国際誌論文データベース

Tanaka, Y. (田中豊)
Attitude gaps between conventional plant breeding crops and GM crops, and psychological models determining the acceptance of the two crops.
Journal of Risk Research, 16, 69-80.
doi: 10.1080/13669877.2012.726236

Thus far, people’s attitudes toward biotechnology and genetically modified (GM) crops have been investigated in the European Union (EU), United States (US), Japan, and other nations. However, direct comparisons between people’s attitudes toward conventional plant breeding crops and their attitudes toward GM crops will show the characteristics of people’s attitudes toward GM crops more clearly, and this will bring about valuable suggestions considering risk communication about GM crops. The first purpose of this study was to show attitude gaps between conventional plant breeding crops and GM crops. Referring to preceding studies related to the acceptance of biotechnology, a causal model was constructed to predict the acceptance of GM crops and plant breeding crops. Four factors—perceived risk, perceived benefit, trust, and sense of bioethics—were set up as important psychological factors determining the acceptance of GM crops and plant breeding crops in the structural equation models. The second purpose of this study was to verify the validity of these causal models. A social survey was administered in Tokyo, Japan, with a sample of 600 men and women aged 20 years or older who participated. The results showed that people have a more negative attitude toward GM crops than toward conventional plant breeding crops in every factor, that is, perceived risk, perceived benefit, trust, sense of bioethics, and acceptance. The plausibility of the causal models was tested by using structural equation modelling (SEM), and the results indicated that the four factors explain the acceptance very well in both models. Moreover, although perceived risk is the most important factor in the acceptance of GM crops, trust is the most important factor in the acceptance of conventional plant breeding crops.

Kimura, K., Murayama, A.（村山綾）, Miura, A.（三浦麻子）, & Katayama, J. (2013). Effect of Decision Confidence on the Evaluation of Conflicting Decisions in a Social Context. Neuroscience Letters, 556, 176-180. Conflicts with others about decisions are reflected in the medial frontal negativity (MFN),　which is a component of the event-related brain potential (ERP). The present study examined how　decision confidence in a perceptual decision task modulated the ERP components elicited by　decision conflicts with others. In a motion discrimination task, participants were randomly assigned　to an easy or a difficult group that differed in coherence levels of the moving dots. Participants were　paired with a confederate and presented the confederate’s decision about the motion direction of the　moving dots, which was either congruent or incongruent with the participants’ decision. MFN was　elicited by the incongruent confederate’s decision and its amplitude did not differ between groups. A　larger P300 amplitude was elicited by incongruent decisions in the easy group, whereas the P300　amplitude did not differ between congruent and incongruent decisions in the difficult group. These　results indicate the functional dissociation between MFN and P300 in the evaluation of social　feedback. It is suggested that MFN might reflect automatic detection of conflicts about decisions,whereas the P300 might detect the deviation from internal expectations regarding other’s decisions. 近年，個人の意見と集団の意見との不一致が生じたときには，失敗行動の処理やエラー検出を反映する事象関連脳電位（ERP）である内側前頭陰性電位（Medial Frontal Negativity：MFN）および注意の配分を反映するP300が生起することが報告されている。本研究では，対人状況において知覚的意思決定を行う課題を用いることで，対人葛藤を生起するとともに実験的に判断の確信度を操作し，確信度が対人葛藤の処理に及ぼす影響を明らかにすることを目的とした。難易度高群もしくは低群にランダムに割り当てられた男子大学生26名が他者（サクラ）とペアを組み、ランダムドット刺激の運動方向を判断する知覚的意思決定課題を行った。両者の正答数の合算が実験後に与えられる金銭報酬になるため、できる限り正確に課題を遂行するように教示された。他者の判断は，参加者の反応に関わらず等頻度で一致あるいは不一致するよう操作した。他者の判断が提示された時点を刺激オンセットとして算出したERPを対象に分析を行った結果、両群においてMFNが観察され，対人葛藤が失敗やエラーとして処理されることが示された。また，判断の確信度はMFNに影響しておらず，対人葛藤の処理は自動的であることが示唆された。最後に，難易度低群のP300においてのみ一致条件と不一致条件に条件差が観察されたことから，判断の確信度は，対人葛藤が自動的に検出された後の処理段階を調整することが明らかになった。

Ishii, K.（石井敬子） (2013). Culture and the mode of thought: A review. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 16, 123-132. doi: 10.1111/ajsp.12011   This review highlights studies examining cultural differences in the mode of thought. The theoretical framework of studies from a cross-cultural perspective suggests that views of self, social norms, communication practices, and modes of thought are interconnected. The independent view of self, dominant in Western cultures, promotes low-contextual communication and corresponds to an analytic and logical mode of thought. On the other hand, the interdependent view of self, dominant in East Asian cultures, promotes high-contextual communication and corresponds to a holistic and dialectical mode of thought. The expected cultural variations of the mode of thought have been supported by empirical findings regarding causal attribution, attention, reasoning, categorization, and comprehension of utterances. Moreover, it has become clear that cultural knowledge of ideas and beliefs, which are activated by linguistic symbols and icons, guides the corresponding psychological tendencies including analytic and holistic modes of thought. Furthermore, studies of cultural neuroscience have shown cultural differences in behavioural as well as neural responses. A growing body of research supports cultural differences in the mode of thought; however, there is still much room for this research area to progress. Future directions suggesting further investigations in relation to socialization, cultural products, and gene–culture interaction are discussed.