Vol.9,No.3 March,1994
- Title
- Family well being through recovery of community(<Special Issue>Family, organization, a sense of worthiness)
- Author
- Etsuko SATO (Rikkyo University)
- Summary
- This paper argues that three-way communication must occur for the family to regain its strength in the Japanese society. Because the third person, namely the father, has been absent often, communication has been chiefly diadic, between mother and child. In diadic communications, the participants cannot objectify themselves. As a result, the development of sense of Self is hampered. This in turn interferes with intimacy in relationships. A description of group therapy over the period of a year involving mothers who have school refusal children (now adult) illustrates the restitution of three way communication. Analysis of the process is included showing three stages of change; (1) instrumental communication; (2) autistic communication and (3) empathetic communication.
- Key words
- homeostasis model and evolutionary model, family's sense of well being, meanings of message sent, triadic communication, family group therapy, isolation of family members
- Title
- The structure of YUTORI : a specifically Japanese concept meaning subjective well-being(<Special Issue>Family, organization, a sense of worthiness)
- Author
- Hideo FURUKAWA (Osaka University)
Miyako YAMASHITA (Osaka University)
Ryuichirou YAGI (International Economy and Work Research Institute) - Summary
- This study was conducted in order to investigate the structure of YUTORI. YUTORI is a Japanese noun denoting a subjective sense of well-being in daily life, and has been set up as a policy objective by labor, management, and the administrative world. In the first part of study, Study I, the answers of 200 middle managers to open-ended questions about YUTORI were classified and 50 items were isolated. In Study II, the responses of 272 workers to these 50 items were both factor and cluster-analyzed, and eight factors were isolated. These eight factors were named Enjoyment, Amenity, Challenge, Leisure, Competency, Wealth, Mental health, and Behavioral freedom, respectively. In Study III, the 50 items were divided into eight sub-scales by item-analysis, and correlations between scores on the eight sub-scales and nine attributes, e.g., marriage, education, income, and working hours were examined. The implications of the results were discussed and the necessity for further research suggested.
- Key words
- yutori, specifically Japanese concept of subjective well-being, structural analysis, scale development
- Title
- The development and validation of the uniqueness scale
- Author
- Shigeyuki YAMAOKA (Rikkyo University)
- Summary
- Need for uniqueness is defined by Snyder & Fromkin (1977) as a positive striving for different-ness relative to other people, and discriminated from abnormality and deviance on its positive connotations. Five studies were conducted to construct the Uniqueness Scale considering positive connotations of need for uniqueness and to examine the reliability and validity of the scale. In study 1,305 university students completed the Uniqueness Scale along with some other personality scales. Scores on the Uniqueness Scale showed a high internal consistency (α=.794). The Uniqueness Scale score was significantly and positively correlated with the measures of self-esteem (γ=.329), private self-consiousness (γ=.189) and Snyder & Fromkin's need for uniqueness scale (γ=.344). Discriminant validation data meet the normal psychometric criteria expected of an individual-difference measure. In other four studies, the uniqueness attributes study, the self-concept study, self-concept factor study and the emotional reaction study, the results supported the validity of this new scale as a measure of need for uniqueness.
- Key words
- uniqueness scale, need for uniqueness, uniqueness attributes, self-concept, emotional reaction
- Title
- The effects of perceived risk on consumers' information-seeking
- Author
- Makie SUZUKI (Keio University)
- Summary
- This study investigated the effects of perceived risk on consumers' information-seeking prior to purchasing. Data were analyzed in two ways: (1) how perception of performance, financial, physical, social and psychological risk determined the degree of information-seeking toward each source; and (2) how perceived risk affected consumers' information-seeking pattern. The results revealed that four types of risk had differential effects, and that social risk was the strongest factor in determining the degree of information-seeking. We proposed the following classification scheme of information seekers. The "high information-seeking group" perceived high risk. The "low information-seeking group" perceived low risk. The "personal information-seeking group" and the "personal-plus-magagine group" had a moderate degree of risk perception. The information-seeking pattern of the last two groups differed depending on the consumers' images of information sources.
- Key words
- consumer behavior, perceived risk, types of risk, information-seeking, information sources
