A set of experimental forms consisting of 45 English listening comprehension items was generated and administered to 652 college students. Each form was divided into 3 blocks in which speech rate, pause duration, and presentation style (character or voice), respectively, were varied, resulting in 213 items distributed across 8 forms. The results of classical test theory and Item Response Theory (IRT) analyses were as follows: (1) As speech rate decreased, item difficulty decreased. Average item pass-rate increased by 7% according when speech duration changed from 80% to 140%.(2) When presentation style was varied, character presentation items were less difficult than voice presentation items. The examinees tended to depend on the character information even on the listening comprehension test.(3) Differences in item pass-rate according to presentation style were compensated for in estimated ability (θ) due to the use of IRT equating processing utlizing anchor blocks. A new type of research design using Item Response Theory was presented, which enabled feedback of score information to examinees.

View full abstract

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relations among school adjustment, parent-child relations of mutual trust, and trust in one's best friend. A questionnaire assessing mood in the class (aggression, anxiety, and relaxation), maladjustment tendencies (loneliness and antisocial tendencies), and young people's trust in their parents and best friend was completed by 270 junior high school students. A questionnaire on parent's trust in their child was completed by 279 mothers and 241 fathers. The main results were as follows: (1) Youth who reported a relationship of mutual trust with their parents were well-adjusted to school. On the other hand, children who did not have a fully trusting relationship with their parents tended to be maladjusted at school.(2) For those children who did not have a relation of mutual trust with their parents, the extent to which they trusted their best friend was related to their tendency to be maladjusted in school (the loneliness and antisocial tendency measures).

View full abstract

The present study examined characteristics of music that university students listen to when in a sad mood, and the relationship of the intensity of their sad mood prior to listening to the music and the affective tone of the music, to the students' mood after listening to the music. It was hypothesized that the students' sad mood would be weakened when they had been very sad, and that it would be enhanced or unchanged when they had been only a little sad. The results of Experiments 1 and 2 indicated that no matter how severe the listeners' sad mood had been, their mood shifted to a level predicted by the affective tone of the music that they had listened to. Sad moods were weakened after listening to sad music if the listeners had felt very sad, whereas their sadness remained unchanged if they had been only a little sad. These findings suggest that sad music may be effective for easing sadness in people in a deeply sad mood, but that it may not be as effective for those who had been only a little sad.

View full abstract

The present study examined how children change their problem-solving strategies through social interaction in mathematics classrooms. A mathematics teacher taught a lesson on intensive quantity to 2 fifth-grade classes by means of either a method based on children's intuitive strategies or a conventional method. Children in both classes were asked to solve proportion problems before and after the lesson. Videotaped records of the lesson, and worksheets used by the children, were analyzed. Instruction based on children's intuitive thought was more useful when children were solving near-transfer tasks than was conventional instruction. Those who understood others' ideas presented in the classroom and incorporated those ideas into their own strategies used a sophisticated strategy (a unit strategy) on the posttest more often than those who superficially imitated others' ideas. Both children who had not said anything during the lesson and those who had made comments benefited from the experimental instruction method. A new direction of research in cognition and instruction, and general characteristics of strategy change, were discussed.

View full abstract

The present study examined when elementary school children (grades 1-6) come to understand recursive mental states. 3 second-order false-belief tasks were prepared: Ice-cream story (Perner & Wimmer, 1985), Birthday story (Sullivan et al., 1994), and a new Transfer story, which was simple and easy to test. Participants (N=378) were given a lie-joke story to test whether or not they could distinguish a lie from a joke. Results showed that the Transfer story was easy to understand, and that most first-graders (6-7 years old) could attribute second-order beliefs. The ability to distinguish a lie from a joke was strongly correlated with the ability to attribute second-order beliefs and intentions. Therefore, it was suggested that understanding of recursive mental states was a prerequisite for being able to distinguish a lie from a joke.

View full abstract

The present research aimed at analyzing the relation between anthropophobic tendency and narcissistic personality. Questionnaires about anthropophobic tendency and narcissistic personality were completed by 336 university undergraduates and graduate students (199 women, 137 men; average age: 19: 7 years). The results were as follows: A significant negative correlation was found between anthropophobic tendency and narcissistic personality; some patterns of anthropophobic tendency and narcissistic personality were interfused. Cluster analysis revealed 4 subtypes of anthropophobic tendency and narcissistic personality: pure anthropophobic type (Cluster 1), hypervigilant type (Cluster 2), commu-phobic type (Cluster 3), and oblivious type (Cluster 4). Clusters 2 and 4 were greatly influenced by narcissistic personality. Narcissistic personality was positively related to anthropophobic tendency.

View full abstract

The purpose of the present study was to confirm the structure of scales measuring dominant psychopathologies, such as depression, anxiety, delusional ideation, and obsessional-compulsive disorder, in the context of the view of personality as a predispositional factor. Scales were administered to 362 university students. In Study 1, 14 subscales were subjected to a principal axis factor analysis with oblique rotation. Four factors were obtained. Factor 1 was mainly delusional ideations with negative emotion; Factor 2, depression, anxiety, and 2 psychopathologies of obsessional compulsive disorder; Factor 3, delusional ideation with positive emotion; and Factor 4, 2 psychopathologies of obsessional compulsive disorder. In Study 2, we calculated the correlations among the psychopathology and personality scales, and found that the variables in each factor showed the same pattern of correlation with personality. In Study 3, we used structural equation modeling in order to investigate the correlations among latent variables and personality. Each latent variable showed a different pattern of correlation with personality. We obtained a structure of psychopathology that reflected personality.

View full abstract

The present study examined the extent of agreement between junior high school students and their mothers in terms of their perception of social support. Questionnaires about 9 social support settings were completed by junior high school students who were support recipients, and their mothers who were support providers. Although the extent of agreement on support as perceived by the adolescents and their mothers varied by setting, the extent of agreement on support and non-support in the same setting did not vary. Mother-daughter dyads showed greater agreement than mother-son dyads. Greater disagreement was found between mothers who provided social support and youth who did not actually receive social support, compared to that found in youth who received social support and mothers who did not actually provide social support. The adolescents' satisfaction with their mothers was not related to agreement on perception of social support, but rather only to the adolescents' perception of the support provided by their mothers.

View full abstract

The present study was designed to investigate which factors facilitate the learning of units of the Japanese language curriculum in elementary school fifth graders. The training techniques compared were self-monitored self-evaluation (MS) and criterion-referenced self-evaluation (CRS). The purpose of self-monitored self-evaluation training was for pupils to acquire both a self-regulated use of problem-solving skills and strategies, and the ability to monitor and evaluate their own problem-solving processes, correcting them and interpreting them to others. Pupils then marked self-evaluation cards, which had criterion-referenced items and problem-solving-process items. The pupils were trained for 12 hours with one of those 2 training techniques, and then took 3 posttests. The pupils trained with self-monitored self-evaluation did better on all 3 posttests than the pupils trained with criterion-referenced self-evaluation. They also strengthened their intrinsic motivation more than the other group of pupils.

View full abstract

A theme-oriented study is defined as an activity in which students choose their own topics gather and integrate information, and present the results to others. Recently, many educational practices concerning theme-oriented study have been reported, because integrated learning has been promoted in Japan. In the present research, we focused on supports for students' self-regulation of their knowledge and skills. Students in an elementary school, a junior high school, and senior high schools (total N students=9) participanted in a practical program held at the University of Tokyo. The contents and effects of the staff's supports were examined. It was shown that youth could spontaneously acquire skills such as comparing information and integrating information as a result of participating in a 1-year preliminary activity and a 1-month theme-oriented study. The staff supports that were effective included teaching skills of self-regulation directly, and monitoring the learning process. It is suggested that such supports should be explicitly included in theme-oriented study.

View full abstract

The purposes of the present study were (a) to work out a program aimed at enhancing children's feelings of self-affirmation,(b) to execute experimental lessons with the children, and (c) to assess the effects of these lessons, based on the children's consciousness of self and their behavior. Whether the students were negatively affected by looking at themselves was also examined. Out of 206 5^th graders in 6 classes, 4 classes (the experimental group) were given 4 lessons. Just before the lessons, after the lessons, and one month later, the children took the “Who am I?” test, giving ratings of feeling and significance for each description. Their answers were compared with those of another 2 classes (the control group) that did not receive the special lessons. The experimental group showed more positive descriptions and fewer negative ones. However, an influence on behavior was not found. In the group classified by attribution inquiries as self-deprecating, the description of looking at other people negatively decreased significantly.

View full abstract

Recently, it has been claimed that student counseling services need to be reconstructed in such a way that educational and student personnel services are incorporated into a total counseling system that includes the clinical treatment of psychological problems. To broaden the service effectively, students with a wide range of problems should feel free to seek help from the student service organization. In the present paper, we focus on students' help-seeking behavior, and based on related literature in social psychology, derive predictions about the factors that facilitate help-seeking behavior. Then we review the current state of student counseling services in Japan and America, in order to find out what ought to be done in practice to facilitate students' help-seeking behavior. Specifically, we point out that an effort is needed in “psycho-education” for students, in the systematization and support of student groups, and in collaboration with other professionals in the school system.

View full abstract