우 관련이 있으면 1점, 가장 관련이 없으면 7점에 표시하게 하였다Participants marked 1 if the word was very related to han and 7 if least related.p9Asked about the state of mind when holding han, 1994 answers were mostly cognitive states (emptiness, frustration), while 2019 answers were mostly emotional states.
1994년도는 인지적 상태의 빈 도가 높았지만 2019년도는 감정 특히 정서 상 태의 빈도가 높았다In 1994 cognitive states were frequent, but in 2019 feelings, especially emotional states, were frequent.p12마음의 상태: 1994년도: 허무(19), 고통(17), 답답함(13)State of mind — 1994: futility (19), pain (17), frustration (13)p12In Experiment 2, words that were frequent or highly rated in the survey were not read faster — conscious and unconscious tasks diverged.
높은 빈도와 높은 평정치가 빠른 반응시간으로 관찰되지는 않았다That is, high frequency and high ratings were not observed as fast response times.p21반면에 실험 2에서는 1994년도보다 높은 빈도를 얻거나 평정치가 높은 단어의 반응시간이By contrast, in Experiment 2 the response times for words with higher frequency or higher ratings than in 1994…p21생성, 평정, 명명 과제 간의 해리가 발생한 것이다A dissociation occurred among the generation, rating, and naming tasks.p21생성과제나 평정과제는 기억의 의식적 탐색과 반응의 판단을 위한 의도적 전략이 작용하는 반면Whereas the generation and rating tasks involve conscious memory search and deliberate judgment strategies…p21Priming with the Korean film (Seopyeonje) versus the Western film (Life Is Beautiful) did not produce a clear statistical difference.
두 문화 영화의 점화 차이 가 통계적인 차이에는 민감하지 않았다The priming difference between the two cultures' films was not sensitive to statistical difference.p23But for han words that both 1994 and 2019 generations named equally, words tended to be read faster after a Seopyeonje scene.
2019년도 동일조건에서는 서편제 점화가 한 (恨) 단어 점화와 인생은 아름다워 점화에 비 해서 반응시간이 빨라지는 경향을 보였다…in the condition identical for 1994 and 2019, Seopyeonje priming tended to speed up response times compared with han-word priming and Life Is Beautiful priming.p23실험재료가 두 세대에 빈도와 평정치가 일치하는 한(恨) 어휘는…han words whose frequency and ratings matched across the two generations…p23Authors’ interpretation
The author interprets the explicit meaning of han as dominated by emotions like sadness and feeling wronged, while at the implicit level “nation,” “woman,” and “tears” dominate.
외현적 의미는 ‘슬픔’, ‘정서’, 혹은 ‘억울함’이 우세하지만 암 묵적 의미는 ‘민족’, ‘여인’, 혹은 ‘눈물’이 우 세하다고 보겠다The explicit meaning is dominated by “sadness,” “emotion,” or “feeling wronged,” whereas the implicit meaning is dominated by “nation,” “woman,” or “tears.”p21Priming with han-type words like jeonghan (정한) or hanpuri (한풀이, releasing han) actually slowed responses — possibly because most participants did not know these words.
대부분의 참가자는 한(恨) 유 형 단어에 대한 지식이 없었다Most participants had no knowledge of han-type words.p22한(恨) 관련 단어인 ‘정한’, ‘한풀이’ 등의 점화가 영화 점화보다 명명시간이 느린 현상이 발생하였다Priming with han-related words such as “jeonghan” and “hanpuri” produced slower naming times than film priming.p22The author sees this as evidence that, despite generational change, han's linguistic meaning is being passed on, if loosely.
세대의 변화 에도 불구하고 문화의 한(恨) 표상의 언어적 의미가 성기게 전이되고 있다는 증거이다This is evidence that, despite generational change, the linguistic meaning of the cultural representation of han is being loosely transmitted.p23Limits the authors note
Materials based on survey frequency were hard to manipulate cleanly by condition, given the nature of the task.
빈 도 기반 재료는 과제 특성상 변인 수준별로 조작하기가 어렵다는 한계가 있었다Frequency-based materials had the limitation of being difficult to manipulate by variable level due to the nature of the task.p15Over 80% of participants had never seen Seopyeonje or Life Is Beautiful, so the film stimuli were in fact unfamiliar.
영화 ‘서편제’나 ‘인생은 아름다워’를 경험하지 못했다는 반응한 비율이 80%를 넘 었다…the proportion reporting they had not seen the films Seopyeonje or Life Is Beautiful exceeded 80%.p23이 연구의 문화자극은 실제 접하지 못했거나 그 접한 빈도가 매우 낮은 자극임을 의미한다This means the study's cultural stimuli were ones participants had not actually encountered or had encountered very rarely.p23Key terms
Free generation task and rating task In free generation, people retrieve and write down on their own whatever “han” brings to mind; in rating, they judge how related a given word is to han.
생성과제는 한 (恨) 단서에 의한 자율적 인출과정이 작용되 며, 평정과제는 생성단어에 대한 한(恨) 관련 성을 판단하는 과정이 작용된다The generation task involves autonomous retrieval cued by han, while the rating task involves judging the han-relatedness of generated words.p8Generation (Mannheim) The idea that a generation begins in adolescence and spans 20–30 years — the basis for treating 1994 and 2019 students as different generations.
세대의 시작은 청소년기이며 세대의 단위는 20-30년 이며A generation begins in adolescence, and the unit of a generation is 20–30 years…p21이 연구는 1994년도 대학생과 2019년도 대학생의 비교이다. 두 독립된 세대의 참가자는This study compares college students of 1994 and 2019. Participants from the two independent generations…p21Reversed priming When the cue shown first and the target word are extremely mismatched, reading the target actually slows down.
명명과제는 점화-목표 자극이 극단적으로 대비되면 역점 화(reversed priming) 현상이 발생한다In the naming task, reversed priming occurs when prime and target stimuli contrast extremely.p22의미적으로 연합이 되지만 반응이 느려지는 역점화 현상이 발생하였지만…are semantically associated but a reversed-priming effect occurred in which responses slowed…p22