본 연구는 PR의 대표적 분할이론인 Grunig의 상황적 이론(situational theory)을 외모지상주의 문제에 적용하여 사람들을 각 공중별로 분류하고, 외모지상주의에 관한 이들 각 공중들의 커뮤니케이션 행동을 탐구하는 목적을 가진다. 본 연구는 2005년 10월 27일부터 2005년 11월 12일에 걸쳐 실시된 설문조사를 기초로 한다. 정보처리 변인의 경우, 네 가지 상황에서 모두 적극적인 정보처리를 하는 공중은 고관여도-문제직면 공중이었다. 고관여도-제약된 공중도 인터넷 포털 사이트에서의 정보처리 외의 모든 상황에서 가장 적극적인 세 가지 공중에 포함되고 있었다. 정보처리에서와 마찬가지로 모든 네 가지 상황에서 적극적인 정보추구를 하는 공중도 고관여도-문제직면 공중이었다. 고관여도-제약된 공중도 인터넷에 주소를 남기는 경우를 제외하고는 가장 적극적인 세 공중에 모두 포함되고 있었다. 본 연구의 결과는 생리학적 성이나 나이 등 인구통계학적인 변인과 상황적 변인들이 조합될 때 더욱 강력한 공중분류법이 될 수 있음을 보여준다. 구체적으로, 외모지상주의 문제에 대해 활동공중이 될 확률이 가장 많으며 대학생들의 반 이상을 차지하는 고관여도-문제직면 공중과 고관여도-제약된 공중은 커뮤니케이션 캠페인의 가장 중요한 공중이 되어야 함을 보여준다.

The current study has a purpose of classifying people into different publics according to their preception about the lookism in Korea and exploring their communication behavior, using Grunig's situational theory. The study is based on the survey conducted from October 27, 2005 to November 12, 2005. In terms of information processing variables, the most active public in four situations was the high-involvement-problem-facing public. The high-involvement-constrained public was very active except for the information processing behavior at the internet portal site. In terms of information seeking variables, the most active public in four situations was the high-involvement-problem-facing public. The high-involvement-constrained public was also very active except for the behavior of leaving their addresses at the internet site. The findings of the study showed that it could become a far more powerful segmentation scheme when demographic variables such as sex and age were combined with situational variables. Specifically, the high-involvement-problem- facing public and the high-involvement-constrained public that have the highest possibility of becoming active public and take the majority of the sample should be the most important publics for a communication campaign.

The current study has a purpose of classifying people into different publics according to their preception about the lookism in Korea and exploring their communication behavior, using Grunig's situational theory. The study is based on the survey conducted from October 27, 2005 to November 12, 2005. In terms of information processing variables, the most active public in four situations was the high-involvement-problem-facing public. The high-involvement-constrained public was very active except for the information processing behavior at the internet portal site. In terms of information seeking variables, the most active public in four situations was the high-involvement-problem-facing public. The high-involvement-constrained public was also very active except for the behavior of leaving their addresses at the internet site. The findings of the study showed that it could become a far more powerful segmentation scheme when demographic variables such as sex and age were combined with situational variables. Specifically, the high-involvement-problem- facing public and the high-involvement-constrained public that have the highest possibility of becoming active public and take the majority of the sample should be the most important publics for a communication campaign.

Situational theory, Lookism, Communication behavior, Information processing, Information seeking