The aim of the current study was to examine the repeat residential burglars’ target selection behaviors. The data consisted of variables relating to target selection behaviors and decision making of 104 serial residential burglars, who had arrest records for residential burglaries in the past. The results of multiple correspondence analysis revealed that residential burglars’ target selection behaviors could be differentiated into three styles: “burgling in the absence of residents”, “burgling in the presence of residents while they are sleeping at night”, and “burgling of mixed styles”. Among 14 variables relating to burglars’ decision making while committing crimes, three factors (risk/reward-oriented, traceless entry-oriented, low effort area-oriented) were extracted by exploratory factor analysis. The level of burgling skill evaluated by the suspect interviewers positively correlated with a factor score of the “risk/reward-oriented” factor (ρ = .20, p < .05) but negatively correlated with a factor score of the “low effort area-oriented” factor (ρ = –.24, p < .05). These results suggest that repeat residential burglars are rational decision makers, but the way they are rational varies.

News reports and critical reviews of the 2010s have repeatedly reported that men are bound by traditional male roles at work. This study examined the kind of organizational factors that facilitate male roles expectations by men's supervisors and how these expectations impact their emotions and mental health in the workplace. The results show that these expectations existed in workplace environments that foster strong machoism and male dominance and a less inclusive work environment. Results further show that regardless of male roles attitudes, when supervisors required men to be manly, it decreased positive emotions felt about the job, and increased the levels of distrust felt toward their boss and discomfort within their workplace, which exacerbated their mental health. This research promotes the integrated understanding of gender harassment and organizational research and discusses prospects for future studies.

This study aimed to investigate relationships between perfectionism and selective attentional engagement and disengagement biases to success- and failure-related words. Seventy-five undergraduates (33 male and 42 female) were asked to perform modified dot-probe tasks and to complete items in the Multidimensional Self-oriented Perfectionism Scale. The modified dot-probe tasks contained four kinds of stimuli such as success-related words, failure-related words, neutral words, and non-words. Using this task, selective attentional engagement and disengagement biases to success- and failure-related words were measured. Pearson’s product-moment correlation coefficients between the selective attentional bias and perfectionism scale scores were observed. As a result, several relationships were found in males: personal standards positively correlated with disengagement bias to failure-related words; concern over mistakes positively correlated with engagement bias to failure-related words; and doubting of actions positively correlated with engagement bias to success-related words. These results suggest that male perfectionists have selective attentional engagement and disengagement biases to success or failure, and that each dimension of perfectionism is related to engagement bias and disengagement bias differently.

This paper reviewed articles published in the Japanese Journal of Psychology pertaining to the development of a new psychological scale and ascertained whether these articles supported the necessity to develop a new scale. In a period of 15 years, there were 112 articles related to the development of a scale found in the Japanese Journal of Psychology. Only about 30% (38 articles) describe the necessity related to the originality of the new scale. In addition, about 40% (48 articles) do not describe the definitions of the constructs. Based on these results, the following two points are proposed: the importance of specifying the definition of the new construct; and clarifying similarities and differences between the new scale and the existing scales.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the validity of the Japanese version (Kanai, 2013) of the Moral Foundation Questionnaire (MFQ; Graham, Nosek, Haidt, Iyer, Koleva, & Ditto, 2011). In Study 1, we tested the internal validity of the MFQ using data collected from 855 participants, following the procedure by Graham et al. (2011). Analyses revealed that the five-factor model showed the best fit among any other model. In addition, a higher score in In-group, Authority, and Purity was related weakly but significantly to conservative political identity. In Study 2, we tested test-retest reliability as well as the relationships between the MFQ and ideologies, using data collected from 470 participants. The test-retest reliability was relatively low, compared to Graham et al. (2011). The relationships between the MFQ and ideologies were consistent overall with the Moral Foundations Theory. However, we also found several inconsistent results such as a higher score in Purity resulting in agreeing more with a liberal opinion. Usage of the Japanese version of the MFQ in empirical studies was discussed.

The first purpose of this study was to confirm whether the cooperativeness of adolescents comprises the following three aspects: finding better solutions for self and others, cooperating with others, and concurring with others. Three factors describing these concepts were extracted from the data of three surveys conducted with university and senior high school students. The revised version of the Multifaceted Cooperativeness Scale was developed based on this three-factor solution. The revised scale consists of three subscales: collaborative problem-solving, cooperation, and harmoniousness. The second purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between these subscales and activity and creativity, using two types of the Big Five Scale and the Creativity Scale. The following assumptions were made: collaborative problem-solving correlates with activity and creativity; cooperation correlates with activity, but not with creativity; and harmoniousness correlates negatively with activity and creativity. Another survey conducted with university students generally supported these hypotheses and verified the construct validity of the revised Multifaceted Cooperativeness Scale. The results also indicated that harmoniousness was related to neuroticism.

This study was designed to examine factors that improve job satisfaction of international students studying in Japan when doing part-time jobs, based on sub-theories of the Self-Determination Theory (SDT). A hypothetical model based on the organismic integration theory and basic psychological needs theory, which are sub-theories of the SDT, were developed and examined through covariance structure analysis. The main results were as follows: (a) the need for relatedness and the need for competence, which are basic psychological needs, directly improve job satisfaction; (b) autonomous motivation is increased, and higher job satisfaction is obtained by satisfying the three psychological needs; (c) positive effect of the need for relatedness on the need for competence and positive effect of the need for competence on the need for autonomy were observed, suggesting the importance of satisfying the need for relatedness in part-time employment. The psychological processes affecting the job satisfaction of international students studying in Japan when doing part-time jobs is discussed based on the above results.

Ostracism is a contradicted social action because it has been widely adopted as a legal sanction but is also considered to be excessive enforcement. In the present study, we conducted a scenario-based experiment to examine the psychological process underlying the endorsement of ostracism in school settings. We focused on three general rationales to justify the sanction: a general prevention to protect public welfare (utilitarianism); a counter to deviance from social norms (retributivism); and a type of education to rehabilitate a perpetrator (moral education). The results showed that utilitarianism was more effective in justifying ostracism than retributivism or moral education. Further, preferences towards ostracism based in utilitarianism were less susceptible to influence from others. These findings indicate people’s general preference for the protection of public welfare over the segregation of wrongdoers.

This study aimed to identify how a response style (RS) affects differential item functioning (DIF) detections in cross-cultural comparison studies. RS is an individual’s systematic response tendency to survey questions. Following the representative indicators response style means and covariance structure (RIRSMACS) model introduced by Weijters et al.(2008), Tasaki and Shin (2017) developed an RS measurement model and quantified three RS types (acquiescence, extreme, and mid-point) in three nations (Japan, Korea, U.S.). Using the same data set, this study adapts their RS model to control for RS-related nuisance variances and to see if different DIF items emerge with or without the RS model. As a result of DIF analysis through the MGMACS approach, three nonuniform and five uniform DIF items were flagged on a 10-item psychological scale. By applying the RS model to DIF analysis, all the nonuniform DIF items and three uniform DIF items turned out to be non-DIF items. These results imply that RS-related nuisance variances may be a cause of DIF, and RIRSMACS can be used to control for RS.

This study explored the effects of the semantics of first-constituent kanji characters on semantic processing of Japanese two-kanji words and examined the processing order of the two constituent characters. We used a semantic categorization task in which participants judged whether words represented human entities (human words) or not (general words). In half of both types of words, the first kanji character represented a human entity (human characters), while this was not the case in the other half. Initial human characters had inhibitory effects on the semantic categorization of general words and facilitatory effects on the semantic categorization of human words. In addition, considering that no facilitatory effects were found for second human characters in Mizuno and Matsui (2018), it seems that semantic processing of initial human characters finishes earlier than processing of kanji words, thereby facilitating their semantic processing. Processing of second human characters, meanwhile, finishes almost simultaneously with that of kanji words and does not facilitate semantic processing. This suggests that semantic processing proceeds from the first to the second character.

This study examined the relationship between motivational regulation strategies and instability of motivation during class. Eighty-two undergraduates at two universities participated via a self-reported questionnaire, which was administered at six time points during one class for a specific subject. The mean score of situational motivation was calculated as “level of motivation,” and the intraindividual standard deviation of these was calculated as “instability of motivation.” With self-efficacy, intrinsic value, and university as control variables, the results of the partial correlation analysis indicated that the level of motivation correlated positively with behavioral and emotional engagement. These results supported the validation of measuring situational motivation in this study. The results of the analysis indicated that instability of motivation correlated negatively with strategies of adding value to learning contents and focusing on performance. In other words, these results imply that the instability of motivation of undergraduates who were using motivational regulation strategies during class was small, and their situational motivation was steady. The effect of motivational regulation strategies during class on situational motivation was discussed.