Vol.13,No.1 September,1997
- Title
- A study on leadership of relief shelters following the 1995 Hanshin Earthquake
- Author
- Yutaka SHIMIZU (Showa Women's University)
Keizo MIZUTA (Shokei Women's College)
Manabu AKIYAMA (Osaka University of Education)
Mitsuhiro URA (Hiroshima University)
Kazuhisa TAKEMURA (Tsukuba University)
Masayuki NISHIKAWA (Osaka University of Education)
Yutaka MATSUI (University of the Sacred Heart)
Miki MIYATO (Yokohama National University) - Summary
- The purpose of our study on the 1995 Hanshin Earthquake was twofold. First, we investigated the operation of the relief shelters, including relief activities. In this part of the study, we focused on the leaders of the shelters. The second purpose of this study was to reveal factors contributing to the effective management of the shelters. About three weeks after the Hanshin Earthquake, we conducted interviews with 32 leaders of the relief shelters and of volunteer workers. We were mainly concerned with the conditions of the emergency facilities, how leaders were selected and what managerial problems they faced. The result of our study showed three types of motivation for becoming leaders. The first occurred naturally as an outcome of their activities; the second by their own choice; and the last because of their regular job positions. These results were analyzed and categorized by the type three quantification analysis. We found that the most effective management of the relief shelters was under leaders chosen by the last method; that is, those who held positions of leadership in their regular jobs.
- Key words
- the 1995 Hanshin Earthquake, leaders of relief shelters, interview method, quantification method of the Third Type, categorization of relief shelters
- Title
- A study of helping behavior among housewives in everyday life
- Author
- Masayuki NISHIKAWA (Osaka Kyoiku University)
- Summary
- The purpose of this research was to clarify helping behavior of housewives in everyday life from both viewpoints of the help-seeker and the help-giver. Based on the results of factor analysis, their helping behaviors were theoretically categorized into four types: 1) informal helping in urgent situations, 2) formal helping in urgent situations, 3) informal helping in non-urgent situations, and 4) formal helping in non-urgent situations. The housewives more frequently gave help to neighbors than they themselves required from neighbors. The closer the relationship between the seeker and the giver of help the more frequently helping was required and given. The effects of age on helping was not constant.
- Key words
- help-seeking, help-giving, housewives, everyday life, neighbor
- Title
- Cultural views of self and self-assessment behavior : Empirical findings in Japanese culture
- Author
- Miki SEIKE (The Human Corporation)
Toshitake TAKATA (Faculty of Social Research, Nara University) - Summary
- Three experiments were conducted trying to examine the self-assessment theory (Trope, 1983) in Japan. As self-assessment motivation seems to be derived from the independent construal of the self (Markus & Kitayama, 1991), it was hypothesized that the motivation will be suppressed by theinterdependent construal of the self which is ubiquitous in Japanese culture. Experiment 1 replicated self-assessment behavior, using the same manipulations as in the previous studies where the subjects felt almost no concern about interpersonal relationships. In Experiment 2, it was demonstrated that subjects displaying a high level of interdependency did not show self-assessment behavior in the conditions where interpersonal concerns were activated. On the other hand, the results in Experiment 3 did not reveal such suppression of self-assessment in the case of subjects who lacked the independent or interdependent construal of the self. These results suggested that Japanese subjects tend to inhibit their self-assessment motivation in favor of self-devaluation process.
- Key words
- self-assessment theory, cultural view of the self, independent and interdependent construals of the self, Japanese culture, self-devaluation
- Title
- The reasons and the conditions for sustained global environment conservation behavior
- Author
- Osamu HAYASHI (Department of Psychology, Tokyo Institute of Technology)
Nobuko KUBO (Graduate School of Tokyo Institute of Technology) - Summary
- Global environmental problems require many people's cooperation. In this study, the reasons for participating in environment conservation bahavior are analyzed. The subjects are 579 dwellers in the Tokyo Metropolitan area. The results are: 1. Only a few people are participating in global environment conservation behavior just for the sake of conservation of Global environment. For many people, Global environment problems are only one of the reasons for environment conservation behavior. They are taking action not only for the conservation of Global environment but also for their own benefits. 2. One person participates in less than 5 Global environment conservation behaviors just for the sake of conservation of Global environment. Some benefits for the participants are needed in order to increase the number. As for those persons, it is important for Global environmenal conservation acts to get priorities of each action.
- Key words
- global environment conservation behavior, continuing, regulation
- Title
- Cognitive biases in negotiation : The determinants of fixed-pie assumption and fairness bias
- Author
- Mitsuteru FUKUNO (Tohoku University)
Ken-ichi OHBUCHI (Tohoku University) - Summary
- Assuming two cognitive biases, the fixed-pie assumption and the fairness bias, as interfering with an integrative agreement in negotiations, we attempted to examine the effects upon them of incompatibility of interests and amount of information of the other party's interests. In Study 1,17 pairs of Japanese subjects negotiated with each other in a situation in which potentially integrative solutions were available. Inconsistent with the findings obtained in research using American subjects, however, our subjects perceived the situation as less incompatible than it actually was, and rated the other parties as more fair than themselves. In Study 2, another 16 Japanese subjects were given the written records of the negotiations of Study 1, and rated the perceived incompatibility of the situation and fairness of the negotiator from a neutral point of view. The results reveal- ed that the compatibility perception found in Study 1 was an artifact produced by the task structure. That is, neither the fixed-pie assumption nor compatibility perception occurred in the present study. Discussion was conducted from a cross-cultural as well as a procedural perspective.
- Key words
- negotiation, fixed-pie assumption, egocentric interpretations of fairness, incompatibility of interest, the availability of information of the other party's interest
- Title
- Effects of experts' comments on the causal and intentional attributions of the news paper readers
- Author
- Tomohide BANZAI (Faculty of Education, Saitama University)
- Summary
- In the first study, subjects of two groups read a news item reporting about an 'infant murder' with experts comments. One group received comments stressing the intent of the infant to commit murder (Intent comment), the other, comments emphasizing parents' responsibility for taking care of the child (Parents comment). Subjects of the control group read the item without comments. Each subject of the three groups was randomly assigned to receive either the high or low source credibility conditions (Credibility conditions). The main effects of comments, and comments × source credibility interaction effects were significant. In the low source credibility conditions, comments had no effects on subjects' causal judgments. However, in high source credibility condition, Intent comment made subjects attribute the strongest responsibility to the infant of the three comments conditions. In the second study, subjects read the news with Intent comment paired with Parents comment. They made intermediate attributions between Intent comment and Control conditions. Importance of source credibility of mass media and expert comment focusing on intent of the person concerned were discussed.
- Key words
- mass media, causal attribution, source credibility, experts' comments, intention
- Title
- Categorization of interpersonal stress events among undergraduates
- Author
- Takeshi HASHIMOTO (Faculty of Education, Nagoya University)
- Summary
- This study purported to analyze and clarify factors that cause interpersonal stress, conflicts, inferiority complex and dislocation in adolescence. Study I identified three categories of interpersonal stress: (1) interpersonal conflict, (2) interpersonal inferiority complex, and (3) interpersonal dislocation. Study II examined correlations between personality trait scales and these three categories. These correlations were analyzed according to stressfulness and frequency of events. As a result, validity of the three categories was supported, and it was suggested that different strategies were necessary for intervention in order to reduce the impact of stress.
- Key words
- interpersonal stress, interpersonal conflict, interpersonal inferiority complex, interpersonal dislocation, adolescence
