By asking college students when, toward whom, and why they read and give nunchi (눈치), the study shows nunchi is a shared Korean way of communicating.
The Psychological Representation System of Korean Nunchi: Focusing on College Students
한국인의 눈치의 심리적 표상체계: 대학생을 중심으로
QUESTION
How do ordinary people, based on everyday experience, represent nunchi — whom they watch, in what situations, for what motives, with what cues, how they give nunchi, and what kinds of people are or are not good at it?
FINDINGS
People said they read nunchi most toward their parents, followed by superiors and friends — nunchi is read most toward people who are close or connected to oneself.
부모님'의 빈도가 가장 많고 '윗 사람', '친구' 등의 순으로“Parents” was most frequent, followed in order by “superiors” and “friends”…p2눈치는 자신과 관련이 있기나 친밀한 사람에 대해 믾이 보게 된다고 볼 수 있다…it can be said that nunchi is read mostly toward people who are related or close to oneself.p2The most common motive for reading nunchi was coping with unfavorable (negative) situations.
눈치보는 동기는 부적 유인가 상황에 대한 대처가 가장 높게 나타나As for the motive for reading nunchi, coping with negatively valenced situations was highest…p1Facial cues were mentioned as often as all other cues combined when judging nunchi.
안면단서가 타단서들을 모두 합한 수만큼 많이 언급되고 있다Facial cues are mentioned as many times as all the other cues combined.p4“Giving nunchi” — hinting at what is hard to say directly — can be seen as a considerate way of communicating that fits Korean cultural etiquette.
눈치주기는 '상대배려 • 전 형성 의사소통법'의 한 유형이라고 볼 수 있다Giving nunchi can be seen as one type of “other-considerate, conventional communication.”p7직접 말하기 어려운 것을 눈치로 표현하는 일은 그것이 한국문화의 전례성에 맞기 때문이다…expressing through nunchi what is hard to say directly fits the customary propriety of Korean culture.p7IN DAILY LIFE
When a visitor drops by at a very busy time, glancing at the clock often so the visitor sees it (an example of giving nunchi).
매우 바쁜 상황에서 손님이 찾아 왔을 때 시계를 자주 보는 행위를 상대에게 보여주는 것…when a guest visits in a very busy situation, showing the other person the act of frequently looking at the clock.p7In Korean society, refusing indirectly is considered polite.
한국 사회에서 거절을 우회적으로 표현하 는 것이 전형성과 예의성에 맞는 것처럼…just as, in Korean society, expressing refusal indirectly fits convention and courtesy…p7In depth
This paper, more closely — every sentence carries an original quote and page number.
Background
Earlier writers explained Korea's developed nunchi partly by indirect communication meant to let others notice on their own without offending them.
의사소통의 특징이 우회적이고 그 이유는 남이 스스로 알아차리게 하 며 남의 비위를 건드리지 않기 위해서이다(오세철)The characteristic of communication is indirect, and the reason is to let others notice on their own and not to offend them (Oh Se-cheol).p2The author felt empirical data on nunchi itself was lacking and set out to see how nunchi appears in ordinary people's everyday experience.
본 연구자는 눈치현상 자체에 대한 실 종적 자료 축적이 부족함을 절감해 왔으며This researcher has keenly felt the lack of accumulated empirical data on the nunchi phenomenon itself…p2Method
Respondents freely answered 32 open-ended questions about nunchi; similar answers were grouped into categories (content analysis).
눈치와 관련되이 있을 것이라고 생각되는 32문항의 질문을 자유응딥식으로 기술하도록 하였다…had them describe, in free-response format, 32 questions thought to be related to nunchi.p2비슷한 응답끼리 묶이서 표상의 범주를 파악하고자 하였다…grouped similar responses to identify categories of representation.p2중앙대학교 학부생 16石명을 대상으로 하였으며 각 문항마다 복수 응답을 하도록 하였다…was conducted with [garbled number] undergraduates at Chung-Ang University, allowing multiple responses per item.p2본 연구자와 대학원생 2명이 참가하여 두명 이상의 합의를 보인 것만을 같은 법주로 보고…the researcher and two graduate students took part, treating as the same category only what at least two agreed on…p2Detailed findings
Parents were named most often as people whose nunchi one reads, followed by superiors (bosses, seniors, professors, etc.) and friends.
부모님'의 빈도가 가장 많고 '윗 사람', '친구' 등의 순으로“Parents” was most frequent, followed in order by “superiors” and “friends”…p2직장상사(31), 선배(거), 교수님(13), 어른(7)Workplace superiors (31), seniors (–), professors (13), elders (7)p2The most common situation for reading nunchi was after making a mistake or error that carries responsibility.
가장 많은 응답을 보인 범주는 책임 을 수반하는 잘못 및 실수를 한 경우이며The category with the most responses was cases of making mistakes and errors that carry responsibility…p3The most common motive for reading nunchi was coping with unfavorable situations.
눈치보는 동기는 부적 유인가 상황에 대한 대처가 가장 높게 나타나As for the motive for reading nunchi, coping with negatively valenced situations was highest…p1Tone of speech mattered more than the voice itself as a cue.
부언어적 단서에서는 목소리보다 말투 가 더욱 중요한 단서로 작용하며Among paralinguistic cues, tone of speech acts as a more important cue than voice…p4When the other person is angry, people look most at facial cues; when the other is anxious, at behavioral cues (such as fidgeting).
화가 났을 때와 불안할 때를 비교해보면 화가 났 을 때는 안면단서가 가장 많은 빈도를 보인 반면, 불안할 때는 행동적 단서가 가장 많은 빈도를 보였Comparing anger and anxiety: when angry, facial cues were most frequent, whereas when anxious, behavioral cues were most frequent.p4행동(31), 안절부절(18) 손부수을 떰(13), 서성기림(5)Behavior (31), fidgeting (18), fiddling with hands (13), pacing (5)p4What people most want to learn through nunchi is the other person's state of mind (mood and feelings).
표 5에서 가장 높은 반응을 보인 것은 상대의 심 경 알기였다In Table 5, the most frequent response was knowing the other’s state of mind.p5여기서 심경은 상대의 정적 • 부적 감정 및 기분 상태를 말한다Here, state of mind refers to the other person’s positive or negative feelings and mood.p5The main cost of failing to read nunchi when one should was failure in dealing with the other person and in relationships (awkwardness, worsening ties, etc.).
표 6에서 가장 높은 응답을 보인 범주는 상대에 대한 대처 및 대인관계의 실패로In Table 6, the category with the highest response was failure in dealing with the other and in interpersonal relationships…p5여기에는 관계의 불편, 좋지못한 인상, 관계악화, 감정불편 등이 중요한 반응 내용을 이루고 있다…its main responses include awkward relations, a bad impression, worsening relations, and uncomfortable feelings.p5Good nunchi readers are not one personality type: opposite personalities (e.g., active and timid people) can be equally good at reading nunchi.
한 한가지 성격 유형에 속하는 사람만이 눈치를 잘 보는 것이 아니라 서로 상반되는 성격 소지자들이 똑같이 눈치를 잘 볼 수 있다는 점이다…it is not only people of one particular personality type who read nunchi well; people with opposite personalities can read nunchi equally well.p9예컨대 활동적인 성격과 소심한 성격은 한 개인에게 공존하기 어려우며For example, an active personality and a timid personality hardly coexist in one individual…p9Authors’ interpretation
The author sees ideas about nunchi as a social representation shared collectively, beyond individual notions.
일반인들의 눈치에 대한 표 상이 개인의 관념 수준에서의 상념수준을 넘어 집 단적으로 공유된 사회적 표상이며Ordinary people’s representation of nunchi goes beyond the level of individual notions and is a collectively shared social representation…p10Nunchi works to prevent damage to one's own and the other person's face (chemyeon, 체면).
자신과 상대의 체면 훼손을 방지하는 안충적 기능…a function of preventing damage to the face of oneself and the other.p10The author infers that Western research has not studied lay representations like nunchi because the West lacks a concept like nunchi, or it is not as embedded in daily life.
서양에는 한국인의 '눈치' 와 같은 실체화된 언어개념이 없거나, 있다하더라도 우리처럼 생활 속에 보편화되고 밀착된 개념이 아 니기 때문이라는 추론이다…the inference is that the West has no reified linguistic concept like the Korean “nunchi,” or even if it does, it is not a concept as universal and close to daily life as ours.p10서양에서는 비언이적 커뮤니케이션이나 비인이적 사회적 기술 연구에서 일반인의 사회적 표상을 실제로 연구한 바 없으며In the West, research on nonverbal communication or nonverbal social skills has never actually studied lay social representations…p10Limits the authors note
Respondents found the question about “showing that you are reading nunchi” hard to understand, so those results (Table 8) are insufficient.
표 8의 자료는 기실 불충분하다. 그 이유는 치보는 것을 노출하는 경우에 대한 질문이 응답자 들에게는 이해하기 어려운 질문으로서The data in Table 8 are in fact insufficient. The reason is that the question about cases of revealing that one is reading nunchi was hard for respondents to understand…p6Key terms
Reading nunchi and playing innocent (눈치보고 시치미 떼기) Reading someone's nunchi but hiding it, acting as if you hadn't.
모두 눈치를 보고도 보지 않은 것처럼 은폐하는 것이므로 '눈치 보고 시치미 때기' 라고 명명해 볼 수 있다…all of these conceal it as if one had not read nunchi after reading it, so it can be named “reading nunchi and playing innocent.”p6Self- and present-centered negative bias of reading nunchi The tendency for coping with unfavorable (negative) situations to be the most common motive for reading nunchi.
눈치보는 동기는 부적 유인가 상황에 대한 대처가 가장 높게 나타나 이를 눈치보기의 자기 • 현재 중심적 부적 편당으로 명명하였다As for the motive for reading nunchi, coping with negatively valenced situations was highest, and this was named the self- and present-centered negative bias of reading nunchi.p1Giving nunchi (눈치주기) Communicating indirectly what could easily be said in words, thereby hinting that you are considering the other person's position and feelings.
상대의 입장이나 심정을 자신이 배려하고 있음을 간접적으로 전달하는데 있 다…lies in indirectly conveying that one is considering the other’s position and feelings.p7쉽게, 직접 말로 표현할 수 있는 것을 어렵고 신중하게 간접적으로 의사를 전달하는 이유는The reason for conveying indirectly, with difficulty and care, what could easily be said directly in words…p7