A Study of ‘Hazukashisa’ Feeling in Infancy by Means of Q-technique

Abstract

　‘Hazukashisa’ feeling is one of the peculiar feelings of Japanese and appears commonly in infancy. It means both ‘shame’ and ‘shyness’. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factor structure of ‘Hazukashisa’ feeling in infancy by means of Q-technique. Method: For Q-sort, a structured sample of 60 statements (each of which consists of three independent variables―inferiority, guilt and bashfulness) was prepared. Four Kindergarten teachers operated Q-sort on forty 5-year-old children. Result: By a centroid method of factor analysis we obtained ten factors, and five of them (acceptance of act, self defense, immaturity, sociability and embarrassment) could explain the cause of ‘Hazukashisa’ feeling in infancy well.