This study investigated how the prospect for development in a relationship affects interpersonal communication, taking into consideration the expectation and will to continue a relationship. Our prior study approached the matter experimentally by extrinsically manipulating the expectation for relational continuation, but this study featured self-initiated, on-going relationships, and examined consistencies and differences between expectancy of an ongoing relationship and will to continue a relationship. Twenty unacquainted dyads and 25 acquainted dyads participated in this experiment. Consistent with our prior study, when the relationship was considered continuous, they were motivated to communicate more, and the influence of individual differences in interpersonal orientation decreased. On the contrary, when the relationship was considered temporary, those with higher social skills conversed more with their partners. Compared to our prior study, there were some new findings. When they expected their relationship to extrinsically continue, they gazed at their partners more, while they talked more and perceived more satisfaction in a conversation with will to continue a relationship. Furthermore, will to continue a relationship influenced interpersonal communication more in unacquainted dyads than in acquainted.

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This study examined the communicator's speech production process in order to identify uniqueness of his/her speech behavior. Communication participation style was set as the predictor of speech behavior, while sociometric status and the intragroup composition of members served as moderator variables. Experiments involving small-group discussions were conducted to see how factors inherent in interpersonal situations play upon the hypothetical associations between each factors of communication participation styles, and the speaker's speech behaviors. Results indicated that sociometiric status was not a moderator, but an independent variable influencing speech frequency. These findings support the Speaker-Role hypothesis, but a reconception of the speech production process model was mandated.

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This study investigated cultural differences between the United States and Japan in terms of frequency of interpersonal stressors in close and non-close relationships, effects of social skills on the relationship between culture and stressors, and effects of interpersonal stressors on distress. Japanese and American undergraduates participated in a questionnaire survey. The three major findings were as follows. First, regarding frequency of stressors, cultural differences were not found in interpersonal conflicts (arguments and confrontations), but effects of culture and closeness were found in both interpersonal blunders (imposing a burden on someone) and interpersonal friction (suppressing true feelings and being considerate); particularly, in close relationships, Japanese experienced more interpersonal blunders, but less interpersonal friction than Americans. Second, social skills served as a mediator to the relationship between culture and frequency of interpersonal blunders for close relationships, indicating that interpersonal blunders are more frequent in Japan than the U.S. Also, regarding associations between social skills and frequency of interpersonal conflicts in close relationships, a moderator effect of culture was significant; that is, those with higher skills experienced less interpersonal conflict for Americans, but not for Japanese. Finally, the relationship between interpersonal stressors in close relationships and distress was stronger in Japan than the U.S.

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We examined whether victims and observers react asymmetrically to different types of apologies given by a transgressor. Namely, we considered the apology's effects on its perceivers' motivation to forgive the transgressor, and also whether factors of responsibility attribution and emotional empathy mediate such effects. For this purpose, we presented 136 undergraduates with vignettes depicting a hypothetical predicament, followed by an apology scenario. The scenarios were manipulated on the perspective the participants took (victim/observer) and the sincerity of the apology (spontaneous/coerced). The data indicated an interaction effect in how the victims and the observers reacted to the types of apology: the coerced apology facilitated forgiveness motivations among only the observers and not the victims. Furthermore, we found a victim/observer asymmetry in the mediation processes that lead to their forgiveness. The effect of apologies on the observer's forgiveness was mediated by both responsibility judgment and empathic reaction, whereas its effect on the victim's forgiveness was mediated by empathy alone. The results suggest that, during a social predicament, victims and observer make decisions on a different motivational basis.

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Based on sociometer theory, a model depicting the effect of received social support (RSS), on psychological well-being as mediated by perceived acceptance by others (PA) was proposed and tested using cross-sectional data. The element of negative interaction (NI) was also included in this model. In study 1, the effects of RSS and NI from one's general interpersonal network on well-being were both mediated by PA. In study 2, the effects of RSS and NI from a particular person on the receiver's well-being were mediated by the PA from that person, controlling for the receiver's perception about the relationship with the person. However, when trait self-esteem was controlled for in both Studies 1 and 2, the effect of PA on well-being disappeared, while the effects of SS and NI on PA remained significant. These results indicate that the perception of how much social support is received and how much negative interaction is experienced between others is related to how well they are accepted by others, but the relationship between acceptance and well-being is implicated by the level of self-esteem of the receiver.

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The recent trend in group identity studies is to approach the matter from a multilevel perspective, ever since the Interactive Model of Social Identity Formation (Postmes et al., 2006) was proposed. However, there has been little consensus on the operational definition of group level group identity, hence group identity is yet to be adequately addressed at the group level. The aims of this study were: (1) to compare two operational definitions, one by Swaab et al. (2008), and the other by Ozeki and Yoshida (2009); (2) to identify the difference in two subscales of group identity, "Membership" and "Pride", at both the individual and group levels. A total of 358 university students (161 Male, 190 female, 7 unidentified) evaluated their group identity toward the department of their major, and its group entitativity and ingroup value. At the group level, Membership lead to shared group identity mediating group entitativity. At the individual level, those high on Membership perceived their ingroup were cohesive, with its members sharing group identity. At the individual level, perceived ingroup value predicted Pride, leading to membership. We developed a new group formation process model through group identity development from a multilevel viewpoint, integrating the result of this study and the Interactive Model of Social Identity Formation.

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