Vol.24,No.1 August, 2008

Title

The life course of middle-aged and aged women volunteers and their ways of overcoming negative events

Author

Hiroko OHSAKA (Graduate School of Arts and Letters, Tohoku University)

Summary

This research examines the patterns of the life course of middle-aged and aged women after they have participated in volunteer activities. In addition, it also analyzes the functions of helper networks and helper-helped relationships in situations requiring the resolution of negative events. The following findings were drawn based on interviews with 21 volunteers and participant observations: 1) As with occupational activities, volunteering provides the opportunities for the target participants to participate in various social roles outside of their home environments. 2) The helper networks and helper-helped relationships could complement each other in such ways that the helper networks were found instrumental in resolving the negative events that had stemmed from helper-helped relationships, and vice versa.

Key words

Key words:middle-aged and aged women, life course, volunteer activities, community

Title

Are the self-presentations in dating relationships self-verifying or self-enhancing ?

Author

Junichi TANIGUCHI (Faculty of Human Sciences, Osaka International University)
Ikuo DAIBO(Graduate School of Human Sciences, Osaka University)

Summary

The present study tried to reveal whether self-presentations in dating relationships are self-verifying or self-enhancing, by examining the relationships among (1) self-view, (2) the desired evaluation and (3) the assumed evaluation from the dating partner. Participants were 156 undergraduates (60 males, 96 females) in dating relationships. The main findings were as follows: 1) Participants expected evaluations from their partners that are more positive than their own. 2) Participants assumed they would be given such evaluations from their partners and perceived the evaluations to be accurate. 3) As their “passion” for the partner became stronger, participants expected evaluations from their partners to be more self-enhancing on a dimension that was important to their relationship. 4) As their “intimacy” deepened, participants expected evaluations from their partners in a self-enhancing way. In addition, participants perceived their partners' evaluations to be highly accurate on a dimension that was important to their relationship. The result of this study supported the strategic self-verification model (Bosson & Swann, 2001) and suggested that both motivations of self-enhancement and self-verification work in dating relationships.

Key words

Key words:self-presentation, dating relationships, self-verification, self-enhancement, triangular love theory

Title

Criteria of psychological fairness in risk messages: Truthfulness and consideration in evaluating the procedural fairness of risk managers

Author

Ako TAKENISHI (Koshien University)
Masanori TAKENISHI (Kyoto Koka Women's University)
Makoto FUKUI and Chie KANAGAWA (Koshien University)
Kinuko YOSHINO (Kobe Gakuin University)

Summary

This article aimed to examine psychological fairness in risk communication. We hypothesized that people are motivated to assess the procedural fairness of risk managers through risk messages from them. Thus, the first aim of the study was to reveal the psychological fairness criteria used by people when they read the risk messages regarding a nuclear power plant and an artificial food additive. Using the data on a sample of 408 citizens, SEM (structural equation modeling) revealed two criteria of a fair message: truthfulness and consideration. The truthfulness criterion consists of three elements: accuracy, informational openness, and suppression of concealment. The consideration criterion also consists of three elements: using plain words, respect for people, and voice. The second aim of the study was to examine the structure and efficiency of these criteria in comparing two risk communication settings: social debate and personal choice. The results revealed the same structure and efficiency, so that truthfulness and consideration are commonly used criteria beyond the settings. The results of this study suggested that presenting a fair message with truthfulness and consideration could determine future interactions among people in risk communication.

Key words

risk communication, procedural fairness, SEM, risk message, psychological fairness

Title

A comparison of perceived risk of crime between lay public and expert: Estimation of crime numbers by undergraduate students and police officers

Author

Kazuya NAKAYACHI (Faculty of Psychology and Welfare, Tezukayama University)
Takahito SHIMADA (National Research Institute of Police Science, Japan)

Summary

The purpose of the present study was to compare the perceived risk of crimes between the lay public and experts. A hypothesis of the lay public's risk perception was deduced using the weight function of prospect theory. It was expected that the lay public would overestimate the number of personal injury crimes, which are statistically low, and underestimate the number of property crimes, which are statistically higher. Experts, on the other hand, were expected to correctly estimate the number of crimes in each category. One hundred and sixty undergraduate students and 259 police officers estimated an average annual number for each of 18 crimes. The results supported the hypothesis, revealing that the public overestimated the number of personal injury crimes, which rarely occur, and underestimated the number of property crimes, which occur frequently. Implications of these results for experts and how they communicate with the lay public regarding crime prevention were discussed.

Key words

crime, risk perception, fear of crime, weight function

Title

Relationship between expectations of slack with regard to time versus money and optimism

Author

Sakura KOMATSU and Ken-ichi OHBUCHI (Graduate School of Arts and Letters, Tohoku University)

Summary

The aims of this study were to examine with a Japanese sample the idea that the expectation of slack in the future is larger for time than for money and to examine the relationship between this expectation and optimism as a personality trait. The results showed that Japanese participants estimated slack with regard to both time and money, and it was larger with regard to time than to money, consistent with research done on American samples. Inconsistent with our hypothesis, however, the expectation of slack did not correlate with optimism. The low correlation between the estimated degrees of slack between that with regard to time and that with regard to money suggests that there is no consistent tendency across different resources.

Key words

slack in the future, money, time, optimism

Title

The effect of goal framing on the automatic processing of affective information

Author

Hiroki TAKEHASHI and Kaori KARASAWA (Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University)

Summary

Guided by the regulatory focus theory (Higgins, 1997), this study examined the effects of goal framing on the subjective feeling of affect and the automatic processing of affective information. After the manipulation of goal framing (promotion focus vs. prevention focus), 32 participants were asked to indicate their affective state and to engage in a modified Stroop task. Results indicated that goal framing did not influence subjective feeling but influenced the speed of color naming in the Stroop task; participants in the prevention condition responded more slowly toward loss-related words (quiescence and agitation) than gain-related words (cheerfulness and dejection), whereas participants in the promotion condition responded toward gain-related words as slowly as toward loss-related words. These results suggest that goal framing heightens the activation of particular affective representations and the activations influence performance on a Stroop task automatically. The effects of automatic processing of affective information on subjective feeling and the process of self-regulation are discussed.

Key words

goal framing, automatic processing, affect, approach, avoidance

Title

Structural analysis of brand equity based on the cognition of consumers

Author

Hiromitsu MAEDA (Graduate School of Social Psychology, Kansai University)

Summary

Currently, brand equity has various definitions and forms. In this study, brand equity is defined, from the cognitive aspects of consumers, as “a set of brand values perceived by consumers based on past brand-marketing conducted by a corporation.” The purpose of this study is to examine the structural analysis of brand equity. The author conducted a survey of three brand categories (tea, shampoo, and PCs) on 274 undergraduates. The main findings were as follows: (a) Brand equity consists of primary values (qualitative values) and secondary values (incremental values beyond product quality). (b) The value that consumers attribute to a corporation (corporate value) affects brand equity directly or indirectly. (c) Brand equity causes “consumer-brand relationships.” (d) These “relationships” influence secondary value. Based on these findings, the validity of a circulated brand equity model is discussed.

Key words

brand equity, primary value, secondary value, corporate brand equity, consumer-brand relationships