Vol.13,No.2 March,1998　

Title
A exploratory study of creating personal relationships in CMC (computer-mediated communication)
Author
Kwankyu KIM (The Division of Human Relations, Graduate School of Keio University )
Summary
The purpose of this study was to investigate what kind of personal relationships would be created through CMC, to explore to what extent cognitive uncertainty of the relational partner occured in those personal relationships, and to measure the effect of cognitive uncertainty on their relationships. In this study, the subjects were divided into two categories. One was the group of 'face-to-face relationships' which extended to face-to-face relationships in real life, another was the group of 'non face-to-face relationships' which remained in cyberspace. The former group developed in intimate ways common to personal relationships. That is, people tell something personal and expect their relationships to endure over time. The latter group mainly developed in instrumental and emotional ways. In the analysis of the degree of cognitive uncertainty, we can see that all subjects did not know the partner's age and level of education even though they eventually contacted each other directly in real life. In the analysis of the effect of cognitive uncertainty, subjects in the non face-to-face group were more likely to maintain their relationships despite the existence of high cognitive uncertainty.
Key words
personal relationships, face-to-face relationships, non face-to-face relationships, anonymity, cognitive uncertainty
Title
A case study of friendship development among college students
Author
Kazuhide YAMANAKA (Graduate School of Education, Nagoya University)
Summary
The purpose of this study was to investigate same-sex friendship development within a small group of three male and eight female freshmen by the case study method. The subjects completed a questionnaire four times over a three-month period. The questionnaire included the following scales: (1) the rating of each of the group members on a 21-point-scale measuring liking; (2) the rating of the frequency with which the subjects interacted with each member on a 6-point-scale. In addition, the questionnaire included open-ended questions, in which the subjects were asked to describe each member's noticeable behavioral events, personality, and so on. Major findings obtained were as follows. The group structure based on "liking" found at the early stage did not prevail. That is, the number of persons whom the subjects liked increased as the time passed. On the contrary, the group structure based on "interaction frequency" continued for three months. In effect, the persons whom the subjects liked best were different from those whom they were always together with. It suggested that they had "doubled friendships".
Key words
friendship, relationship development, small group, case study, longitudinal study
Title
A quantitative analysis of differing perceptions of mien-tzu/mentsu between Chinese and Japanese students : A case study
Author
Kiyoko SUEDA (Division of Humanities, Hokusei Gakuen University)
Summary
The purpose of this study is to test the hypotheses drawn from the author's continuing research on differences in the perception of mien-tzu, or mentsu, and face-giving or face-saving strategies between PRC Chinese and Japanese. 189 Chinese and 191 Japanese undergraduate students participated in the study. Three findings should be noted. First, when mien-tzu/mentsu concerned the evaluation of one's competence, the Chinese students were more strongly concerned with their mien-tzu/mentsu than their Japanese counterparts. When it concerned their social status or how properly they are treated according to their social status, the Japanese students were more strongly concerned with their mentsu /mien-tzu than the Chinese students. Second, female students were more strongly concerned with their mien-tzu/mentsu than their male counterparts. Third, as for face-giving or face-saving strategies, mixed results were found. The hypothesis that Japanese students are more likely to engage in face-giving or face-saving strategies than Chinese students was not supported.
Key words
mien-tzu or mentsu, Chinese, Japanese, communication strategies
Title
Effect of social network as interpersonal environment on attitude toward and perceived distribution of opinion about gender role
Author
Itaru ISHIGURO (Department of Social Psychology, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, University of Tokyo)
Summary
A large number of gender studies have pointed out that demographic variables explain people's attitudes and behavior regarding gender roles. There seem to exist, however, social psychological factors which are strong determinants on gender related phenomena. Ikeda (1994) pointed out that interpersonal environment affects individuals' attitudes and behavior. Similarly, Huckfeldt (1986) claimed the existence of a positive effect on individuals' attitudes and behavior that result from casual and impersonal communication with others. These studies implied the importance of individuals' frequently-contact-others as a determinant of the individuals' attitudes and behavior. Present study applied their models to gender studies. The hypotheses were as follows: Perceived distribution of the opinion among the respondents' frequently-contact-others regarding gender role would 1) positively correlate with the respondents' attitudes toward gender roles and 2) positively correlate with the perceived distribution of the opinion regarding gender roles in the society. Using an 800 random sampled survey at Bunkyo ward in Tokyo, the hypotheses were confirmed. These correlation remained significant even when some demographic variables were controlled.
Key words
gender role, interpersonal environment, social network, information bias, system cognition
Title
The Role of Expressive Sex-Role Orientation in Leadership Orientation of Women : A Facilitating or an Inhibiting Factor
Author
HTUN TIN TIN (Institute of Psychology, University of Tsukuba)
Mariko YAMAMOTO (Institute of Psychology, University of Tsukuba)
Summary
This study examines whether expressive orientation is an inhibiting factor or facilitating factor for leadership orientation of women, and secondly, it examines associations between personal motives, role model, and leadership orientation in men and women. Japanese undergraduate university students completed a questionnaire which contained scales related to sex-role orientation and other related factors. The main findings show that among high leadership-oriented men, both instrumental and expressive orientation were observed to be high. High leadership-oriented women were more instrumentally oriented than low leadership-oriented women, whereas the two groups did not differ in expressive orientation. This implies that expressive orientation is not an inhibiting factor for leadership orientation. Second, power motive and achievement motive seem to be positive factors for leadership orientation of both men and women. Third, fear of success also positively correlates with the leadership orientation of both men and women. Fourth, gender differences were observed to have an impact on the need for and the use of role model.
Key words
leadership orientation, sex-role orientation, instrumental orientation, expressive orientation
Title
A cross-cultural study on structure of altruism among the youths in five countries
Author
Hiroshi MATSUI (Faculty of Literature, Kawamura Gakuen Woman's University)
Yoshimasa NAKASATO (Faculty of Literature, Toyo University)
Takayuki ISHII (Psychotechnological Institute of Japan)
Summary
There were three main purposes of this study. Those are 1) to clarify structure of altruistic attitudes, 2) to compare the levels of altruism, and 3) to compare the reasons of altruistic behavior among countries. In order to measure altruistic attitudes, we prepared eight situations in the form of a questionnaire. Total number of subjects was 5,134 junior and high school students in U.S.A., China, Korea, Turkey, and Japan. The results are summarized as follows: 1) Factor analysis indicated that structure of altruistic attitudes was almost the same among countries except for the Chinese youths. 2) Regardless of the situations, Chinese male students had a tendency to help others only when they were acquaintances. 3) As for the reasons for the altruistic behavior, Japanese youths considered that emotional reasons were more important than rational reasons, whereas the youths in other countries emphasized the importance of rational reasons. 4) With these results, we concluded that altruistic attitudes were considerably different from country to country.
Key words
altruism, cross-cultural study
Title
Influences of environmental volunteer group's action on residents' cognition and behavior concerning curbside recycling
Author
Junkichi SUGIURA (School of Letters, Nagoya University)
Susumu OHNUMA (Mitsubishi Research Institute)
Hiroshi NONAMI (School of Sociology, Kwansei Gakuin University)
Yukio HIROSE (School of Letters, Nagoya University)
Summary
This study clarified informational and normative influences of environmental volunteer groups on residents' recycling attitudes and behaviors. In the first survey, 14 volunteer groups were categorized into two types based on their activity level and group size. High active groups collected cans and bottles from most part of their areas while low active groups collected from small part of their areas. In the second survey, a questionnaire was distributed to 180 residents from 3 different areas in which there were no volunteer group, low active groups, or high active groups. Attitude, social norm, perceived control, and behavior were compared among the 3 areas. As a result, attitudes toward recycling (evaluation of social benefit and personal benefit) did not differ in the 3 areas. But feasibility evaluation for recycling, social norm awareness and recycling behavior in the area of the high active group were more positive than other two areas.
Key words
environmental volunteer, recycling behavior, attitude, social norm, perceived control