STORY:
Americans Fear Y2K Most

Americans top the list when it comes to worrying about Y2K

It looks like Americans will be the nervous Nellies of the world on New Year's Eve. A psychologist studying reactions to the coming millennium and the computer Y2K problem has found that while other countries shrug off the fears, Americans embrace them.

Donald MacGregor told the Associated Press that the high anxiety over the turning of the calendar is "purely an American phenomenon". Americans make up most of the survivalist movement by buying electric generators, worrying about nonworking teller machines and hoarding food. Meanwhile, people in other countries could care less about the monumental date change.

MacGregor, a researcher with Decision Science Research Institute of Eugene, thinks he knows why. MacGregor is quoted as saying. "We are the one country in the highly industrialized world that has never come through a calamity. England had the Blitz. Japan had a nuclear attack. Germany, France, Italy were devastated by war."

Since the civil war America has escaped the kind of widespread change and damage a war brings. Other countries have been through war and found out that life goes on. America has never had a major destruction of infrastructure and come through the other side with the knowledge that life continues and that the country can make it through the tough times.

The way American’s perceive the problem is a problem of its own. MacGregor says preparations for real or imagined threats can be hazardous. Hoarding large amounts of food can lead to spoilage and illness. Fear can lead to more fear and that alone is a cause of concern.

Americans are also dependent on technology, that dependence gives rise to feelings of vulnerability. He say American's ask like what if your water went out, would you know where to go? Or how many people know how to make their own soap? America is so highly specialized and dependent on the technology-driven institutions that the fears of Y2K run very deep according to MacGregor.

Another reason Americans are so nervous says MacGregor is that Americans have always thought there was some sort of connection between the millennium and the Apocalypse. Therefore, if you add computer failures with the Apocalypse, you have a very powerful psychological impact says MacGregor.

MacGregor is studying the psychological reactions of Y2K with a grant from the National Science Foundation.

DATE: 11/4/99

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