나를 닮은 정치 유튜브는 어떻게 정서적 양극화를 견인하는가? : 충성도와 적대적미디어지각의 매개효과를 중심으로 = How Political YouTube Like Me Drives Affective Polarization?: The Mediating Roles of Loyalty and Hostile Media Perception

국문 초록 (Abstract)

이 연구는 정치 유튜브 채널과 구독자의 자아일치성이 충성도와 적대적미디어지각을 매개하여 정서적 양극화에 미치는 영향을 알아보기 위해 정치 유튜브 채널 구독자 309명(20~70대 전국 성인남녀)을 대상으로 자아일치성, 충성도, 적대적미디어지각, 정서적 양극화 등에 관한 설문조사를 실시하였다. PROCESS Macro 모델을 이용해 회귀분석을 실시한 결과 첫째, 정치 유튜브 채널과 구독자의 자아일치성 정도는 충성도와 적대적미디어지각에 각각 영향을 주는 것으로 나타났다. 둘째, 정치 유튜브 채널에 대한 구독자의 충성도 또는 적대적미디어지각이 높을수록 정치 성향이 다른 채널에 대한 정서적 양극화는 높아지는 것을 알 수 있었다. 하지만 자아일치성이 정서적 양극화에 직접적인 영향을 미치지는 않았다. 또한 적대적미디어지각이 충성도보다 정서적 양극화에 더 강한 영향을 미치는 변인임을 확인하였다. 이 연구는 유튜브로 정치 뉴스를 소비하는 환경에서 정서적 극화를 유발하는 심리적 변인에 대해 탐구하였다는 점, 자아일치성 이론의 범주를 미디어 커뮤니케이션 영역까지 확장하였다는 점, 그리고 정서적 양극화 연구에서 자아일치성 이론과 충성도, 적대적미디어지각, 정서적 극화의 연결고리를 상세하게 조명하였다는 점에서 학술적 의의가 있다.

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

The growing popularity of YouTube as a source of political and current affairs information has transformed the contemporary media environment. While the proportion of individuals accessing political and current affairs information through YouTube has been on the rise, existing research has predominantly focused on the motivations underlying such media use—namely, informational and entertainment gratifications—when examining why audiences turn to YouTube channels for this type of content. However, scholarly efforts to investigate the psychological mechanisms through which these motivational factors influence affective polarization have remained comparatively limited. Accordingly, the present study applies self-congruity theory and focuses on examining how self-congruity, channel loyalty, and hostile media perception influence affective polarization. This study suggests the influence of self-congruity between political YouTube channels and the users on their affective polarization, with channel loyalty and hostile media perception serving as mediating variables. A survey of 309 subscribers to political YouTube channels was conducted to assess their self-congruity, loyalty, hostile media perception, and affective polarization. A serial mediation model was tested using Hayes’ PROCESS Macro Model 6, with self-congruity as the independent variable, loyalty and hostile media perception as mediators, and affective polarization as the dependent variable. The findings are presented as follows. First, self-congruity between political YouTube channels and their users was found to influence both channel loyalty and hostile media perception, respectively. Second, higher loyalty to the subscribed political YouTube channel or stronger hostile media perception intensified affective polarization toward channels with differing political orientations. However, self-congruity did not have a direct effect on affective polarization. Furthermore, hostile media perception was found to contribute more significantly to affective polarization than loyalty. Third, the indirect effects of self-congruity on affective polarization were significant through both loyalty and hostile media perception. Fourth, the serial mediation pathway—in which self-congruity sequentially influenced loyalty, hostile media perception, and ultimately affective polarization—was, however, not statistically supported. This study is academically significant for several reasons. First, it examines the psychological variables that contribute to affective polarization in the context of consuming political news on YouTube, and it broadens the application of self-congruity theory to the field of political communication. Second, it identifies key psychological mechanisms underlying affective polarization in algorithmically curated media environments. Third, it provides a more comprehensive understanding of how identity-based media consumption on YouTube contributes to contemporary political affective division by integrating self-congruity, loyalty, hostile media perception, and affective polarization into a unified explanatory framework.