Vol.19,No1 Aug,2003

Title

The influences of passengers on automobile accidents

Author

Tsuneo Matsuura (Japan Safe Driving Center)

Summary

Field observations of persons in a car and accident analysis were conducted to clarify the effect of passengers on road accidents. Items investigated in both studies included the age and gender of both driver and passenger, and number of passengers. We used data on accidents occurred in the Tsukuba area (N=957), where observational studies were conducted (N= 2682). An accident case study (N=206) was also made to examine the types of passenger-related effects. Log-linear analysis indicated accident risk was higher when carrying two or more passengers or alone than when carrying one passenger, and higher in the presence of males or children as passengers than females. The passenger effects were discussed in terms of communication, distraction, and conformity to passenger norms.

Key words

Passenger effects; Road accidents! Communication; Distraction! Conformity

Title

Irrelevance, neutrality, and ambivalence as determinants of dilution effect

Author

Hidetaka Okuda (Seijo University)

Summary

Dilution effect in evaluative judgment means that the non-diagnostic information reduces the implications of diagnostic one. It was hypothesized that the magnitude of ambivalence of the added information would enhance the dilution effect when it was combined with either positive or negative one. In Exp. 1, thirty-four undergraduates were asked to evaluate the desirability of the combinations of part time job and either bonus or overtime work. The ambivalence was manipulated by the amounts of reward and labor in the part time jobs. The results suggested that the dilution effect was enhanced as the reward and labor of the jobs increased even when the ratios of them were constant. The combinations of part time job and either bonus or overtime work were also evaluated by sixty nine undergraduates in study 2, which revealed that the evaluative orders of more and less ambivalent jobs became reversed when the same amount, of bonus or overtime work were added to them. These results suggest that the dilution effect is explainable within the ambivalence model of evaluative judgment.

Key words

ambivalence, dilution effect, evaluative judgment, neutrality, set size effect.

Title

The role of citizen participation in a consensus achieving process in developing environmental policy: The case study of Chitose Drainage Canal Plan

Author

Susumu Ohnuma (College of Distribution Economics, Fuji Tokoha University)
Kazuya Nakayachi (Faculty of Humanities, Tezukayama University)

Summary

The role of citizens in developing environmental policy in the case of the Chitose Drainage Canal Plan is studied through a survey m Sapporo. An attempt was made to determine why many people demand citizens-f participation in social decision making, even though they have no direct involvement in the issue. The results showed that citizens were considered as a neutral agent, while Hokkaido Government that behaved as mediator was not considered as neutral. Citizens might be expected to monitor whether the decision process is fair or not, from the point of view of a "third party." The role of experts was also discussed. They were evaluated to be specialized and fair.

Key words

citizen's participation, fairness, Chitose Drainage Canal Plan, environmental policy

Title

Interpersonal Effects of Restraint on Negative Feedback in Communication: Consequences of “Not saying what I want to say rather than causing conflict.”

Author

Eri Shigemasu (The University of Tokyo Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology) Ken’ichi Ikeda (The University of Tokyo Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology)

Summary

This research examined effects of conversational restraint called "Restraint on Negative Feedback (RNF)" on relational partner's dissatisfaction with interpersonal relationship, which are assumed to be intervened by two factors, 1) whether partner's perception/estimation of actor's RNF is correct or incorrect and 2) whether partner's evaluation of RNF is positive or negative. Dyadic data obtained by a snowball-sampling mail survey revealed that 41% of partners-f perception/estimation of actors' RNF were incorrect and that even the se misunderstandings had effects on partners' dissatisfaction with the relationship. Especially in relationships where partners-f evaluations of RNF were negative, these misunderstandings generated positive illusion when partners underestimated actors RNF and negative illusion when they overestimated RNF. These -uridings indicated the importance of considering the two factors above in dyadic data to reveal interpersonal effects of RNF.

Key words

conversational restraint, dissatisfaction with interpersonal relationship, snowball sampling

Title

Bullying amongst close friends in elementary school

Author

Kouji Mishima (Graduate school of Education, Hyogo University of Teacher Education)

Summary

This study aimed, first, to examine sex differences in bullying behavior, and second, to probe for any relationships between -gbullying among close friends-h and a pupil's social skills and exclusiveness. A questionnaire was conducted, and approximately 450 fifth and sixth graders served as participants. The following results were obtained. Females experienced more bullying from close friends than males, and this experience was likely to affect relational satisfaction with friends more than males. Furthermore, path-analysis was conducted to determine if social skills and exclusiveness might predict victimization, as well as bullying. The path model fit males better than females, with both predictors having significant paths to the two outcome factors, while females only showed exclusiveness predicting these factors, and not social skills.

Key words

bullying, elementary school, exclusiveness, social skills, informal groups

Title

The effects of gender and status on interpersonal distance: From the viewpoint of oppression hypothesis

Author

Atsuko Aono (Faculty of Humanities, Matsuyama Shinonome College)

Summary

The oppression hypothesis which was originally advocated by N. Henley expects that superiors have greater control beyond their own space and claim greater space than subordinates. This projective study, using computer simulation, examined the effects of gender and status on both approach distance and approached distance among Japanese company employees to verify the oppression hypothesis. The result was that neither gender nor status affected the two types of distance, and they do not support the oppression hypothesis. Rather, the relation of Ss and the person they were interacting with was important. That is, Ss took the smallest distance with fellow officers and the greatest distance with superior officers. Especially female Ss kept male superiors farthest away form them. Further studies are needed which control status variables strictly and introduce cross-cultural standpoints.

Key words

interpersonal distance, personal space, gender difference, oppression hypothesis

Title

Effects of early adult attachment styles on intimate opposite-sex relationships

Author

Yuji Kanemasa (Graduate School of Human Sciences, Osaka University)
Ikuo Daibo (Graduate School of Human Sciences, Osaka University)

Summary

This study was conducted to examine the effects of early adult attachment styles on intimate opposite -sex relationships. E specially, this study focused on the theoretical duality of attachment. Thus, for examining the validity and adjustability of attachment styles on both relational and general distinctions, the images toward romantic love and experiences in a specific relationship were distinguished in this study. Subjects were 449 undergraduates. The results revealed that (a) secure individuals tended to have relatively positive images toward romantic love, snowed high scores on Sternberg's three components of love, and valued the importance of the relationship highly, (b) oppositely, avoidant individuals had relatively negative images toward romantic love, showed low scores on the three components of love, and did not regard the relationship as important, (c) ambivalent individuals tended to hold the image toward romantic love as restraints of their partner. Moreover, causal models of the influence process among variables were constructed and analyzed on each attachment style, and the results showed that three attachment styles had different influence processes respectively, and these indicated Self-fulfilling of attachment styles. These results are discussed in terms of the validation and continuity of attachment styles.

Key words

early adult attachment styles, intimate opposite-sex relationships, images of love, the triangular theory of love, evaluations toward the relationships.