This study aimed to elucidate whether “romance for identity” behaviors reflect the degree of identity formation or are influenced by factors such as relationship status and duration. Surveys were administered to 195 college students. Regression analysis of the survey data revealed that characteristics such as “fear of being overwhelmed by the partner” and “being concerned about the partner’s evaluation” were associated with the degree of identity formation. However, these characteristics were found to be independent of relationship status and duration. Furthermore, “feeling burdened by the relationship” was influenced by relationship status and identity formation independently. In contrast, “becoming unable to take one’s eyes off the partner’s behavior” was not associated with identity formation, relationship status, or relationship duration. Our findings suggest that certain “romance for identity behaviors” are related to the degree of identity formation in adolescents. However, some of these behaviors are related to the processes of relationship development and dissolution, independent of identity formation.

This study examined how non-native English speakers with Asian accents are evaluated. Previous research has consistently shown that non-native speakers with Asian accents tend to be rated lower than native English speakers on dimensions of competence and status. However, findings regarding the dimension of attractiveness have been less consistent. In the present study, 48 Japanese participants (22 with relatively high English proficiency and 26 with relatively low proficiency) and 26 native English speakers participated in an evaluation task using the verbal-guise technique. They rated non-native English speakers with varying levels of Asian accent. The results showed that both Japanese participants and native English speakers evaluated speakers with stronger Asian accents more negatively on both competence/status and attractiveness dimensions. Moreover, Japanese participants evaluated the Asian-accented speakers more negatively overall than did native English speakers. These findings suggest the existence of standard language ideology in the evaluation of speakers with Asian-accented English, as well as native-speakerism in English learning among Japanese participants.

The authors have shown that Japanese fire-bellied newts (Cynops pyrrhogaster) exhibit a reduction in consumption of a conditioned stimulus (CS) food after it is paired with an injection of lithium chloride (LiCl). In rats and other animals, food aversion conditioning has also been demonstrated using acceleration stimulation as an unconditioned stimulus (US) paired with a novel food. The present study examined whether Japanese fire-bellied newts could acquire food aversion conditioning by pairing a novel food with orbital stimulation as the US. The newts underwent five conditioning sessions, each followed by a test. The first four sessions involved orbital stimulation at 120 rpm, with variations in duration (15 to 60 minutes), direction (with or without reversal), and inclination (with or without a 13-degree tilt). Across these conditions, the newts showed no reduction in CS food consumption; instead, their intake gradually increased across trials. In contrast, when an injection of LiCl solution was used as the US in the last conditioning session, the newts exhibited a significant reduction in CS consumption. These results suggest that the lack of conditioned food aversion in the orbital stimulation conditions was not attributable to latent inhibition (i.e., reduced conditioning due to prior exposure to the CS). The findings further suggest that Japanese fire-bellied newts may not experience motion sickness in response to acceleration stimulation.

The delay discounting task measures how people devalue rewards as the delay to receiving them increases. Typically, the subjective value of rewards decreases as delay time increases, resulting in a hyperbolic discounting curve. However, a large amount of unsystematic data has been reported on the delayed discounting task. In this study, we focused on the non-systematic responses that occur within each trial, as opposed to the non-systematic data that occur across the trial. We evaluated six reward amounts ranging from Y1,000 to Y100,000,000 and nine delay times ranging from one week to 70 years. The following four results were obtained. (1) When all trials of the task were conducted with a variety of reward amounts and delay times, over-discounting, non-discounting, and inconsistent responses were observed as well as typical responses. (2) We found that 90% of the data showed typical delay discounting for reward amounts up to Y10,000 and delay times up to one month. (3) Over-discounting tended to increase in frequency of occurrence as the delay time to reward increased, with a particularly sharp increase after 10 years in the condition of more than Y1,000,000. (4) The frequency of occurrence of no-discounting and inconsistent was low, regardless of condition.

Emotional crying has been described as the shedding of tears resulting from an emotional event and is a universal and uniquely human behavior. The purpose of the present study was to examine emotions and mood changes associated with emotional crying considering crying-related situations. A survey was done wherein a total of 159 participants were asked to recall their recent crying episodes and describe the details of the event freely. Subsequently, they assessed their emotional states and mood changes upon crying. The study identified four types of crying-related emotions namely crying with sadness, crying with sadness and regret, crying with sadness and being moved, and crying with happiness and being moved. The specific episode characteristics for each type of emotion were described. The results showed that crying other than that accompanied by sadness alone resulted in a refreshed mood change, suggesting that mood change after crying differed depending on the emotion accompanying the crying.