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Lab-in-the-Field Experiments in Japan, South Korea, and China

Professor Eun Bin Chung

On January 19 and 26, the Empirical Analyses of Political Economy Unit sponsored the lecture “Group-Affirmation and Trust in International Relations: Lab-in-the-Field Experiments in Japan, South Korea, and China” by Professor Eun Bin Chung from the Department of Political Science at the University of Utah. Professor Chung specializes in international relations and experimental methods, and has won three best dissertation awards, such as the APSA (American Political Science Association) Best Dissertation Award in Political Psychology.

In the lecture, Professor Chung presented her research addressing whether strong national identities would enhance or undermine building trust between countries which shares bitter past experiences such as conflicts and colonialism. Her research focused on the cases of South Korea, China, and Japan, which equally face security issues in Northeast Asia. With a unique method combining lab-in-the-field experiments, trust game, and survey data analysis, she demonstrated that the stronger the individual’s affirmation of their own country’s values, the more likely they were to trust other countries.

Q&A session

The finding of her study deserves scholarly and practical attention, in that it provides evidence contradicting the conventional understanding regarding the relationship between nationalism and trust with neighboring countries. It is commonly believed that strong national identities may lead to chauvinism, distrust between neighboring countries, tensions, and eventually conflicts. Contrary to such pessimistic views, the lecture by Professor Chung showed that an individual’s group-affirmation could increase trust with his or her neighbors, which would serve for reconciliation between them and avoid ethnic and racial conflicts as well.