Cognitive analysis of the economic crisis perceptions

Abstract

The article provides criticism related to the questionnaire approaches to evaluate crisis; the criticism is based on the model of operationalization where operational definition unproblematically reproduces the conceptual one. The author presents a cognitive interpretation of the perception of the crisis by heads of Russian enterprises. Based on the measurements of emotional and cognitive components of the economic crisis, a model of perception and interpretation of the reasons and consequences of economic crisis in Russian business environment is developed by the author. Observation of verbal strategies of respondents (argumentation, examples, references to personal experience, emotional insertions) who answer the closed-ended questions reveals relations between informative answers and communicative context. The cognitive character of the study manifests itself not through the direct observation of the mental process, but through the indirect behavioral indicators (using the cognitive interview and behavior coding methods). An index of perception of the economic situation is developed on the basis of the analysis of question and answer communication. The index can be interpreted as an indicator of subjective perception of crisis where negative values refer to negative situation and panic perceptions and expectations, and positive ones mean a reserved position and lacking subjective emotions. In our case the Subjective Perception Index is equal to +0.22. In other words, a balanced and argument-oriented crisis discourse is dominating. According to the January 2015 data, the public moods are quiet; no panic actions are expected in the next two or three months; at the same time, the future is generally pictured in a negative way intensified by the unwillingness to make any forecasts and propositions.