In the present study, effects of predictability of others' behavior on crowding was analyzed in a computer simulated situation. On the CRT screen, simulated movements of a fluid crowd were displayed. In one situation members of the simulated crowd moved randomly (unpredictable condition), in another their movements were regulated in a systematic way (predictable condition), In this experiment the subject was allowed to manipulate the movement of only one member of the crowd who corresponds to the subject himself and through such procedure the subject was expected to find himself in crowd-like situation. Feelings of crowding were measured by a Semantic Differential type questionnaires with 14 adjective pairs. Using factor analysis, two main factors were found operating. The first was the crowding factor and the second the evaluation factor. By the analysis of variance of the first (crowding) factor scores, predictability of others' behavior was proved to be a significant determinant of crowding.

View full abstract

The present study was designed to investigate forewarning effects on postcommunication attitude change following fear-arousing communications and on the postwarning-precommunication psychological processes which were mediators of the persuasion-inhibiting effects of forewarnings. In this study, seven single and joint types of forewarnings were used which consisted of combination of the three kinds of forewarnings: the topic and position of the upcoming communication (TP type), the communicator's persuasive intent (PI type), and the communicator's fear-arousing intent (FI type). The FI type forewarning proved to be a potential persuasion-inhibiting factor mediated by psychological reactance and feeling of defensive avoidance. Though the single FI type forewarning didn't show a significant resistance to persuasion, joint FI-PI type forewarning showed significant resistance to persuasion in the high fear-arousing communication. Other single or joint types of three forewarnings showed no clear resistance to persuasion. But, the PI type forewarning tended to produce psychological reactance and TP type forewarning tended to produce feeling of defensive avoidance.

View full abstract

Forty-two women's junior college students, healthy and aged 19 to 29 years, were divided into two (competitve or cooperative) groups, each consisting of seven triads. A problem solving task was given to each triad with two (“paired”) participants instructed to be either competitive or cooperative. Mean heart rate during problem solving increased in both groups, but the degree of the heart rate increment showed significant differences as a function of group condition and position within triad. The heart rate of competitive participants increased more than the third (“isolated”) one, while that of cooperative participants increased less. Analyses of the task performance and cognitive responses suggested that hyperarousal was induced in the isolated perticipant under the cooperative situation.

View full abstract

The present study was designed to investigate the effects of the amount of threat to freedom and the presence or absence of opinion expression on resistance to persuasion and its reduction in the repeated persuasion situations. This experiment focused on the subject whose initial attitude was in line with the position presented in the persuasive communication. Two factors were involved in this experiment, i.e., the amount of threat (high or low), and the expression of opinion (opinion expressed, or not), which constituted, then, a 2×2 before-after factorial design. The results showed that in the high threat condition reactance effects were reduced only among subjects who expressed their opinion in the first communication. In contrast, in the low threat condition positive attitude change was induced regardless of the opinion expression. The results were discussed in terms of the theory of psychological reactance. However, some doubt remained as to the validity of its basic propositions.

View full abstract

The degree of confidence under uncertainty can be described by two aspects: cognitive and behavioral. The present study was designed to examine the relationship between cognition and behavior by measuring confidence scores and conforming responses to cue information in two-choice prediction situation. Probability of cue information being positive was 1.0, .75, .5, .25, and 0. The main results were as follows: (a) Both confidence scores and conforming responses depended on cue information, but while asymptotic confidence scores approximated the probability of positive information under any condition, rates of conforming responses exceeded the probability of positive information except under a 100% condition, (b) in the early stage of trials the pattern of conforming responses markedly differed from that of confidence scores, and (c) confidence scores changed sensitively according to accuracy of cue information. These findings suggest that confidence and behavior result from different sources respectively, and that many biases appear particularly in behavioral aspect.

View full abstract

Five experiments were conducted to examine the interaction between alternative disparities, using several simple stereograms consisting of a few identical vertical lines. The cumulative time of stereopsis-disappearance was measured. It was found that the time of stereopsis-disappearance increased, (a) as the disparity increased in the single line condition (local stereopsis), (b) as the lateral separation between two lines decreased in the Panum's limiting case as well as in the 2 line condition (global stereopsis), (c) as the difference of disparities increased in the 2 line condition, or (d) when the test line was in the middle rather than in the sides in the 3 line condition. These results can be consistently explained by supposing the inhibitory effects from the false targets to the true targets, inversely proportional to the distance between them, in the binocular network.

View full abstract

The purpose is to examine whether motor space might be heterogeneous in movement reproduction with regard to kinesthetic cues of location and distance. Twenty blindfolded subjects were asked to reproduce points in space or length of ten centimeters in motor space. Three motor spaces criteria-movements were set in relation to subject's body positions: median line, shoulder, and outside of shoulder. Chief findings were as follows: (a) Although the difference of motor space was not found with distance cues, the difference was significant with location cues, indicating that the movements were less undershot at median line space than at the space outside of shoulder. (b) The movements tended to be reproduced more exactly at median line space than at the space outside of shoulder. The present study suggested that cognition of space related to body image played more important role in the movement reproduction with the location cue than in the one with the distance cue.

View full abstract

It has been recommended by The Society for Psychophysiological Research (USA) that skin conductance should be recorded by the application of constant voltage 0.5V across the electrodes, and the resultant current should be measured by the amplification of potential across a small resistor in series with the skin. A simple and inexpensive circuit has been recommended for this purpose. However, we cannot afford the same circuit in Japan, since the reference diode LM 113 T is not available. A Japanese version for this purpose is proposed, with satisfactory results.

View full abstract