This study investigated the integrated teamwork model in organizations based on the survey data of 21 organizations, 812 teams, and 5,728 participants. First, consistent with the Input-Process-Output (IPO) model, the team-level mediating effects of “team leadership → team process → team performance” were confirmed. Next, we examined the further detailed relationships among the team-level variables. Our analysis demonstrated that relationship-oriented leadership was positively associated with daily communication, while task-oriented leadership was positively related to cooperation and goal sharing. In addition, goal sharing had a strong and positive association with team performance. Finally, we examined the interaction effect of task-oriented leadership and relation-oriented leadership. The analysis indicated a synergistic impact on which team process and performance were particularly enhanced when both were high, as assumed by the two-factor theory of leadership behavior represented by PM theory.

This study examined beliefs about creativity and the effects of beliefs on creativity. We hypothesized that people do not believe that persistence is as important as flexibility. However, both flexible and persistent beliefs are related to creative performance. Therefore, we expected that knowledge interventions teaching that persistence is essential for creativity would improve creative performance. We conducted a questionnaire survey and an interventional experiment with adults (N = 409) in Study 1, college students (N = 413) in Study 2, and high school students (N = 214) in Study 3. The results supported the hypothesis. People did not consider that persistence is vital for creativity. However, if they recognized that persistence is essential, they were more likely to persevere in creative tasks, improving creativity. These results suggest that fostering creativity requires a proper understanding of the scientific findings regarding creativity.

Interdependence is among the most pervasive characteristics of human social life. The Situational Interdependence Scale (SIS) is a multi-dimensional scale comprising five factors: mutual dependence, power, conflict, future interdependence, and information certainty. These factors explain behavior in interdependent situations. Although translations of the SIS exist in several languages, a Japanese iteration of the instrument has yet to be prepared. Therefore, this study aims to develop a Japanese version of the SIS (SIS-J). In Study 1 and 2, the original version of the SIS was translated into Japanese and the factor structure of the SIS-J and reliability were verified. Study 3 examined whether the SIS-J could measure differences in situations between the Dictator game and the Prisoner’s Dilemma game. Results indicate that the factor structure of the SIS-J was equivalent to that of the original version and that differences in situations between the two economic games could be measured. These results suggest that the SIS-J can be used in measure recognition of the interdependent situations.

The conventional six-point odor intensity scale has been treated as one of the standard scales to evaluate perceived odor intensity. However, as an ordinal scale, it has an arithmetical limitation in statistical analysis. Therefore, a new rating method was introduced. It has a horizontal line with six-point scales labeled with the six odor intensity descriptors as in the visual analogue scale (VAS). Here, evaluators can draw a diagonal short line at any position on the horizontal line regardless of the position of the six-point scales, and thus it can theoretically be regarded as an interval scale. However, there is a concern that the language labels affect an evaluation in such a method. Therefore, we compared the odor intensity ratings evaluated by the labeled- and non-labeled VASs in one experimental framework. The results indicate that both labeled- and non-labeled-VASs can be used to rate perceived odor intensity with a statistical advantage as an interval scale.

The interest in critical reading has been increasing in recent years as a high-level literacy. Previous studies have shown that discussion promotes critical reading. However, the influence of the content spoken during the interaction on critical reading of academic article has not been studied. This study reexamined whether discussion in pairs is effective for critical reading. The results showed that its effectiveness is limited, and is only important for sharing of perspectives. Additionally, this study examined what kind of speech content affects critical reading in collaborative situations. The results showed that self-references to differences in thinking decreased reading perspectives; however, self-references to commonalities in thinking promoted criticisms. Further, partner’s negative speech limited criticisms.

We replicated the experiment reported by Eriksson and Coultas (2009) to examine conformity bias. Conformity bias refers to the imitation behavior that most group members adopt with the probability exceeding the ratio of employment by the members in deciding their behavior. Previous studies have examined whether conformity bias can be observed in an information-seeking situation with high uncertainty. Eriksson and Coultas (2009) found no conformity bias using quizzes in which the answers were not objectively fixed as correct or incorrect (e.g., belief, preference, and norm). We replicated their experiment using questions with fixed answers. In this study (N = 120), after participants answered “yes/no” to 14 questions, they were informed of the four patterns of the distribution of the other nine participants’ responses (9, 6, 3, 0 participants said “yes”). Then, participants completed the same questions again. The results showed that conformity bias was observed. We discuss the inconsistency of the results between the previous study and our study.