In this study, we aimed to determine whether cognitive reevaluation of psychological distress in visiting nurses promotes the development of their professional identities and elicits feelings of mutuality of caring. In study 1, we administered a questionnaire survey to 371 visiting nurses. A covariance structural analysis showed that, although most of the visiting nurses suffered more psychological distress from caring for clients, their professional identities were further developed through feelings of mutuality of caring caused by the successive reevaluation of future care for clients. In study 2, we intervened visiting nurses via e-mail. The results showed that, in experimental conditions in which visiting nurses successively reevaluated their psychological distress while considering future care for clients, the nurses had higher scores for measures of professional identity. These results supported our hypothesis and demonstrated the effectiveness of successively evaluating patient care, to elicit feelings of mutuality, in developing the professional identities of visiting nurses, who experience various kinds of psychological distress.

We examined how foreign experiences and critical thinking disposition influence moral and legal consciousness. Participants (N = 725) answered a questionnaire that measured their moral and legal consciousness (to what extent they permit various immoral/illegal behaviors, whether they intervene for a person behaving immorally/illegally, and to what extent they think various immoral/illegal behaviors are permitted in the Japanese society), levels of critical thinking disposition, and their foreign experiences (living abroad, traveling abroad, having foreign friends, and using foreign languages daily). The results showed that weak critical thinking dispositions were positively related to tolerating various immoral/illegal behaviors, not intervening for persons behaving immorally/illegally, and tolerating illegal behaviors in the context of Japanese society. Although no effects were found for three dimensions of foreign experiences, daily use of foreign language was associated with tolerability of illegal behaviors, especially in the group that had weak critical thinking dispositions. The results suggest that having a strong critical thinking disposition leads to having a relatively rigid moral and legal consciousness, and that for people that have weak critical thinking dispositions, daily foreign experiences can strengthen permissive attitudes toward illegal behaviors.

The present study examines changes over time in 12 traits of the Yatabe-Guilford Personality Inventory that has been commonly used in Japan. A cross-temporal meta-analysis was conducted on 245 samples (95 papers) of Japanese people who completed the scale between 1954 to 2012 (total N = 50,327). Most of the traits showed curvilinear changes with survey year. Especially in recent years, Emotional Instability traits tended to increase with time whereas Dominance and Non-reflection traits tended to decrease. Changes to Thinking Extraversion and Nervousness correlated strongly with the changes to self-esteem between 1984 and 2009. Implications of the changes in the personality traits with survey year are discussed along with future research directions.

The objective of the present study was to develop a Japanese version of the Interpersonal Behaviours Questionnaire (IBQ-J) and evaluate its validity. The IBQ is a scale for assessing the perceptions of interpersonal behaviours of others and is based on Self-Determination Theory within the context of need-supportive and needthwarting behaviours. In Study 1, participants reported the interpersonal behaviours of people in their lives. In Study 2, participants reported the interpersonal behaviours of specified significant people (namely, parents and intimate friends). The results of the two studies were largely consistent with the previous Self-Determination Theory studies. We concluded that the IBQ-J is a valid scale for investigating the perceptions of need-supportive, and need-thwarting behaviours of others.

This study developed a Japanese version of the Stress Mindset Measure (SMM-J), which captures individual differences in beliefs on the nature of stress, and investigated its reliability and validity. Study 1 examined the reliability and factor structure of the SMM-J by analyzing survey data of 449 employed adults. The results revealed that the SMM-J was composed of two negatively and strongly correlated factors: harmfulness of stress and usefulness of stress. Study 2 (92 parents), Study 3 (349 undergraduates), and Study 4 (800 employed adults) examined the predictive validity of the SMM-J. The results showed that the SMM-J predicted subjective health and life satisfaction after controlling for the effects of traditional stress factors such as the amount of stress and the coping style. This result is consistent with previous studies. The importance of an appropriate stress mindset is discussed.

The 20-item prosopagnosia index (PI20) was developed for assessing congenital prosopagnosia, which is characterized by severe facial recognition deficits in the absence of any obvious neurological deficit. We aimed to develop a Japanese version of the PI20 (PI20-J) scale and evaluate its validity and reliability. In study 1, we confirmed the internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and concurrent validity of the scale. In study 2, we examined the relationships between PI20-J score and facial recognition performance and found a moderate correlation between them. In study 3, we examined whether the PI20-J score is related specifically with facial recognition performance, or with general object recognition performance. We found that participants with a high PI20-J score showed weaker facial recognition performance than those with a low PI20-J score. In contrast, the object recognition performance did not depend on the score. Our results suggest that the PI20-J score is related specifically with facial recognition performance. We conclude that PI20-J is highly reliable and valid as a self-reported measure for congenital prosopagnosic traits.

Previous research has demonstrated that activated goal pursuit automatically inhibits alternative goals that interfere in the pursuit of the focal goal. To examine how the negative moods (depression and anxiety) and goal types (ideals and oughts) influence intergoal inhibition, we conducted 2 experiments. In Experiment 1, 56 participants described an attribute they desired to attain. They then listed other attributes they wanted to attain. In Experiment 2, after describing one of their current goals, 57 participants were asked to describe other goals. The results showed that the ideality of the goal determined whether depression attenuated intergoal inhibition. When the focal goals were construed as highly ideal, depression did not attenuate intergoal inhibition. Alternatively, anxiety was shown to not be a predicter of intergoal inhibition. The process underlying the relationship between depression and intergoal inhibition is discussed.