Hand washing is one of the most effective measures to reduce the risk of transmitting infectious diseases. However, motivation for regular hand washing during the infectious phase of the SARS-CoV-2 infection remains unclear. We examined four possible reasons for practicing regular hand washing ̶ two involved the perceived effectiveness of this practice in reducing the risk of infection, and the other two involved other motivations. The results of our nationwide survey revealed that people conformed to other peopleʼs practice of washing hands and felt relief from their anxiety when washing their hands. The perceived effectiveness of personal risk reduction, however, showed little effect on the behavior, while motivations such as conformity and relief from anxiety successfully explained a large proportion of hand-washing behavior. Our findings suggest that policymakers responsible for public health should consider social motivations when implementing public strategies to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.

Wearing masks is an easy and effective way to prevent infection by COVID-19. In Japan, two studies investigated the reasons why people wear a mask; however, the results were inconsistent. Therefore, the present study reexamined the association between mask wearing and the reasons given for doing so, focusing on the differences in and problems of item wording. The results of both studies were found to be almost reproducible, and there were few issues regarding item wording. Furthermore, the results revealed that people wear a mask to prevent themselves and others from infection and to conform to others wearing a mask. We suggest that inconsistencies in the results were due to differences in item wording, and discuss how future research should be conducted.

The purpose of this study was to examine the psychological factors related to the frequency of face mask wearing (mask wearing) among Japanese people. Specifically, the influence of social anxiety (scrutiny fears, social interaction anxiety), trait anxiety, and perceived vulnerability to disease (germ aversion, perceived infectability) on mask wearing frequency was examined. We also investigated whether the relationships were altered based on the COVID-19 pandemic and the seasons. Online surveys (N=6,742) were conducted in the summer and winter seasons from Aug. 2018 to Dec. 2020. Results showed that scrutiny fears, perceived infectability (but only in the winter season), and germ aversion affected the frequency of mask wearing before the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the relationships were altered as the COVID-19 pandemic spread. Scrutiny fears and perceived infectability did not play a role in the frequency of mask wearing. These alternations of results could be derived from the increase in mask wearing rate, changes in the reasons to wear masks among Japanese people, and elevation of perceived risk to COVID-19 due to the increased transmission.

Pre-COVID-19 epidemic studies found that wearing a sanitary mask negatively impacted perceived facial attractiveness. In particular, people demonstrated more negative explicit or implicit attitudes toward wearers of sanitary masks when the masks were black rather than white. The present study examined whether changes in social behavior in response to the COVID-19 epidemic, including the prevalent use of sanitary masks, might alter explicit and/or implicit attitudes toward wearers of black sanitary masks. We measured explicit (Study 1) and implicit attitudes (Study 3) and facial attractiveness (Study 2) of males wearing black or white sanitary masks. The results revealed that attitudes toward wearers of black sanitary masks were more positive than those measured pre-epidemic. Regardless of mask color, explicit attractiveness rating scores for low-attractiveness faces tended to increase after the epidemic. However, no such improvement was observed for high- and middle-attractiveness faces. There was also no change in implicit attitudes measured by the implicit association test. These results suggest that the COVID-19 epidemic has reduced explicit negative attitudes toward wearers of black sanitary masks.

During the spread of COVID-19, prejudice and discrimination against infected persons, their family members, close contacts, and health care workers have become a problem. In this study, we investigated stereotypical perceptions of persons infected with COVID-19 and examined their association with individual differences in behavioral immune system activation. The results showed that the stereotypical perceptions of persons infected with COVID-19 were low sociality and high activity. Next, we examined the effect of infection vulnerability awareness on stereotypical perceptions. The results showed that the stronger the germ aversion, the stronger the perceived lack of infection prevention behaviors, the lower the perceived sociality of the persons infected with COVID-19, and the higher their own perceived infection prevention behaviors. The content of the stereotypes of the persons infected with COVID-19 and the factors influencing these stereotypes were discussed.

This study examined the relationship between online class environments and the economic burden and mental health among university students at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey participants were 909 undergraduate students, and graduate students in Hokkaido who responded to the first wave of the two-wave panel survey. The survey was conducted from July to September 2020. This study used K6 and GAD-7 as indicators of mental health. The results showed that students with both a high economic burden and a high burden of on-demand online classes after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic had a high probability of exceeding the cutoff points (indicating severe depression and anxiety) for K6 (above 13 points) and GAD-7 (above 10 points). The number of live online classes predicted lower depression. The discussion focused on the characteristics of online classes and discussed why they were associated with mental health and how to reduce the sense of burden in classes. In addition, we pointed out the importance of economic support for university students, since economic burdens were related to mental health.

The purpose of this study was to quantitatively clarify the physical and mental health of first year university students whose classes were conducted online due to COVID-19. The checklist of Visual Display Terminal (VDT) syndrome suggested that physical stress was placed mainly on the eyes, shoulders, neck, and head. In addition, from the results of the Kessler psychological distress scale (K6) scale, higher values were obtained than those of previous studies, which indicated the poor mental health of first year university students. Consequently, university academics who conduct online classes must consider the physical and mental fatigue of the students. In contrast, there was a correlation between university students who had desire for Hikikomori and students who preferred online classes. In other words, for students who experienced difficulties with existing face-to-face classes, it is suggested that online classes are one of the potential solution.

In the first semester of the 2020 academic year, many universities and junior colleges in Japan were affected by COVID-19 and had to switch to non-in-person classes. This study explored active learning attitudes in online classes. The survey was conducted in two sessions (late June and mid-August). Participants (489 undergraduate and junior college students) completed a questionnaire and the results showed that students’ attitudes toward active learning and preference for online learning did not dramatically change during this period. In order to obtain insights into the changes in attitudes toward active learning, the present study used a multiple-population analysis to examine the relationship between attitude and an item related to preferences for online learning. The results showed that there was a positive association between preferences for online learning and active learning among first-year students, but not among second-year students and above. The influence of online learning needs to be considered particularly as regards first-year students.

This study, using both the cross-lagged and synchronous effects models, examined the temporal and causal relationships between attachment and other critical psychological variables (loneliness, mental health) in university students under the restrictive conditions of campus activities due to COVID-19. The participants of the analysis were 150 university students (88 males, 62 females) who responded to two web surveys three months apart: one in early May 2020 and the other in late July or early August 2020. The main findings were: (a) AIC and BIC indicated that the cross-lagged effects model fit the data better than the synchronous effects model; (b) attachment anxiety had a negative cross-lagged effect on mental health three months later; and (c) loneliness had a positive cross-lagged effect on attachment avoidance three months later. This study’s academic contribution was to extend the previous findings about the interrelationships over time in a potentially attachment-related threat situation, the COVID-19 pandemic, and to clarify whether attachment influences loneliness and mental health in this situation or vice versa.

The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 has threatened people’s health and drastically changed their lifestyles. An international collaborative study, Time Social Distancing (TSD), was launched to investigate the effects of the COVID-19 lockdown on time perception and psychological states. The present study obtained longitudinal data from 108 Japanese people in their 20s to 60s over three sessions to investigate how people’s loneliness, anxiety, and sleep hygiene changed during confinement, and whether age affected these changes. The sessions took place during the confinement, ten days after the confinement, and four months after the confinement. The latent curve models showed that loneliness gradually increased throughout the experiment, while anxiety decreased. Sleep quality and chronotype did not change over time. The baseline of loneliness and anxiety/depression decreased with age, and there was a slight tendency to become more morning-oriented. The effect of age on sleep quality was not confirmed. Autoregressive cross-lag modeling suggested that the interaction between chronotype and the other three variables was small and the changes of loneliness and sleep quality may precede that of anxiety.

This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between stress responses and the lifestyle habit changes of elementary school students during a temporary leave of absence from school during measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 infections. We surveyed 637 parents of elementary school students about their lifestyle habit changes and stress responses during their temporary leave and finally analyzed 510 subjects. Variance analysis, showed that there were significant differences in “irregular sleep,” “disordered eating habits,” and “increased use of games and smartphones,” but the effect size was small. When the correlation was calculated, “disordered eating habits” was associated with all stress responses, and six lifestyle-related changes were associated with lethargy.

This study examined the impact of COVID-19 on the working style of fathers raising young children and its influence on their family and working life. Fathers with full-time jobs (N = 606) participated in this study in August 2020. The results indicated the following conclusions. (a) Only fathers in certain conditions (desk work, college graduate, high income, etc.) increased the number of days working from home. (b) The fathers who worked from home because of COVID-19 reported “doing family” (active, responsive, and generative involvement in the family) more than others. (c) The fathers who worked from home and had working spouses negotiated more with their spouses and work colleagues. (d) Changes in working style increased “doing family,” and improved satisfaction with family and work, and the satisfaction with their lives. Actualizing fathers’ life careers through the societal change of work environments was discussed.

Dohsa-hou therapists assist clients through physical contact, however, this is not advisable during the coronavirus pandemic; instead, contactless Dohsa-hou is safer and more secure. In this study, we examined the possibilities of applying contactless Dohsa-hou for outpatients with schizophrenia as a self-care method and its effects on them. We administered the program 7 times for 8 outpatients with schizophrenia in a psychiatric rehabilitation center. Thereafter, they underwent a voluntary implementation period for two to three weeks at home. The results suggested that the contactless Dohsa-hou improved self-existence of mind and body (d = 0.83) notably, and slightly improved sense of independence (d = 0.49), balance of mind and body (d = 0.21), irritability and anger (d = 0.23), well-being (d = 0.39), and third-party evaluation (d = 0.29). Therefore, the study showed that contactless Dohsa-hou can stabilize the physical and mental state, even when conducted under the self-restraint period during the pandemic. This study may provide helpful information in implementing contactless Dohsa-hou for outpatients with schizophrenia amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Ibaraki prefecture uniquely organizes campus aide (CA) activities performed mainly by graduate students to provide psychological support for senior high school students with multiple departments. This study evaluated the outcomes of remote CA through computer-mediated communication to identify its operability and implementation challenges based on the hypotheses that: (a) infrastructure development that meets requirements is feasible; but (b) it is difficult for remote CA to provide the same quality of psychological support as face-to-face support. During the remote CA period, there were no issues associated with the communication network, safety, or ethics, and an infrastructure based on a design concept was developed. However, analysis of student staff members’ reports using text mining revealed six challenges: instability of the communication network, speech contention, missing eye contact, psychological resistance to the presentation of each user’s self-image, limited field of view, and limited range of conversation due to the number of PCs. The results supported both hypotheses, while concluding that there is a significant opportunity for CA to listen actively whenever they are involved in a session.

The purpose of this study was to address the issue of the fear of COVID-19 among nurses and to determine the extent to which three factors affected their fear of COVID-19: (a) personal factors, (b) working conditions, and (c) coping behaviors. We conducted a web-based survey of 152 nurses working in the Tohoku region. A hierarchical multiple regression analysis showed that living with elderly people, working in the small hospital, and working long hours at night affected their fear of COVID-19. The results also revealed that “escape from anxiety” as a coping behavior led to a fear of COVID-19. These results suggested that the fear of becoming a source of infection may increase a nurse’s fear of COVID-19 and that the accumulation of physical fatigue may also lead to a fear of COVID-19. In addition, the results suggested that avoidant coping behaviors were related with infection fears, and that organizational support may be able to reduce nurses’ fear of COVID-19.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the cognitions, behaviors, attitudes, and living conditions of Japanese people during the severe novel coronavirus pandemic that reached the country in January 2020 and to publish the data related to the study. Using experiential data gathered from 612 Japanese nationals in late March 2020, we conducted an exploratory analysis of the associations between the variables measured in order to capture an authentic portrait of a society grappling with an infectious disease. We found that infection preventive behaviors and exclusionary attitudes toward foreigners were associated with individual differences in the cognitive responses specific to infectious diseases and pathogen avoidance. In variables directly related to the pandemic, there were some differences by gender, but not by generation or area of residence. This study provides practical, essential information that could give academic researchers, policymakers, and social support agencies valuable insights into the social pathologies specific to infectious diseases, managing public health, and improving lives.

Conducting psychological experiments online has become popular in Japan and is useful for psychological research during the COVID-19 pandemic. Previous studies found that well-known psychological phenomena were successfully observed through online experiments. However, using recall tests, including a free recall test or a cued recall test, might be difficult in an online experiment. This is because the suggestion function, which is included in the Input Method Editor (IME), can aid recall when participants type their response. Recently, a plugin for online experiments, which might overcome this problem, was developed. However, it remains unclear if this technique is effective for psychological studies that use recall tests. Therefore, I examined whether false memory and retrieval-induced forgetting were replicated by recall tests in online experiments when the IME was bypassed by using the plugin. The results indicated that false recall and retrieval-induced forgetting were successfully observed. Given my results, online experiments using some types of recall tests can be conducted without the suggestion function.

In the first year of the pandemic, the number of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population in Japan is not as high as in other countries. Among the factors that may be related to infection rates, we focus on a socioecological factor called relational mobility. In this article, we argue that while low relational mobility in Japan suppressed the spread of COVID-19 at the beginning of the outbreak, it could actually prevent the full containment of the virus. In low relational mobility societies (e.g., Japan), people can engage in physical distancing relatively easily and tend to “monitor” others’ compliance. These behaviors helped suppress the spread of COVID-19 in Japan during the outbreak. On the flip side, the emphasis on relationship harmony could prevent the virus from being fully contained in low relational mobility societies as people fear being identified and avoid taking a PCR test or cooperating in contact tracing. Thus, monitoring the behaviors of nonconformists by the public in low relational mobility societies could actually work against controlling the virus.

The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic that occurred suddenly at the beginning of 2020 has had a significant and multifaceted impact on the economy, society, civilian life, and culture, as well as the human mind. For this reason, it is essential to establish a collaborative system that includes medical science, which has been the subject of much discussion, as well as the natural sciences, the humanities, and social sciences to evaluate the impact of COVID-19. This paper focuses on defense in depth and risk communication and discusses the issues caused by COVID-19 from the perspectives of social psychology and risk studies, both of which have an inherent interdisciplinary nature.

This paper discusses what psychologists should do to help the general public in response to the new coronavirus infectious disease (COVID-19) in Japan. Four things psychologists could do are listed in the Japanese Psychological Association article entitled “Against Violence in the Home.” However, the style of the article seems insufficient for psychologists to perceive the article as general behavioral guidelines for helping people suffering from psychological stress. Psychologists should be encouraged to publicly disseminate relevant information because the current domestic policies may cause confusion for the public as they provide insufficient behavioral principles and research-based perspectives. This paper proposes three different levels of roles for taking actions as psychologists: as a professional individual, as a member of an academic society, and as a public figure disseminating relevant information. To be impactful in carrying out these roles, setting up a “place” where individual practices and opinions can be quickly aggregated is required. Moreover, it is important for psychologists to listen to public voices and be prepared to focus their professional lives on tackling social issues.