The present study was to examine the process of psychological stress by using the stress self-rating scale and MPI in university students (N=123). The stress self-rating scale consists of three scales: stress responses, stressors and coping. The main findings were as fonows: (a) stress responses were positively correlated with “negative” life events and “avoidance-escape” coping mode; (b) stress responses were negatively correlated with “emotion-focused” coping mode; (c) the characteristics of extraversion-introversion derived from MPI were positively correlated with active coping modes (such as “problem-focused” and “emotion-focused”); (d) the dimension of neuroticism was positively correlated with “negative” life events and stress responses.

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Individual response specificity (IRS) refers to the tendency that an individual has to emit characteristic response, especially physiological response, to most stimuli. The present study assessed two relationships between IRS and susceptability to stress induced disease, and between IRS and behavior pattern (TypeA, neuroticism). Thirty-three male undergraduate students were devided into following 4 groups. TypeA-low neurotic (A-LN) group, TypeB-high neurotic (B-HN) group, TypeA-high neurotic (A-HN) group, and control (B-LN) group. Three stressors (speech, stroop-color word test, and white noise) were presented over 3 sessions.
The major findings were as follows: (1) Fifteen percent of subjects (3 A-LN subjects, 1 B-HN subject, and 1 A-HN subject) exhibited a significant IRS-pattern over 3 sessions. (2) One A-LN subject indicated a significant IRS-pattern over 3 sessions and 3 stressors, in addition, he tend to show low awareness of emotional and somatic response to stress. (3) None of control group exhibited a significant IRS-pattern.
The findings mentioned above, although only limited subjects exhibited a significant IRS-pattern, it is expected that they may also show a idiosyncratic response on both of psychological and behavioral aspects.

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We have developed methods of instruction to train paramedical staff how to carry out patient education.
In this study, we introduced the technique of “role play” in a lecture as a method of achieving contact with a patient, and systematically analyzed the effect of this teaching method. We tried particularly to develop a method by which an individual and objective grasp of each member's way of thinking in a group could be obtained.
Before the lecture students were asked about how they would respond to a patient. During the lecture we had some of the students do simple role playing and asked the other students to watch and discuss what they had seen. After the lecture, we had them think and answer questions to express their ideas on a good response to a patient.
Their answers were classified into three levels based on the grade of empathetic understanding they expressed for a patient: Level A; empathetic understanding for a patient, Level B; partial acceptance of a patient, Level C; other responses.
A comparison of answers before and after the lecture confirmed that the students' degree of empathetic understanding can be analyzed by these three levels and that role play tended to have some effect on this understanding.

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