Previous research has established a link between group exclusivity and relational victimization, pointing out that victims often have weaker relationships with outsiders, which potentially trapping them in harmful group dynamics and exacerbating internal conflicts. However, the specific mechanisms of relational victimization within exclusive groups remain underexplored. This study addressed this gap by distinguishing between "in-group relational inhibition" (preventing outsiders from joining the group) and "out-group relational inhibition" (hindering insiders from forming relationships with outsiders). A survey of 957 junior high school students revealed that only "out-group relational inhibition" was significantly related to in-group relational victimization, with no observed gender differences. This finding suggests that out-group relational inhibition hinders in-group relational victims from employing coping strategies such as joining new groups. Consequently, their vulnerability to further relational victimization may also increase.

This study examined the immediate interpersonal emotion regulation and nonverbal behaviors that occur during short-term interactions. In Study 1, participants were asked to recall an experience of immediate interpersonal emotion regulation and asked about the regulation strategies they employed as well as their nonverbal behaviors. Based on factor analysis, six dimensions for emotion regulation strategies were established, labeled as cognitive support, socioemotional support, emotional amplification, attention deployment, hostility/denial, and cheering up. Meanwhile, among the nonverbal behaviors, five factors were extracted: touch, acceptance, rejection/avoidance, emphasis, and suppression/neutralization. Correlation analyses indicated that nonverbal behaviors were expressed in accordance with the intention of each regulation strategy. Study 2 was conducted using the vignette method, and supported the replicability of the key findings of Study 1. In addition, regulation strategies and nonverbal behaviors were found to differ depending on the type of the target's emotion. In the future, nonverbal behavior should be examined using experimental approaches.

Traditional print advertisements, as well as television and video ads, consist of a headline, images, body text, and brand elements. Although the headline conveys the main message of the ad, it is occasionally accompanied by disclaimers such as "Applies to premium members only." Fine print that is unclear due to small font sizes constitutes an unfair representation and is potentially disadvantageous to consumers. We examined the effects of disclaimer font size on recall and recognition memory and on eye gaze in two video ads about formal suits and smartphone services. The dwell time on the fine print increased as font size was increased from 30 to 55 or 80 pt, but only for one type of ad. The improvements in memory performance were small or negligible and specific to one ad. Importantly, > 80% and 50% of the participants failed to recall and recognize the fine print, respectively. These results suggest that increasing font size has limited ability to improve memory for terms conveyed to customers in fine print.

Social status in the classroom has been shown to influence students' sense of adjustment and interpersonal behavior. While some studies used methods like the peer nominations method to measure sociometric popularity, this cannot be used in Japanese studies because of ethical and other issues. Therefore, this study reviewed the method used in Yukura's (2017) study to measure in-class status perception, developed the Selected In-class Status Perception (SICS-P) method, and examined its validity. Based on the findings of previous studies, in-class group status can be divided into three groups. In the SICS-P method, three scenarios were designed to create these groups, and one scenario was selected. Results indicated significant differences consistent with the predictions among the three groups in the degree to which the scenario applied to themselves, their perceived influence on friends, and their communication skills (assertiveness, empathy, and conformity). In addition, for cross-validation, the sample was randomly divided into two groups and each group was subjected to the same analysis, yielding almost the same results. These results confirmed the validity of the SICS-P method.

In this study, we introduce freely available burnout scales primarily used overseas and examine their reliability and validity. A Web survey was conducted with a total of 953 participants, consisting of 492 nurses and 461 certified care workers. The scales we examined were the Japanese Burnout Scale (JBS), Copenhagen Burnout Inventory (CBI), Shirom-Melamed Burnout Measures (SMBM), Oldenburg Burnout Inventory (OLBI), Burnout Assessment Tool (BAT), and Matches Measure (MM). First, confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to examine the structural validity of each scale. The goodness of fit of the JBS and BAT was confirmed to be good, while the SMBM was moderate; the CBI and OBI were very low. The alpha coefficients of the subfactors were adequate for all the scales. Next, the relationship between the scale scores shows that while all burnout scales share fatigue as a core symptom of burnout, they measure different constructs of burnout from different perspectives. Researchers will need to use these measures differently depending on which symptoms of burnout they are focusing on.

Moral disengagement is a cognitive distortion that makes it easy to behave immorally and explains how people who internalize moral standards violate them while avoiding conflict and guilt. This study aimed to develop a Japanese version of the Moral Disengagement Scale (J-MDS) to measure individuals' tendency toward moral disengagement and examine its reliability and validity. In Study 1, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the validity of the single-factor structure of the 8-item moral disengagement scale. Additionally, the J-MDS negatively correlated with moral identity internalization and proneness to guilts. Study 2 showed that the J-MDS significantly predicted immoral behavior. Study 3 confirmed the incremental validity of the J-MDS. Study 4 confirmed the test-retest reliability of the J-MDS. Study 5 showed that the J-MDS negatively correlated with internal attribution and positively correlated with external attribution. These results indicate that the J-MDS has a certain degree of reliability and validity.