The purpose of this paper is to introduce eight articles which were written on the psychological mechanisms of accidents in Korean society and to suggest alternatives to prevent them. All of these articles were presented during the “Symposium of Safety” at the Annual Conference of the Korean Psychological Association, at Youngnam University through October 18～19, 2002. Frequently occurring accidents in Korean society are a very serious and enduring social issue. Psychological and cultural factors, as well as environmental factors, were found to be leading causes of the various accidents. The preventative alternatives for these accidents should be developed taking into account these factors. A nation-wide comprehensive institute for accident management is necessary to control accidents and to study and to develop preventive programs. The attitude of psychologists also needs to shift from the laboratory to the field toward accidents and from passive to aggressive toward issues facing Korean society.
The present authors had conducted several researches(parking violation, traffic signal violation, speed violation, drunk-driving) on driving behaviors of the Korean people focused on cultural psychological perspective. This paper was designed to summarize these previous results. Although each research had dealt with different violation behaviors on driving, there were lots of similarities on the basis of violation. The results reveal the following rationale for incurring violation behaviors. First, most people reported that they violated the rule to pursuit short-term benefit. Second, the violators' psychological characteristics are described in terms of self-centered and self-justification. In addition, the respondents have justified their violated behaviors since the outcome is disadvantageous for the drivers. Furthermore, the violators' are found to possess a permissive attitude toward the other violators'. Finally, the implications of these studies were proposed. All of these findings were discussed in relation to the Korean culture.
The purpose of this study is to review the previous studies on the safety problems in Korea and to propose a psychological total safety system model. The model consisted of four agents; the government as the safety management agent, the suppliers of safety goods and services, consumer of safety goods and services, and civil movement institutions for safety. It was emphasized that the culture specific social representations of safety and accident have emerged in the course of rapid industrialization process in Korea during last 30 years. We delineated the social representations of the Korean people on safety and accident according to the model. A psychological analysis of drinking and driving behavior was performed as an application of the model. It was emphasized that safety psychologists have to develope and to apply the knowledge and the information from human engineering psychology and applied social psychology on safety and accidents.
This paper attempts to identify that the speeding behavior is the important factor in traffic accident by analysing the background and process of speeding behavior. The structure of hurried behavior is reviewed to explain the relationship between the speeding behavior and hurried behavior. And the process of speeding behavior which becomes his own attitude and behavior in driving by social customs approval is analysed by risk homeostasis theory. The results of attitude survey show that drivers speeding behavior is not changing even though they know that speeding behavior is main factor in traffic accident. The influence structure among hurried behavior, background and process of speeding behavior should be analysed to understand the actual speeding behavior in driving.
This study reviewed behavioral studies that have been conducted to prevent accidents. The studies were analyzed according to settings, subjects, experimental design, dependent and independent variables. Based on this analysis, issues important for conducting future research are proposed. The analysis indicated that behavioral studies have several limitations although they have been successful in preventing accidents. Especially, variables in individual levels that have been related to the accidents have not been appropriately dealt with in the behavioral studies. Similarly, several important variables in organizational levels have not been implemented in the behavioral studies. Therefore, these variables should be more appropriately dealt with in future behavioral research to increase the effectiveness of accident prevention programs. In addition, theoretical relationship between dimensions of independent and dependent variables and maintenance of programs need to be studied further.
The purpose of this paper is to explore Korean adolescents' understanding of safety using the indigenous psychologies approach. This paper examines Korean adolescents' experience of the type of accidents they were involved in, what they perceived to be the cause of the accident, the type of social support received after the accident, and the prevention needed to avoid future accidents. The indigenous understanding of accidents is examined according to the grade level of the students, gender, and safety efficacy beliefs. Second, to examine the changes in the safety efficacy beliefs, the differences across primary, junior high, and senior high school students are examined. Third, the relationship between safety efficacy belief and attitudes toward preventing future accidents is explored. Third, the parental influence on adolescents' safety efficacy belief is examined by analyzing the influence of their socio-economic status and their safety efficacy belief on their children's safety efficacy belief and behavior. The review of the results can be summarized into the following five main points: (1) decrease in safety efficacy belief with increasing age, (2) positive relationship between safety efficacy belief and behavior, (3) the utility of the indigenous psychologies approach, (4) the parental influence on their children's safety efficacy beliefs and behavior, and (5) the need to further explore, promote, and educate the importance of human life and quality of life by preventing accidents and promoting safety consciousness and behavior in Korea.
The object of this study is to evaluate the prevailing physical and psychosocial conditions regarding occupational low back injury. This study consists of two parts. In the first part of the study, analytic biomechanical model and NIOSH guidelines are applied to evaluate risk levels of low back injury for automobile assembly jobs. Total of 246 workers are analysed. There are 20 jobs having greater back compressive forces than 300kg at L5/S1. Also, there are 44 jobs over Action Limit with respect to 1981 NIOSH guidelines. The relationship between psychosocial factors and low back injury was examined in the second part of the study. A battery of questionnaires concerning the psychosocial stress based on PWI (Psychosocial Well-being Index) and musculoskeletal pain symptoms at low back was completed by 246 workers at the same plant. Results showed that 207 out 246 workers experienced the symptoms and 27 workers were diagnosed as patients. Two groups(low stressed, high stressed) based on PWI score had no significant relationships with both symptoms and results of diagnosis. The relationships between physical work load and psychosocial stress were also analysed. Specifically, some postural factors(vertical deviation angle of forearm, horizontal deviation angle of upperarm, vertical deviation angle of thigh, etc) were highly correlated with psychosocial stress. The results illustrated that PWI scores were associated with some physical workloads. However, psychosocial stress levels couldn't be well related with the pain symptom as well as the actual incidence of low back injury since pain or discomfort regarding low back injury were more complex than that of other musculoskeletal disorders.
This paper provides a comparative analysis of the probabilistic versus deterministic view of accident and safety using the indigenous and cultural perspectives. Death and injury due to accidents is the leading cause of preventable death in most countries, including Korea. The first part of this paper delineates the limitation of the linear, deterministic model that has been adopted in social and applied sciences. The transactional model, advocated by indigenous psychology, is provided to understand the probabilistic nature of accident and safety at home, in the workplace and in society. Second, factors related to accidents and safety are reviewed. Third, application of the probabilistic model for preventing accidents and promoting safety in Korea is outlined.