When comprehending (Japanese) null-subject sentences, people mentally simulate the linguistically depicted events without adopting a particular point-of-view (i.e., perspective) (Sato & Bergen, 2013). The present study examined whether a sense of agency (SoA), measured by the Sense of Agency Scale (Asai et al., 2009), predicts individual preferences in perspective adoption associated with the null-subject sentence comprehension. In the experiment with the sentence-picture verification task, participants read null-subject sentences and decided whether the depicted action had been mentioned in the preceding sentence. The results showed that participants with relatively stable SoA verified the action pictures (e.g., cutting an apple) significantly faster when the event was depicted from an observer’s perspective than when depicted from an agent’s perspective. On the other hand, participants with relatively unstable SoA showed no preference for the pictured perspectives. We concluded that the unstableness of SoA may result in ambiguous attribution of an action, reflected as the absence of a preferred perspective when comprehenders simulate the described event. The reason why individuals with stable SoA prefer an observer’s perspective was also discussed.

The present study aimed to clarify the cognitive and behavioral features of the process from the onset of stealing to the development of kleptomania. We also analyzed the differences between kleptomania and shoplifting for personal gain. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 25 participants (15 patients with kleptomania, 4 shoplifters, and 6 with other addictions). An analysis based on a modified grounded theory approach (M-GTA) revealed 24 concepts and 5 categories. We identified four stages of the process of kleptomania. The stages were “first theft,” “increasing frequency of stealing,” “pathological stealing” where the act of stealing was more beneficial than the stolen goods, followed by “automatic stealing” whenever they steal automatically in their favorite stores. We identified “breaking dependence on stealing” as the fifth category. In contrast, shoplifters for personal gain did not move into “pathological stealing.” Thus, it is assumed that the development of kleptomania involves a series of processes from starting to steal to addiction, then, it is assumed to enter a dependent stage from the stage of “pathological stealing.”

This study compared the intent to help in response to nonverbal and verbal stimuli that described people in need of help to clarify the conditions and generality of effects that promote the intent to help. Participants were randomly assigned to a help-imagining group, a no-help imagining group, or a control group. In Study 1, the participants evaluated verbal stimuli. In Study 2, they evaluated visual stimuli as illustrations developed for this study. The results of both studies indicated that the group imagining they were helping scored significantly higher for the intent to help than the other two groups, suggesting that improving imagination about helping increased helpful intentions, regardless of the stimuli type. Also, we found that different aspects of different stimuli affected the intent to help: the effect of evaluating the recipient’s emotional state on the intent to help was only observed for visual stimuli, and visual stimuli compared to verbal stimuli, were less likely to influence an individual’s imagination and past experience on the intent to help.

The “Tip of the Tongue” (TOT) is a well-known phenomenon in which one cannot recall the name of a familiar person or object but can recall related words. In the TOT state, cognitive processing activities based on relating information are frequently performed. Blinking is suppressed when waiting for information and when inputting or processing information, and instead occurs at the end of the processing phase. However, the relationship between blinking and the TOT state is not yet clear. In this study, we investigated how the timing of blink suppression and occurrence changes during the TOT state. We presented successive facial photographs of famous people interspersed with those of unknown persons. The participant’s task was to name the person during recall-stimulus after each of the photographs. The participant’s responses were classified as “Recognized,” “TOT,” and “Not recognized.” Our results indicated that blink suppression occurred most frequently while waiting for the recall-stimulus period in “Not recognized” responses, whereas suppression occurred least frequently in TOT responses. We conclude that blink suppression and occurrence is related to memory-system-access processing.

The purpose of this study was to develop and examine the reliability and validity of a Japanese version of the Security in the Interparental Subsystem Scale (SIS), which measures children’s emotional security in the interparental relationship through self-assessment of their reactions to interparental conflict. We then examined the mediation model of emotional security between interparental conflict and children’s adjustment, as proposed in Emotional Security Theory (EST). A questionnaire study was conducted with 682 middle and high school students between 12 and 18 years of age (mean age = 14.80 years, SD = 1.50 years). The results of confirmatory factor analysis supported the theoretical model of EST, and the reliability and validity of the Japanese version of the SIS were demonstrated. Mediation analysis revealed mediated effects of emotional insecurity in the relationship between interparental conflict and children’s anxiety/depression and aggression. These results suggest that the theoretical model of EST can be effectively applied in Japan.

This research examined the influence of expectation on the association between emotional-support-seeking behavior and support evaluation in adolescence. In Study 1, 500 secondary-school students completed an anonymous survey, and five emotional-support expectations; acceptance-, reinterpretation-, justification-, optimism-, and distraction-expectation were detected for developing the emotional-support-expectation scale. The sample of Study 2 consisted of 1,007 secondary-school students who completed an anonymous survey that asked their stressor in the past month, support-seeking behaviors, emotional-support expectations, and support evaluation. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis indicated that frequent emotional-support-seeking behavior expects higher “perception of support from others” in the case of the reinterpretation expectation was high. Although emotional-support-seeking behavior showed direct influence only “perception of support from others” out of four support evaluations, reinterpretation expectation effected on “problem-solving” and “perception of support from others”, and also justification expectation effected on “confusion”. This result indicated that the effect of expectations on support evaluation. The necessity of longitudinal examination, consideration regarding the interaction between support seeker and supporter, and verification of adaptive change were discussed as future implications.