This study investigated the processes through which environmental behaviors are disseminated via interactions with friends. Specifically, the effects of friends’ environmental behaviors and conversations with friends on environmental behavior were examined by estimating behavior and subjective norms. In this study, dyadic data collected from pairs of university students and their friends were analyzed. The Actor-Partner Interdependence Model for interchangeable data was used for the analysis. As a result, it was shown that conversations with friends directly affected the subjects’ environmental behaviors, as did the estimation of friends’ behavior and subjective norms for both individual and collective environmental behaviors. Thus, it was demonstrated that friends can affect each other’s environmental behaviors through conversations and the estimation of each other’s behavior. However, these behaviors did not impact on the behavior of others unless they were noticed by others, which suggests the importance of demonstrating such behaviors publically. Our findings showed that it is useful to increase opportunities for environmental conversations with others to promote environmental behaviors.

Currently, a well-supported model of the processes underlying voluntary and involuntary autobiographical memory retrieval hypothesizes that involuntary memory retrieval is a unique process, which is triggered by retrieval cues with low abstractness and directly recovers specific memories. However, Amemiya, Taka, and Sekiguchi (2011) proposed a revised model, in which involuntary memories are mere products of a process shared by voluntary and involuntary memories, and stated that generative retrieval, which is unique to voluntary memory, recovers memories with higher specificity. In this study, a cue-word method experiment involving the use of cue words that represented frequent or less frequent events was conducted to compare voluntary and involuntary memory retrieval. Involuntary memory retrieval was induced equally frequently, regardless of the abstractness of memory cues, and the more abstract cues induced less specific memories in both types of memory. Furthermore, the specificity of retrieved memories was higher for voluntary memories than for involuntary memories. These findings support Amemiya et al.’s revised model, which also provides an explanation for the seemingly contradictory findings of prior research.

Most current evidence on anger expression suggests that expressing anger has negative interpersonal consequences; thus, controlling or regulating anger in a relationship is considered to be the key to maintaining relationships. However, it is assumed that anger expression also serves as a trigger that prompts a greater sense of intimacy because expressing anger can motivate a partner to change their behavior, and anger expression is a type of self-disclosure behavior that reveals personal information. We predicted that participants that frequently experienced and expressed anger at a close partner would report longer-lasting relationships. In a survey, Japanese university students were asked to recall episodes of heartbreak involving a heterosexual partner and report on their assessment of how long the romantic relationship lasted and the intensity and frequency of their anger expression in the presence of their partner during the relationship. Survival analysis revealed that the participants who frequently expressed mild anger at their partners reported longer relationship durations. We discuss the results and possible implications for understanding how relationships are maintained or strengthened by expressing anger.

A new training method was developed to investigate whether self-control could be improved through training. One hundred and twenty-four participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: refraining from using their smartphones, acting five minutes ahead of schedule, squeezing handgrips, or keeping a diary (the control condition). Self-control capacity was assessed using the stop signal paradigm before and after the training period (duration: 13 days). The participants who practiced self-control by acting five minutes ahead of schedule exhibited significant improvements in stop signal performance. These results indicate that self-control can be improved via the repeated inhibition of automatic responses.

This study examined the determinants of trust in artificial intelligence (AI) in the area of asset management. Many studies of risk perception have found that value similarity determines trust in risk managers. Some studies have demonstrated that value similarity also influences trust in AI. AI is currently employed in a diverse range of domains, including asset management. However, little is known about the factors that influence trust in asset management-related AI. We developed an investment game and examined whether shared investing strategy with an AI advisor increased the participants’ trust in the AI. In this study, questionnaire data were analyzed (n=101), and it was revealed that shared investing strategy had no significant effect on the participants’ trust in AI. In addition, it had no effect on behavioral trust. Perceived ability had significantly positive effects on both subjective and behavioral trust. This paper also discusses the empirical implications of the findings.

The purpose of the current study was to clarify whether interdependent behavior among the Japanese is aligned with their expectations regarding others’ behavior or their own preferences. The participants were privately asked about their preference for independence or interdependence and their expectations regarding others’ independent or interdependent behavior. Then, they were asked to publicly express whether their own behavior was indicative of independence or interdependence. When comparing the participants’ preferences, expectations, and actual behavior, I found that interdependence was only evident in their expectations and public behavior; i.e., the participants answered that they preferred independence rather than interdependence, whereas they expected that others are interdependent and identified themselves as interdependent in public. These findings suggest that interdependent behavior among the Japanese is based on their expectations regarding others’ behavior rather than their own preferences.