This study explored how engagement in computer-mediated communication through the network application “LINE” affects relational satisfaction with friends, and general health in college freshmen. Sixty-two participants completed a self-report questionnaire in May, and again in July. Health was measured by the General Health Questionnaire-28. A conditional uniform graph test showed a significant positive correlation between face-to-face (FTF) and LINE networks. LINE networks showed less correlation between May and July in comparison to FTF networks. There was no difference in students’ reported FTF friends. However, there was an increase in the number of LINE groups, and the number of those nominated as most important group members decreased. There was no significant correlation between the number of LINE groups and general health. The centrality of the LINE network showed a marginally significant positive correlation with satisfaction with friends in May, and significant negative correlation with depression in July. The number of LINE access had positive significant correlation with friendship satisfaction in May.

Five years have passed since the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, but food products from Fukushima are still being shunned by consumers. We aimed to determine what is behind consumer concern about the safety of these products. In two studies, we investigated whether activation of the behavioral immune system promotes overestimation of contaminated area around the Fukushima nuclear plant. In study 1, participants high in chronic germ aversion (GA) estimated a more vast contaminated areas than those low in GA, regardless of priming condition (disease threat condition vs. control condition). In study 2, high-GA participants in the disease threat condition estimated larger contaminated areas than high-GA participants in the control condition. No effects of priming were observed among low-GA participants. The relationship between reputational risk and behavioral immune system were discussed.

Over the propriety of unwanted facility, such as nuclear power plant, waste disposal and treatment facility, or military base, inequity of interests is observed between people in the location versus those in the non-affected area. Negative emotions such as anger or dissatisfaction among people in the location will be evoked much more toward extramural people who are unconcerned to their inequity than toward people who accept the facility unintentionally after perception its inequity. Results of an experiment using scenarios supported this hypothesis. Besides evaluation of inequity of interests, empathy with people in the non-affected area appeared to influence the emotional responses of those in the location. According to the group-value model, the display of sincere concern to the plights of those in the location by the unaffected majority was considered to be an influential factor in which the former perceived respect from the latter. We discussed implications of investigating interactions between these two groups on public decisions regarding these unwanted facilities.

Studies have indicated that various sources of information affect group level collective efficacy. However, the fundamental formation process where each member of a sport group appraises collective efficacy has not been adequately addressed. The purpose of this study was to examine this process in the context of task-related abilities among members of a sport group. Participants were 23 male college students and were assigned to a triad with two confederates. The participants were instructed to perform an experimental task consisting of pulling a wire rope above the prescribed tension criteria for 60 seconds. They were assigned to three conditions: the inferior condition in which the participant considered the two confederates to be more competent than themselves, the superior condition in which the confederates were judged to be as less competent, and the lone condition which the participant solely performed the task. The results showed that the participants in the inferior condition appraised the collective efficacy, in particular, focusing on the co-workers task-related abilities. Moreover, the individual effort in the inferior condition was lower than the other conditions. Finally, these results were interpreted in light of expectations of co-member ability.

This paper examined “time” in action research from a theoretical perspective. Two crucial elements of time were distinguished: “objective time,” which provides an external framework for human actions, and “subjective time,” which arises from the human experience of perceiving the passage of time. Examples of subjective time include the feeling that “more than ten minutes are left before the exam is over” or “more than three years has passed since the catastrophic disaster occurred.” Subjective time always generates two mutually counter-directed temporal modes: “completeness” or “post-festum,” and “uncertainty” or “ante-festum.” Together they form a paradoxical dynamism. The two-dimensional “instrumental” time sphere, comprising both subjective and objective time, forms another paradoxical dynamism with a totally different aspect of time, namely, the “consummatory” aspect. For an action researcher, there is particular significance in properly understanding these two time-related dynamisms and actively using them, with constant self-awareness of one’s own passive involvement in the dynamisms.

Action research is often limited due to its value-oriented attitudes surrounding time, in particular, in its tendency to slight the lived-present while concentrating on a better future. This article considered ways to circumvent this problem, and to develop better practice for action research. Theoretically speaking, the merit of action research is in the subject’s otherness, from the level of physical experience up to that of language. Both exist in the internal world of the individual uponmeeting others in the social world. We conducted action research focusing on the 2004 Niigata Chuetsu earthquake, where the provenapproach adopted by action researchers was not the “Mezasu” approach, which tries to change the focus on the present state to a better future, but the “Sugosu” approach, featuring the value and indispensability of the survivors’ present existence. The difficulty of the Mezasu approach stems from the “nihilism of time,” which is a prevalent modern attitude, based on the instrumentalism of time. We clarified the generation processes leading to attitudes about instrumentalism of time, and suggested the potential of a consummatory sense of time, which enables evaluation of the present existence within the context of instrumentalism. We found that utilizing the consummatory sense of time was a superior way of conducting action research in modern society.

This article aimed to discuss the processes through which organizational diagnosis during organizational development affects the “time” of an organization. This diagnosis aims to facilitate an organization’s understanding of its behavior and actual state. A case study was conducted in which diagnosis was done, with feedback, and follow up, and subsequently, the effect of the diagnosis on the dynamics of the organization was examined. The diagnosis and feedback facilitated the generation of a common view about the “present state” of the organization, while the interviews and follow up questionnaire indicated respondents sensed enhanced cooperative communication amongst themselves. In addition, the diagnosis and dialog within the organization were found to alleviate morale through generating a time perspective of the organization. The effect of organizational diagnosis was discussed with regard to its influence on the time perspective surrounding members’ independence and activeness, and in particular, how this perspective helped members sharing problem conscientiousness connect with each other, and engage in cooperative communication.

This paper explored the group dynamics occurring within a life science laboratory that have adopted the latest in scientific equipment and technology. We analyzed the case of AFM (atomic force microscopy), and the scientist community implementing it, tracing the process leading to a technological plateau, which is a tentative equilibrium of a system involving the mechanical tools and the human organization implementing it. Based on field study and interviews, this paper aimed to clarify the mechanism of the constitution of technological plateau. The results depicted a process reaching the plateau, where the role of AFM shifted from being just a means to becoming an end in itself, and then back to being the means once again. Further, the analysis of the synchronic data, including observation of laboratory practices, demonstrated overlaps and fluctuation in the meaning of the instrument in the stack status. Finally, we discussed technological plateaus in relation to the market character of contemporary life science.