Vol.31,No.1 August,2015

Title

Mechanical Japanese: Survey satisficing of online panels in Japan

Author

Asako MIURA (Kwansei Gakuin University)
Tetsuro Kobayashi (National Institute of Informatics)

Summary

This study focused on satisficing in online surveys—behavior in which panels do not devote an appropriate amount of attentional resources when answering questions. It carried out questionnaire surveys that could not be answered properly without closely reading the instructions and questions to empirically investigate the prevalence and patterns of satisficing. To detect satisficing tendencies, a screening survey was conducted with questions that necessitated a close reading of the instructions, while the main survey used questions that required a close reading of the item content. Identical surveys were carried out at two different survey companies, and results showed that satisficing due to skipping instructions occurs very frequently. Furthermore, while satisficing due to skipping scale items appears to be relatively rare, trends in satisficing differed between the survey companies. These results indicate one method for preventing satisficing, which was discussed in relation to the merits and demerits of screening respondents with satisficing tendencies.

Key words

Online survey, panel, motivation, satisfice, house effects

Title

Group resilience in incidents of varying degrees of danger and frequency

Author

Miki OZEKI (Faculty of Human Science, Waseda University)
Kanako YONEZAWA (Graduate School of Human Science, Waseda University)
Koichi NEGAYAMA (Faculty of Human Science, Waseda University)

Summary

Group resilience is the competency of a group to recover from an accident and maintain its activity. It is captured by the sequence of behaviors of its members. In this study, group resilience was defined in terms of four key abilities, namely the ability to prevent undesirable incidents from happening, to keep undesirable incidents from worsening, to recover from an accident after it has already occurred, and to maintain group activity levels. The present study aimed at exploring whether these four abilities were exerted differently according to incidents of varying degrees of danger and frequency. The results of the study showed that moderately dangerous incidents occurring frequently were rarely remained unsolved. Ability to prevent undesirable incidents from happening and ability to keep undesirable incidents from worsening were also shown to be instrumental in solutions for less dangerous incidents that sometimes occurred, though such incidents were hardly ever settled by the group’s ability to maintain its levels of activity. Frequent incidents that were a little dangerous were not settled by ability to prevent undesirable incidents. The ability to prevent undesirable incidents from occurring was not effective in such incidents. Furthermore, the study found that if group members did not have prior experience handling rare incidents that were dangerous, group resilience might not be exerted on such circumstances.

Key words

group resilience, group, safety, risk

Title

Effect of salience of the gender category on men’s automatic gender prejudice under self-threat

Author

Kunio ISHII (Department of Psychology, Meiji Gakuin University)
Makoto NUMAZAKI (Graduate School of Humanities, Tokyo Metropolitan University)

Summary

It has been consistently demonstrated that self-threat induces automatic prejudice. The present study investigated whether men would not exhibit automatic prejudice even in the self-threat condition if the gender category was not salient. We manipulated the salience of the gender category and the threat to self-worth, and then measured automatic gender prejudice with an evaluative priming task. Our results showed that when the gender category was salient, men in the self-threat condition automatically inhibited activation of positive concepts by the woman prime compared with those in the non-threat condition. In contrast, such an effect did not emerge when the gender category was not salient. Hence, when the salience of the ingroup–outgroup category is decreased, men do not exhibit automatic prejudice even under self-threat.

Key words

automatic prejudice, self-threat, gender prejudice, salience

Title

The amplifying effect of the norm of reciprocity on the relationship between sense of contribution and help-seeking

Author

Takeshi Hashimoto (Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Shizuoka University )

Summary

In general, the norm of reciprocity is assumed to be a facilitating factor in helping behavior. However, excessive help-seeking combined with insufficient contribution to others would be perceived as a selfish, free-riding deviation. To avoid this negative evaluation, people who feel they have a low sense of contribution (the subjective feeling of one’s contribution to others’ well-being) might be more reluctant to seek help. Thus, it was hypothesized that sense of contribution will be positively associated with help-seeking tendencies. It was also hypothesized that positive associations between sense of contribution and help-seeking will be amplified by recognition of the norm of reciprocity in groups; that is, greater pressure regarding the norm of reciprocity in groups means less help-seeking from those whose sense of contribution is low, and greater help-seeking from those whose sense of contribution is high. To examine these hypotheses, 500 Japanese adults completed an Internet survey regarding occupational relationships. Both hypotheses were supported.

Key words

helping behavior, help-seeking, reciprocity, group norms, sense of contribution

Title

The effect of organizational commitment on organizational learning

Author

Ikutaro Masaki (Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, The University of Tokyo )
Yukiko Muramoto (Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, The University of Tokyo )

Summary

Although past research has pointed out the importance of the relationship between organizational commitment and organizational learning, there is little consensus regarding how they are influenced by one another. In the present research, we attempted (1) to differentiate two components of organizational learning (i.e., single-loop and double-loop learning) and (2) to figure out the effect of organizational commitment, especially “organizational identification” (one of the two sub-factors of the affective commitment) on each of the two components. We conducted an empirical study using mail survey data randomly sampled in Tokyo. As we predicted, organizational learning behaviors consisted of two discriminating components. We also found that organizational identification had a positive effect on single-loop learning but no significant effect on double-loop learning. Furthermore, emotional attachment to the organization (the other sub-factor of the affective commitment) had no significant effect on organizational learning. The result suggests that organizational identification plays an important role to promote organizational learning, whereas emotional attachment does not.

Key words

Organizational learning, Organizational commitment

Title

The past and future of empirical research on free-will beliefs: Findings in philosophical theory, experimental philosophy, and social psychology

Author

Takumi Watanabe ( Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, The University of Tokyo/Japan Society for the Promotion of Science)
Koji Ota (Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo/Japan Society for the Promotion of Science)
Kaori Karasawa (Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, The University of Tokyo)

Summary

Social psychologists have recently begun to explore the problem of free-will beliefs. Philosophers have been working on the problem of free will over the ages, and studies of social psychologists on free-will beliefs are based on past philosophical theories. Meanwhile, philosophers not only argue over the theoretical issue of free will but also engage with the research program of experimental philosophy. This program shares the methodology of social psychology, and experimental investigation of belief in free will is proceeding at a rapid pace. In consideration of the above arguments, it seems obvious that social psychologists need to collaborate with philosophers on the problem of free-will beliefs. The authors therefore review the findings of each discipline and construct a model of people’s free-will beliefs. In this model, we consider free-will beliefs as composed by alternative possibility and agency, and these components function to promote attribution of moral responsibility, self-control, and social fit.

Key words

free will, determinism, philosophical theory, experimental philosophy, social psychology