日本社会心理学会

Vol.19,No3 Mar,2004

Title: The construction of the meaning of acquired severe motor disabilities: The life-stories of persons with spinal cord injuries
Author: Masakuni TAGAKI ( College of Social Welfare, Osaka Prefecture University)
Summary: The purpose of this study was to examine the construction of meaning of acquired severe motor disabilities from the perspective of life-span development. The author conducted semi-structured interviews with ten males who had sustained traumatic spinal cord injuries, with a history of more than ten years. The data were analyzed qualitatively, focusing on how the subjects reconstructed their post-injury and present lives. As a result, many subjects told repeated resolution of problems that arose from disabilities. Aspects that they considered positive in their present lives were: (1) better jobs or a deeper understanding of persons with disabilities than before; (2) happier family life relative to earlier stages since sustaining the injuries; or (3) better economical stability than other people. They interpreted issues regarding their disabilities as non-threatening to their present lives. Overall, their life-stories suggested that their present lives had become better. In particular, those who mentioned the above aspect (1), were more likely to construct a causal relationship between their injuries and the positive view of their present lives.
Key words: severe acquired motor disability, life story, narrative, meaning, life span development

Title: Trust as a signal in relations with temporary partners
Author: Rie MASHIMA, Toshio YAMAGISHI, and Masahumi MATSUDA ( Graduate School of Letters, Hokkaido University)
Summary: The purpose of this study was to examine the role of trust in relationships between temporary partners. In this study, we predicted that trust would play a "signaling" role in promoting mutual cooperation, even in relationships with unfixed or temporary partners. To examine this prediction, we conducted an experiment using two different games. We used the repeated PD/D (prisoner's dilemma with choice of dependence) game, which can measure trusting behavior independently from cooperation. Also, we used the ordinary PD game in which there is no option for trust. Seventy participants were assigned to either the PD/D condition or the ordinary PD condition. In both conditions, players interacted with a randomly matched partner in each trial. The results reveal that the cooperation rate in the PD/D game was significantly higher than that in the PD game. Such a finding indicates that trust serves as a signal of the player's intention, which in turn, promotes mutual cooperation. However, in a similar experiment in which players interacted with the same partner, Matsuda & Yamagishi (2001) found a much lower cooperation rate in the PD/D condition than what was found in this experiment. Therefore, we conclude that the role of trust in non-fixed relationships has only a limited effect for promoting mutual cooperation.
Key words: trust, cooperation, prisoner's dilemma, signal

Title: Social psychological determinants of appearance disappearance of transitional objects: Focusing on nursing environment and marital stress
Author: Hiromi IKEUCHI ( Faculty of Sociology, Kansai University)
Takehiro FUJIHARA ( School of Sociology, Kwansei Gakuin University)
Summary: A transitional object is the first possession that an infant places a special attachment toward, which is not part of him/herself. Typical examples are towels, blankets and teddy bears. The purpose of this study was to investigate the determinants of appearance and disappearance of transitional objects with a special focus on the two factors of "nursing environment" and "marital stress." Two-hundred-and-eleven mothers were asked to complete a questionnaire survey through personal interviews. The main findings were as follows: (1) Transitional objects appeared in bottle-fed infants more often than breast-fed infants; (2) Infants with younger siblings parted with their transitional objects later than those with older siblings and those without any siblings;
(3) Most transitional objects tended to appear simultaneously with the mothers' stopping breast-feeding; (4) Transitional objects tended to appear in infants whose mothers had a stressful relationship with their husbands, relative to those who did not. Based on these findings, the "Transitional Object Acquiring Process Model" was presented.
Key words: transitional object, precursor, infant, nursing environment, marital stress

Title: What is indicated by the above-average effect?- Effects of ease/difficulty of acquiring traits or abilities to be judged.
Author: Eriko KUDO ( Aoyama Gakuin Womens Junior College)
Summary: Kruger (1999) has shown that the above-average effect occurs because people cannot take into account of other peoples' abilities, and instead they rely on their own abilities when they evaluate themselves relative to others. Kruger also has shown that the below-average effect appears when the absolute level of 9 person's abilities is low. Two studies were conducted to examine whether the same mechanism can apply to: (1) trait judgments; (2) negative traits; and (3) Japanese participants. The results revealed that the occurrence of above or below average effects were basically dependent on the relative ease or difficulty of possessing (or not possessing) each trait. In addition, various types of measurements were employed and compared in these studies. Results of correlations with self-esteem revealed that: (1) comparing oneself with the average person, and comparing the average person with oneself taps into different constructs when direct comparisons were made; and (2) asking about oneself or the average person first, made substantial differences in the results when indirect comparisons were made.
Key words: above-average effect, relative self-evaluation, self-enhancement

Title: Approach and avoidance tendencies elicited automatically by the presentation of self-traits: Focusing on self-related affective priming
Author: Mikiya HAYASHI (Graduate School of Education and Human Development, Nagoya University)
Summary: Two experiments examined whether the mere presentation of trait-words related to the ideal-self and feared-self elicit automatic evaluation and approach-avoidance behavioral tendencies. Experiment 1 used the affective priming paradigm with trait-words pertaining to the two selves as prime stimuli, and results revealed an affective priming effect. Experiment 2 presented stimuli consisting of two colors linked to either "benefit" or "loss", and subjects were instructed to press the "obtain" key or the "avoid" key as fast as possible in order to increase or maintain the experimental reward. As a result, subjects' response latency was delayed when the evaluation of the color and the stimuli were incompatible.
Key words: self-related affective priming, self-traits, goal-evaluation, approach, avoidance

Title: Cognitive criteria of rivalry: Construction of a view-of-rivalry scale
Author: Nobuyuki OTA (Graduate School of Education and Human Development, Nagoya University)
Summary: The purpose of this study was to examine the "view of rivalry", defined as an individual's perception of rivalry. In a preliminary investigation, 206 high school students and 227 undergraduates responded to questionnaise items which revealed three factors of the view of rivalry through factor analysis: "mutuality and reciprocity", "competitive consciousness", and "equality and contrast". A further analysis involving 173 undergraduates extracted 28 items, which formed the view of rivalry scale. In the main investigation, 155 high school students and 145 undergraduates were surveyed in order to determine the relationship between the three factors of view of rivalry, with achievement motive and competitive attitude. According to regression analysis, "mutuality and reciprocity" predicted aspiration, and "competitive consciousness" predicted competitiveness. Analyses of variance, with presence of a rival (yes or no) and school type (high school or college) as independent variables were conducted. As a result those who had a rival, as well as college students put more value on "mutuality and reciprocity" as a cognitive criterion of rivalry, compared to those without a rival, and high school students.
Key words: rival, view of rivalry, mutuality and reciprocity,competitive consciousness, equality and contrast

Title: An observational study of the illegal crossing behavior of pedestrians:Focusing on the effects of hurrying and habit
Author: Mitsutaka KITAORI ( College of Human Sciences, Kinjo-Gakuin University)
Toshikazu YOSHIDA ( Graduate School of Education and Human Development, Nagoya University)
Summary: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of hurrying and habit on illegal crossing behavior of pedestrians at a given intersection. Study 1 focused on student pedestrians crossing on red just before college classes began. These subjects were assumed to be "routine crossers", and were videotaped and monitored. As a result, it appeared that the motive of avoiding tardiness was related to the descriptive norm of "crossing", and not directly related to personal decision. Study 2 controlled for the effects of habitual rule-breaking behavior. Subjects were high school students who were crossing the intersection to take admissions exams at a nearby university. These subjects were assumed to be "first time crossers", as opposed to routine crossers who were likely to cross the very same intersection on a daily basis. Results showed that the first-time crossers were more likely to observe the red light than routine crossers. Both studies suggested that the behavior of surrounding people is a strong predictor of pedestrian crossing behavior, and the importance of the descriptive norm was confirmed.
Key words: illegal crossing, descriptive norms, injunctive norms, hurrying, habit

Title: Correspondence between communicative practices and information processing systems: A review of empirical studies from a cultural perspective
Author: Keiko ISHII ( Graduate School of Letters, Hokkaido University)
Shinobu KITAYAMA ( Faculty of Integrated Human Studies, Kyoto University)
Summary: Studies conducted from a cross-cultural perspective were reviewed to determine whether there is any correspondence between cultural practices in communication and the modes of cognitive processing. This review suggested that both communicative practices and cognitive processing are oriented toward verbal content in the West, while they are oriented toward particular contextual cues in the East. This cross-cultural difference seemed to be confirmed only when on-line processing measures were examined. When paper-and-pencil surveys were used, no interpretable pattern could be identified. Implications for future research and intercultural communication are discussed.
Key words: cultural psychology, culture and cognition, communicative practices, information processing systems, behavioral measures