Vol.31,No.2 November,2015

Title

Determinants of emerging adults’ attitudes toward their fathers: Focusing on children’s perceptions of their fathers’ behaviors

Author

Mizuka Ohtaka (Department of Politics and Public Administration, Faculty of Law, Yamanashi Gakuin University)
Kaori Karasawa (Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, The University of Tokyo)

Summary

Factors other than frequency of involvement probably determine emerging adults’ attitudes toward their fathers. However, factors that affect these attitudes have not yet been revealed. Therefore, this study focuses on children’s perceptions of perspective taking from their fathers and blame for negative behaviors by their fathers, and verifies whether these factors determine children’s attitudes toward their fathers. We conducted a panel survey of 501 Japanese undergraduate students. Data were collected in two waves over approximately two months to establish the causal relationships between the above-mentioned variables. Results indicated that in case of sons, the more positively they perceive their fathers’ behaviors, the more positive their attitudes become toward their fathers. Implications for father-son relationships, compared with father-daughter and mother-child relationships, are discussed.

Key words

emerging adulthood, children’s attitudes toward their fathers, children’s perceptions, panel survey, causal relationships

Title

Antecedent conditions and consequences of pluralistic ignorance: An experimental investigation of individual cognition and behavior

Author

Shuma Iwatani (Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, The University of Tokyo)
Yukiko Muramoto (Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, The University of Tokyo)

Summary

The present study aimed to examine the antecedent conditions of pluralistic ignorance and its consequences, especially on individuals’ micro processes. Japanese college students participated in a laboratory experiment and met their partners in another room, these actually being confederates. They were asked to do some choice tasks regarding their preferences of gummy candy flavors. Next, they were led to believe that their partners made choices identical to theirs, and estimated the partners’ preferences. They were then asked to choose one flavor as a reward for themselves and their partners, and to evaluate their preferences again. The result suggested a process of the occurrence and consequences of pluralistic ignorance as follows: (1) People tend to see the choices made by others as reflections of their preferences, even when their own identical choices are made to eliminate dislikable alternatives. (2) They tend to take action as group members to meet others’ preferences, even when those are different from their own preferences. (3) When confronted with the inconsistency between their actions and preferences, people are motivated to justify their actions by changing their preferences.

Key words

pluralistic ignorance, correspondence bias, cognitive dissonance, culture, micro–macro linkage

Title

Effect of question formats on item endorsement rates in Web surveys: Comparing check-all and forced-choice question formats

Author

Shigeru Erikawa (Tokyo Broadcasting System Television, Inc.)
Kazunari Yamada (Faculty of Sociology, Toyo University)

Summary

The purpose of this study is to test whether multiple-answer formats (MA) and forced-choice formats (FC) produce similar results in Web surveys. Data were based on a Web survey of 1,559 Japanese adults in the Tokyo metropolitan area in March 2010. The results revealed the following: (1) Respondents endorse fewer options and take less time to answer in MA than in FC. (2) For MA respondents, options are more likely to be endorsed when they appear in the first half of a list than in the second half. These findings suggest that MA may encourage weak satisficing response strategies. In addition, these tendencies can be seen not only in attitudinal questions (judgment-type questions), but also behavioral questions (recall-type questions). However, the differences between FC and MA are greater in attitudinal questions than in behavioral questions.

Key words

multiple-answer format, forced-choice format, satisficing, response time, Web survey

Title

Monitors are not monitored: How satisficing among online survey monitors can distort empirical findings

Author

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

Summary

In this article, monitor attitudes during online surveys were empirically examined, focusing in particular on satisficing (when survey participants do not fully engage their efforts). At first, the extent to which the satisficing tendency was dependent on personal traits was examined. We observed participants’ behavior in an online survey setting that required them to view video stimulus material consisting of news footage, and measured the length of time each participant spent viewing the footage. The results revealed that respondents who had satisficed (half-heartedly read) the scale items in a prior study (Miura & Kobayashi, 2015) were much more likely to satisfice the video footage. Then, agenda-setting and media-priming effects were used to examine the impact of satisficing during online surveys (including experimental manipulation) on empirical findings. Both examinations indicated the strong possibility that data pertaining to participants who satisficed could serve to distort empirical findings.

Key words

Online survey, satisfice, agenda-setting effect, media priming effect

Title

A test of the correlation between ingroup favoritism and fear of negative evaluation

Author

Nobuhiro Mifune (Kochi University of Technology)
Toshio Yamagishi (The University of Tokyo)

Summary

We tested the reputation maintenance hypothesis of ingroup favoritism. Ninety-two non-student participants played one-shot prisoner’s dilemma games with an ingroup and an outgroup partner with minimal groups, and showed ingroup favoritism only when the participant and his/her partner knew each other’s group membership (common knowledge condition). The ingroup favoritism observed in the common knowledge condition positively correlated with fear of negative evaluation. These results provide support for the reputation maintenance hypothesis.

Key words

ingroup favoritism, prisoner’s dilemma, minimal groups, reputation

Title

Development of Japanese Measures of Reconciliatory Tendencies: The Japanese Trait Forgivingness Scale and the Japanese Proclivity to Apologize Measure

Author

Yohsuke Ohtsubo (Kobe University)
Kazuho Yamaura (Ritsumeikan University)Ayano Yagi (Kobe University)

Summary

Reconciliation processes are influenced by two important dispositional variables: (i) the victim’s disposition to forgive the offender, and (ii) the offender’s disposition to apologize to the victim. We translated extant English measures of each of these dispositions into Japanese using the back-translation method. We then examined the validity of the two resultant measures, the Japanese Trait Forgivingness Scale (J-TFS) and the Japanese Proclivity to Apologize Measure (J-PAM). Consistent with previous findings, J-TFS scores were correlated with agreeableness, neuroticism (inversely), and subjective well-being, while J-PAM scores were correlated with agreeableness and subjective well-being. Interestingly, these two reconciliatory tendencies were positively correlated with each other, even when controlling for agreeableness (i.e., a preference for harmonious social relationships). In addition, two autobiographical recall studies (of actual instances of forgiveness and apology) confirmed the validity of these two measures. The J-TFS predicted the extent to which participants had forgiven a workplace offense inflicted by one of their co-workers, while the J-PAM predicted whether participants had apologized to their victims following a recent transgression.

Key words

forgiveness, Japanese Trait Forgivingness Scale (J-TFS), Japanese Proclivity to Apologize Measure (J-PAM), Transgression-Related Interpersonal Motivations Inventory (TRIM)