Vol.22,No.3 March, 2007

Title

Preschoolers' social skills as predicted by perspective taking, regulation of emotion, and social problem solving

Author

Kanako OTSUI and Junko TANAKA-MATSUMI(Kwansei Gakuin University)

Summary

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between teacher ratings of preschoolers' social skills and their level of competence in perspective taking, regulation of emotion, and interpersonal problem solving. The participants were 84 preschool children whose ages ranged from 3 to 5 years. The experiment was conducted individually using puppets. The results indicated that the developmental changes in the three areas of competence being studied were consistent with the findings of previous studies. We also found that children's regulation of emotion was related to perspective taking and interpersonal problem solving. Furthermore, the level of competence in interpersonal problem solving predicted teacher ratings of children's social skills. These results suggested that regulation of emotion and interpersonal problem solving are important elements of effective social skills training.

Key words

perspective taking, regulation of emotion, interpersonal problem solving, social skills, preschoolers

Title

Why is it easier to communicate by e-mail?: CMC contributes to the self-presentation efficacy

Author

Yoko SUGITANI (Graduate School of Social Sciences, Hitotsubashi University)

Summary

The purpose of this study was to verify that people feel more at ease using Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) compared to other media because of higher self-presentation efficacy. The reason for this may be the lack of nonverbal cues in CMC: it can help people present themselves in a preferred way. To test this hypothesis, I conducted two experiments. The experimental hypothesis of Study 1 was as follows: when people strongly want to make a good impression on others, they feel it is easier to communicate without nonverbal cues than with them. Conversely, when people are unconcerned about the impression they make on others, the amount of nonverbal cues does not influence the level of ease that people feel. The results partially supported the hypothesis. In Study 2, I scrutinized the process of the phenomenon observed in Study 1. The model was: the lack of nonverbal cues in CMC raises self-presentation efficacy, therefore, people feel more at ease during CMC. The result of path analysis significantly supported this assumption.

Key words

Computer-Mediated Communication, nonverbal cues, e-mail, self-presentation, social anxiety

Title

The effects of leadership and prototypicality on group members' morale and leader perception

Author

Hiroshi KOHGUCHI (Faculty of Sociology, Ryutsu Keizai University)
Kiriko SAKATA (Faculty of Integrated Arts and Sciences, Hiroshima University)
Kohei FUJIMOTO (STNet, Inc.)

Summary

The purpose of this study was to determine whether a situation moderates the effects on group members of leadership and prototypicality. Prototypicality is a concept defined as recognition of the standpoint between individuals who reflect the meta contrast ratio of an ingroup and outgroup, and this prototypicality relates to an evaluation of the leader's effectiveness by the group members (e.g., Hains et al., 1997). In this article, we examined whether a leaders' prototypicality strongly influences group activity. In study 1, we conducted an investigation on 205 members of 18 groups of university students. The results showed that prototypicality increased group morale when the activity was a competition with an outgroup. In study 2, group members' judgment relative to the instructions of the leader was examined using the scenario assumption method. Results revealed that only in a situation of conflict with an outgroup did the leaders' prototypicality become the group members' judgment standard. The two studies suggest that a leader's prototypicality influences group members only when there is clear conflict with an outgroup.

Key words

prototypicality, leadership, intergroup relation

Title

Determinants of a perpetrator's cognitive and behavioral responses to an expression of anger by their victim

Author

Shingo ABE (Graduate School of Sociology, Kansai University)
Osamu TAKAGI (Faculty of Sociology, Kansai University)

Summary

This study used two scenarios to examine how a perpetrator's degree of responsibility and the magnitude of damage caused influence their cognitive and behavioral responses to an expression of anger by their victim. The results show that when the magnitude of damage and perpetrator's degree of responsibility were low, the expression of anger was viewed as being less justifiable, motivated by self interest rather than social concern, and socially inappropriate. It is suggested that these influences can lead to a perpetrator becoming more defiant and less willing to accept responsibility for his/her actions.

Key words

expression of anger, interpersonal conflict, aggressive behavior, victim-perpetrator interaction

Title

Research on the relationship between affinity for television and television viewing behavior

Author

Shigeru ERIKAWA (Tokyo Broadcasting System Television, Inc.)
Kazunari YAMADA (Faculty of Social Sciences, Hosei University)
Miki KAWABATA (Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, Mejiro University)
Makoto NUMAZAKI(Faculty of Urban Liberal Arts, Tokyo Metropolitan University)

Summary

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between affinity for television and its viewing. Data was based on a random sample of 682 people in the Tokyo metropolitan area, with a 65.0 percent response rate. Study 1 developed a Japanese version of the Television Affinity Scale (TAS), confirmed its reliability and validity, and found that the TAS provided information which could not be explained directly by demographic factors. Study 2 showed that affinity for television was positively correlated with unplanned viewing and non-concentrated television viewing. In addition, Study 2 found that viewing of entertainment programs was positively correlated to TAS score, while news program viewing was not. These results were consistent with the finding of Rubin (1984) that TAS is positively correlated with ritualized television viewing and not with instrumental viewing.

Key words

Television Affinity Scale, unplanned viewing, non-concentrated viewing, ritualized viewing, instrumental viewing

Title

The relationships between early adult attachment styles and adjustment in friendships

Author

Yuji KANEMASA (Faculty of Humanities, Soai University)

Summary

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between early adult attachment styles, self-perceptions and other's-perceptions (participants' impressions from their close friends) in friendships, and also to examine the effects of attachment styles and discrepancies between participants and their friends in terms of self-perceptions on evaluations of their relationships. Participants, 210 undergraduates, were asked to pair with their same-sex close friend in class and answered several questions. Results showed that “avoidance" attachment dimension was generally negatively related to positive self-perceptions in friendships. Also, similar tendencies were obtained on other's-perceptions. Moreover, the discrepancies between participants and their friends in terms of evaluations of their relationships increased as “avoidance" dimension increased. These results suggest that “avoidance" dimension is related to low levels of adjustment in the friendships. In addition, the discrepancies between self-perceptions of “sociability" were positively and those of “attractiveness" were negatively related to the discrepancies between evaluations of relationships.

Key words

early adult attachment styles,adjustment,friendships,self-perceptions,other's-percep- tions

Title

Development of the concept of promise in contemporary schoolchildren: Their contextual considerations regarding promise keeping

Author

Akiko YAMAGISHI (School of Health Care and Nursing, Juntendo University)

Summary

The purpose of this study was to reexamine the developmental feature of considering others' feelings and not considering one's duty to a group, based on Yamagishi's article which analyzed the promise concept in contemporary schoolchildren in Tokyo. The investigation was conducted in Nagano prefecture. A questionnaire was used to ask children in second, fourth and sixth grades whether they would keep or break promises in 4 scenarios in which various contextual factors against keeping these promises were included, adding 2 new situations to clarify the developmental feature. The fourth and sixth grade respondents were also asked to state reasons. The results were as follows: 1) the same tendency was found in both new situations and former ones. 2) the same tendency was found in Nagano, as in Tokyo, indicating no regional difference, 3) when stating reasons, there were many who stated concern for other's feeling (especially in fourth grade), and while many fourth graders felt a sense of duty to a group, there were many sixth graders who responded to promise situations flexibly, coordinating both positions. The findings are discussed with reference to Kohlberg's stage 3 and contextual relativism.

Key words

promise, rule consciousness, concern for others, duty to a group, schoolchildren

Title

Clarifying the association between structure of interaction and stability of romantic relationships: Application of pairwise correlation analysis into dyad data

Author

Hiroshi SHIMIZU and Ikuo DAIBO (Graduate School of Human Sciences, Osaka University)

Summary

This study had two main purposes. The first was to clarify the relationship between structure of interaction and stability of romantic relationships, and the second was to compare the effect of the total intimacy level of a couple with the individual levels of intimacy using a pairwise correlation analysis in order to determine a couple's interdependency. Questionnaires were completed by 59 couples (college students in romantic relationships). The feature of interaction structure was measured by the frequency, strength, and diversity of interactions, while the stability of a relationship was measured by satisfaction, commitment, and prospects of a continued relationship. The pairwise correlation analysis separated the correlation of the couple level from the individual level. The results indicated that the stability of relationships was affected by the degree of diversity of interaction at the couple level, and by the strength of interaction at the individual level. Finally, we discussed the function of relationship stability, showing the degree of diversity and strength of interaction.

Key words

structure of interaction, relational stability, pairwise correlation analysis, causal analysis, romantic relationships

Title

The four perspectives on social justice: A review

Author

Yoichiro HAYASHI (Research Fellow of Japan Society for the Promotion Science)

Summary

This article reviews the literature on social justice with an emphasis on the subjective properties of justice. The author contends that there are four major perspectives for understanding past research into the history of justice and its future directions: a) the antecedents of justice which identify the criteria and factors of perceptions of fairness, b) the consequences of justice which focus on the effect of fairness perceptions on individual responses, c) the motives for justice which discuss why people are sensitive to fairness, and d) the concerns of justice that highlight the internal and/or external conditions driving people to fairness. The author reviews the vast amount of theoretical and empirical research that underlies each of the 4 approaches mentioned above. Important directions of future research are also discussed.

Key words

social justice, subjective approach to justice, distributive justice, procedural justice