Abstract

The purpose of this study was to identify the priming effects of disaster-related news. Specifically, this study aimed to examine the priming effects about trauma words and neutral words according to the geographical and psychological distance from the disaster. The participants in this study were 75 college students who had not experienced the Daegu subway fire accident, and whom were not ruled out after completing the screening measure completing the screening measure the completion of questionnaires for screening. All participants conducted a lexical decision task after watching a news video about the Daegu subway fire accident. The design was a 2 (Geographical distance: close vs. distant) × 2 (Psychological distance: close vs. distant) × 2 (Priming type: trauma priming vs. neutral priming) mixed-design. The results of this study are summarized as follows: First, the group which was geographically closer to the disaster tended to revealed a largerbigger priming effect than the distant group-a trend toward significance. Second, within the psychologically closer to the disaster, group, for those who were geographically closer too, the priming effect was larger for those who were geographically closer geographically closer than for the geographically distant group. Third, the geographically closer group had a largerbigger neutral priming effect than the distant group. Fourth, the psychologically distant group had a largerbigger neutral priming effect than the close group. To sum up, this study identified that disaster news coverage may have an implicit effect on people, and this influence can change according to the geographical and psychological distance. Finally, this study discussed the limitations of the study and recommendations for further research.