Vol.23,No.3 February, 2008

Title

Determinants of household- and community-based disaster preparedness

Author

Tadahiro MOTOYOSHI (Graduate School of Education and Human Development, Nagoya University)
Kenji TAKAO (Faculty of Medical Welfare, Kawasaki University of Medical Welfare)
Saburo IKEDA (National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention)

Summary

This study examined factors which influence the extent to which citizens prepare for natural disasters. A questionnaire-based survey was administered to residents (N＝849) living in the greater Nagoya area. The items were devised to probe for residents' attitudes toward disaster preparedness, perceived flood and seismic risk, their commitment to the community, and concerns about society. The study revealed that both household and community disaster preparedness were affected by the individual's subjective norm regarding preparation, the perceived benefit of protective courses of action, and general concern about natural disasters. Commitment to the community and concerns about society were the only strong predictors of community-based disaster preparedness. By contrast, perceived flood and seismic risks were weak predictors.

Key words

natural disaster, risk perception, fear, attitude, disaster management

Title

The effect of recipient's acceptance or rejection on mind state of self-discloser: Based on the intimacy of discloser and recipient and the self-esteem of discloser

Author

Chihiro KAWANISHI (Kyoto Koka Women's University)

Summary

This study investigated how the mind state of a discloser, when self-disclosure of negative contents occurred, might vary with the acceptance or rejection of the recipient, the intimacy of the discloser and the recipient, and the self-esteem of the discloser. A questionnaire investigation using the “scene-assuming" method was conducted among 134 women university students. The main results were as follows: (1) The mind state of the discloser was positive when the recipient was accepted rather than refused; (2) In many dimensions, such as “impression aggravation concern," irrespective of acceptance or rejection, the discloser's mind state when the recipient was the best friend was more positive than in cases where the recipient was just an acquaintance. But in terms of difference from self-disclosure immediately to feedback by the recipient, the discloser's mental damage as a result of rejection was more serious when incurred by the best friend than by an acquaintance; (3) In a dimension such as “waning confidence" or “mutual trust of the future," the mind state of low self-esteem disclosers was more negative than that of high self-esteem disclosers, regardless of acceptance or rejection by the recipient.

Key words

Key words:self-disclosure of negative contents, acceptance or rejection by recipient, intimacy, self-esteem

Title

Why do people join Web-based knowledge-sharing communities? : Analysis on questioning and answering behaviors

Author

Asako MIURA (Kobe Gakuin University)
Yasuyuki KAWAURA (Tokyo Keizai University)

Summary

Web-based knowledge-sharing communities, which are supported by countless voluntary Internet users, are in widespread use today. We explored a number of characteristics of interpersonal communication among participants based on their questioning and answering behaviors. A questionnaire survey on participants of Yahoo! Chiebukuro, one of the most popular knowledge-sharing communities in Japan, was conducted, and access data of their behavior in the community were collected. Based on 7,989 survey samples and access data, we found that there were several significant differences in their behavior and motivation based on their participation style, question content, and gender. Results also suggested that information was exchanged and accumulated actively in the community and interpersonal communication of community participants was developed by an aggressive need for information acquisition and subsequent social support.

Key words

knowledge-sharing community, wisdom of crowds, interpersonal communication, Web-based survey

Title

Attitudes towards paranormal phenomena: Structural analysis and categorization of attitudes

Author

Eiko KOSHIRO (Faculty of Liberal Arts, University of the Sacred Heart)
Hiroyuki SAKATA and Masahiro KAWAKAMI (Faculty of Human Science, Osaka Shoin Women's University)

Summary

The purpose of this study was to construct a scale for comprehensive attitudes towards paranormal phenomena which would contain cognition and affect, and to analyze clusters of university students. Undergraduates (N=699) completed a questionnaire about their attitudes towards paranormal phenomena and a number of other individual characteristics including the Big Five. The responses were analyzed by factor analysis, and as a result, six factors were extracted: “Inclination towards Augury and Magic," “Belief in Spirituality," “Enjoyment of Paranormal Phenomena," “Skepticism," “Fear of Paranormal Phenomena," and “Spiritual Experience and Belief." Based on these factors, six subscales were composed. The validity of these subscales was confirmed by the correlation with other individual characteristics. Using cluster analysis, participants were divided into four types: an “Ordinary Group," a “Group Believing in Paranormal Phenomena," a “Group Believing in Science," and a “Group Enjoying Paranormal Phenomena.

Key words

paranormal phenomena, belief, attitudes, scaling, categorization

Title

Trust of risk managers: An integration of the SVS model and the traditional view of trust

Author

Kazuya NAKAYACHI (Faculty of Psychology and Welfare, Tezukayama University)
George CVETKOVICH (Department of Psychology, Western Washington University)

Summary

The degree of trust in risk managers heavily influences the public's acceptance of new technologies. The present study examined factors affecting public trust in risk managers, integrating the salient value similarity (SVS) model and the traditional view of trust. A thousand residents in Tokyo and neighboring prefectures participated in a survey that investigated public trust in the government offices responsible for the decision to approve a genetically modified rice that claims to inhibit pollen allergies. In the high interest group, giving moral meaning to the outcomes of the decision was found to be a powerful predictor of trust. Perceived agreement in values between individuals and the regulators was also found to influence trust in decisions, as predicted by the SVS model. On the other hand, as expected with the traditional perspective on trust, a perception of procedural competency and a belief in the fairness of the risk managers were found to be powerful predictors of trust in the low interest group. Implications of these results for the practice of risk management were discussed.

Key words

risk, trust, value, fairness, technologies

Title

Change in utterances with the progress of a conversation session: From the viewpoint of Verbal Response Modes (VRM)

Author

Kazumi OGAWA (Faculty of Communication Studies, Aichi Shukutoku University)

Summary

Change in conversational behavior with the progress of a conversation between two people who have met for the first time was quantitatively examined from the perspective of Verbal Response Modes (VRM: Stiles, 1992 etc.). Participants were 18 pairs of female university students who met for the first time. They participated in 10-minute conversation sessions three times at one-week intervals. All the utterances were classified into VRM, and the frequency and time of the appearance of utterances were measured. Results indicated that internal self-disclosures were often made as the conversation session advanced. More questions were asked and more objective information was conveyed in the first meeting than in sessions thereafter. Moreover, results of time series analysis indicated that a “Disclosure→Disclosure" pattern often appeared as the session advanced. The correlation analysis of the number of utterances of two people suggested various results related to the uncertainty reduction theory (Berger & Calabrese, 1975). Finally, the relation between the number of utterances and the impressions of each session was examined and discussed overall with the change in the number of utterances.

Key words

number of utterances, Verbal Response Modes, impression, relationship development, uncertainty reduction theory

Title

The influences of making sense of loss and of life-oriented coping on the mental health of bereaved families

Author

Yukihiro SAKAGUCHI (Kansai University of Welfare Sciences)

Summary

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between making sense of loss and of life-oriented coping and the influences of these on mental health. Study 1 was conducted on 144 bereaved families and revealed that making sense of loss was related with age at death, readiness for death, and social support. A longitudinal study (Study 2) was conducted on 88 bereaved families. The results showed that both making sense of loss and life-oriented coping influenced mental health, after controlling for previous mental health. There was no significant relationship between making sense of loss and life-oriented coping. These findings suggest that making sense of loss plays a critical role in the psychological process among bereaved families, whereas there is other process including life-oriented coping.

Key words

psychological process in bereaved families, making sense of loss, life-oriented coping, mental health, bereavement care

Title

COMPASS indicates participants' communication participation styles

Author

Manabu FUJIMOTO (Faculty of Literature, Kurume University)

Summary

This article examined the communication participation styles of how one commits to communication, and postulated the COMPASS which measures these styles. The tendency of participants' acts in small group communications in daily life was investigated, and the communication participation style, consisting of four factors-conversation management, active participation, passive participation, and negative participation-was extracted. Active and passive participation are basic styles in communication in relation to assertiveness and responsiveness. Conversation management is related to meta-conversation which manipulates conversation development. Negative participation is a useful factor distinguishing the listeners and spectators. These participation styles showed a significant relation to individual attributes.

Key words

communication participation style, COMPASS, participation framework