Vol.25,No.1 August, 2009

Title
The effect of exchanges with aged persons on children
Author
Yoh MURAYAMA (Graduate School of Sociology, Keio University)
Summary
This study aimed to investigate the effect of exchanges with aged persons on children. In all, 381 upper graders at an elementary school completed the questionnaires. The nature of an exchange with aged persons was measured by the interaction frequency and the diversity of interaction with the aged persons. The results indicated that the effect of the exchange with the aged person was determined by physical proximity, the attribution of the aged person, and the gender of the child. At the same time, these exchanges influenced the development of emotional responses, interpersonal perceptions, and behaviors. For example, the lengths of exchange and the diversity of conversations with aged persons affected the empathy of children, which in turn influenced their helpfulness toward the aged persons. It highlighted the efficacy of intergenerational exchange for children of the present generation who have no contact with aged persons in daily life.
Key words
aged persons and children, empathy, image of aged persons, helping behavior
Title
The commonality between mother-child and romantic dyads in early adults: Tragic self-fulfilling prophecies in two attachment relationships in early adults
Author
Yuji KANEMASA (Faculty of Human Sciences, Osaka University of Human Sciences)
Summary
This study was conducted to reveal the commonality between mother-child and romantic dyads in early adults, based on the relationships between early adult attachment dimensions, emotional experiences in the relationships, and evaluation of the relationships. Participants were 209 pairs of early adults and their mothers, and 103 romantic couples in early adulthood. The main results were as follows: in both relationships, attachment anxiety was positively correlated to one's own and one's partner's negative emotion in the relationship and negatively related to one's own and one's partner's evaluation of relationships. But attachment avoidance was only related to one's own negative and positive emotion in those relationships. Moreover, the relations between attachment anxiety and one's own and one's partner's evaluation of relationships were mediated by one's own and one's partner's negative emotion respectively in both relationships. The results were discussed in terms of the self-fulfilling prophecy of attachment styles.
Key words
early adult attachment styles, mother-child dyads, romantic dyads, emotional experiences, evaluation toward relationships
Title
Effects of a communicative goal on causal explanation of social events
Author
Sayaka SUGA (Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Kobe University/Research Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science)
Minoru KARASAWA and Yosuke HATTORI (Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University)
Summary
People often infer the causes of observed actions and events, and explain the causes to others through communication. The present study examined the effects of a communicative goal on the causal explanation of criminal cases. Japanese college students were presented with a criminal case, along with an equal number of potential internal causes and external causes. The extremity of the crime (i.e., murder vs. robbery) was manipulated. Participants were asked to explain what led the protagonist to commit the crime, either in order to help another participant make judgments about the criminal person (i.e., communicative goal condition) or to use the explanation as a basis for their own judgments (i.e., individual goal condition). Participants then responded to a free re- call task. The results revealed that the communicative goal facilitated the use of both internal and external causal information in explanations. Path analyses indicated that causal explanation mediated the effect of the communicative goal on the memory of stimulus information. The importance of communication in the study of causal attribution and related domains were discussed.
Key words
causal attribution, communication, memory of criminal cases, shared cognition
Title
Do "Lucky" outcomes occur repeatedly? : Application of the "Luck Resource Belief" perspective to attitudes toward uncertain events
Author
Koshi MURAKAMI (Faculty of Humanities, Kobe Yamate University)
Summary
After obtaining positive results from uncertain events, individuals tend to feel confident in their skills (Langer, 1975). However, according to popular usage like lay theory, the word "lucky" carries relatively negative connotations for some people. This reflects the idea of "Luck Resource Belief," whereby luck supposedly decreases if it is consumed. In this study, we developed and administered a scale to survey this personal belief. We compared attitudes toward forthcoming uncertain events in the aftermath of a lucky or unlucky lotto outcome from the perspective of the "Luck Resource Belief." Results showed that when individuals adhering to the Luck Resource Belief obtained "lucky" lotto results, confidence and risky choices with regard to subsequent uncertain events were reduced. Such results have been discussed with regard to the Gambler's fallacy, anticipated regret, and mental simulation (Kahneman & Tversky, 1982).
Key words
Luck Resource Belief, lay theory, risk taking, illusion of control, relativity of value
Title
The relationships between exposure to news shows and interest in the 2007 election and involvement in politics: Combining the quantitative content analysis of election coverage with social research data
Author
Kazunori INAMASU (Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, The University of Tokyo: Japan Society for the Promotion Science)
Ken'ichi IKEDA (Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, The University of Tokyo)
Summary
This research combines the quantitative content analysis of election coverage and survey data analysis to demonstrate the effect of TV shows on democratic politics in Japan. First, we classified 31 private TV shows into two categories-"hard news" and "soft news"-via the quantitative content analysis of coverage of the 2007 election. Secondly, we examined the effects of the programs on interest in the 2007 election as well as political involvement using the Asian barometer 2/ CSES3 dataset. The results show that: 1) exposure to "hard news" positively correlated with interest in the election as well as political involvement, 2) exposure to "soft news" had a positive correlation with interest in the election only among less-informed people. This study reveals the importance of quantitative content-based classification to distinguish the particular effects of TV shows on democratic politics in response to diversifying forms of political news coverage.
Key words
content analysis, mass media and politics, soft news
Title
The effects of stereotypic stimulus items on the effects of a gender attitude IAT
Author
Kunio ISHII and Makoto NUMAZAKI (Graduate School of Humanities, Tokyo Metropolitan University)
Summary
The Implicit Association Test (IAT) is known as a useful measure of implicit attitude. Recent study had shown that the features of the stimulus items influence the IAT effects (Bluemske & Friese, 2006; Govan & Williams, 2004). We tested whether the stereotypic stimulus items would influence the effects of a gender attitude IAT. Study 1 preliminarily showed that female participants exhibit strong implicit ingroup biases related to gender, but male participant do not. Study 2 showed that the effects of gender attitude IATs were moderated by the stereotypicality of the stimulus items. This study demonstrated that the effects of gender attitude IATs in which stereotypic items were used reflect the effects of gender attitudes and gender stereotyping.
Key words
Implicit Association Test (IAT), gender attitude, ingroup bias, gender stereotyping, stimulus item
Title
The causes and effects of embarrassment on the purchasing of condoms
Author
Masataka HIGUCHI (Graduate School of Education, Hiroshima University)
Nanako NAKAMURA (Center for Research on Human Development and Clinical Psychology, Hyogo University of Teacher Education)
Summary
The proper use of condoms is one of the most effective types of protection against HIV. One of the major factors that negatively affect the use of condoms is embarrassment caused by the purchasing of condoms. To clarify the causes and effects of embarrassment on the purchasing of condoms, 522 undergraduate student volunteers were investigated. The results showed that both males and females experienced two types of embarrassment, `Basic embarrassment' and `Awkwardness,' when they purchased condoms. Moreover, structural equation modeling revealed that the purchasing of condoms by males was strongly inhibited due to vagueness in the guidelines of condom-purchasing behavior, and the purchasing of condoms by females was strongly inhibited due to inconsistency with self-image and the purchasing of condoms. Implications of this study for HIV prevention, especially the intervention method of promoting condom purchasing, are also discussed.
Key words
HIV prevention, condom, purchasing of condoms, embarrassment, the causes of embarrassment
Title
Self-evaluation maintenance and relationships maintenance in close friendships: An examination from the perspective of the extended self-evaluation maintenance model
Author
Shunsuke SHIMODA (Graduate School of Sociology, Toyo University)
Summary
This study investigated whether affective reaction predicted by the extended self-evaluation maintenance (extended SEM) model (e.g., Beach & Tesser, 1995) would be applicable to close relationships with same-sex friends. Participants (N=232) recalled or imagined eight SEM situa-tions (defined by crossing high and low self-relevance with high and low partner-relevance with whether self outperforms partner or partner outperforms self) with close friend (N=81), romantic partner (N=98), and acquaintance (N=53). They then reported affective reactions to these occasions. As a result, the pattern of sympathy reaction to the partner predicted by the extended SEM model in the high self-relevance domain was shown to close friend and romantic partner. For acquaintance, contrary to the prediction, the pattern of affective reactions predicted by the extended SEM model was shown, regardless of the self-relevance domain. These findings were discussed in terms of the basic assumption of the (original) SEM model and the tendency of Japanese students to think of a relationship even with an acquaintance as very important.
Key words
extended self-evaluation maintenance model, relationships maintenance, intimacy, same-sex friendship, romantic relations