This study aimed to demonstrate the effects of the provided information on the consequences of group decisions in the case of the treatment of decontaminated soil outside Fukushima. Citizens are expected to make decisions in light of the plural common goods in public deliberations, where objective information should be given while the information taking specific people’s sides should not. The criteria of common good are diverse such as utilitarianism, the equality principle, and the maximin principle. However, if the information about the least advantaged people is not presented, it may be difficult to make decisions considering them. We conducted a group discussion experiment manipulating the provided information about Fukushima residents. The results revealed that participants in the informed condition evaluated the consequences considering Fukushima residents more than in the not-informed condition.

Parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience high parenting stress levels. Therefore, these parents need the support of medical institutions and counseling agencies. We examined predictors of increased help-seeking behavior among 212 parents of children with ASD aged 2-18 years using longitudinal data. An online survey assessed help-seeking behaviors, intentions to consult, parenting stressors, and support expectations. The difference in scores between intentions to consult the internet or medical rehabilitation institutions, and help-seeking behavior were significantly higher for mothers than for fathers and the differences in scores for formal support was significantly higher than for informal support for mothers. There were no significant gender differences in help-seeking behavior between fathers and mothers. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis indicated that the direct effects of support expectations and parenting stressors on help-seeking behaviors and the moderating effects of parenting stressors and support expectations on intentions to consults and help-seeking behaviors differed by social support resources. We have discussed the implications of these findings.

This Web-based survey examined whether aggression, empathy, background of abuse, and animal breeding experiences affected animal abuse proclivity (AAP). Participants (N = 354, 198 men and 156 women, mean age = 49.1 years, SD = 12.5) responded to the Animal Abuse Proclivity Scale (AAPS), the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire (BAQ), the Multidimensional Empathy Scale (MES), and two questionnaires assessing past abuse and animal breeding experiences. Their responses were analyzed by Bayesian Networks (BN) because the hypothetical model assumed direct and indirect dependencies in AAP, and relationships chained variables. BNs can automatically develop a model based on a dataset and conduct “sensitivity analysis” through the simulation of probabilistic reasoning. The model showed that (a) “anger” in aggression was directly related to the “thrill” in AAP, (b) “physical aggression” was directly related to “behavioral propensity”, and (c) gender could not act as a confounding factor between aggression and AAP. Moreover, sensitivity analysis indicated that anger among aggression enhanced thrill of AAP most strongly.

The present study investigated the progression from social skills knowledge and performance to becoming a high school dropout among first-year high school students. We also examine the mediating role of school satisfaction in the process regarding dropping out of high school. A total of 332 first-year high school students participated in a questionnaire survey in September, assessing school satisfaction, which consisted of a sense of approval and victimization in the class and social skills; 49 of the participants dropped out of high school at the end of the first school year. The results of categorical path analysis showed that social skills knowledge was positively correlated with social skills performance. Additionally, social skills performance was negatively correlated with dropping out of school. Moreover, the relationship between social skills performance and being a high school dropout was mediated by a sense of approval in the class. Finally, the discussion describes the need for support of social skills education to prevent first-year high school students from dropping out.

According to the 2021 amendment to the Juvenile Law of Japan, 18- and 19-year-old offenders are categorized as “specified juveniles,” and the disclosure of their real names to the public is legalized. In the light of this amendment, this study aimed to examine the factors that determine support for real name reporting of specified juveniles. We set up a hypothetical model based on the supposition that support for real name reporting is determined by the perceived importance of juvenile responsibility and rehabilitation, and that these perceptions, in turn, are determined by the perceived seriousness of the consequences of crime. Multilevel structural equation modeling that assumed the individual level (N = 2,591) and the crime type level (N = 60) supported the model at the individual level. However, at the offense level, the relationship between support for real name reporting and the perceived importance of juvenile responsibility and rehabilitation was not significant, rendering partial support for the model.

We developed emotionally positive, neutral, and negative noun phrases by adding different modifiers to identical nouns. First, we explored modifiers to add to nouns to change emotional valences. Second, we assessed the subjective emotional valences and the subjective frequency of contact of the developed noun phrases. Third, we examined the differences between the mental images that formed from the positive, neutral, and negative noun phrases. The contents of the mental images formed from the noun phrases developed in this study did not differ among the positive, neutral, and negative noun phrases compared with those in a previous study. An incidental recall experiment was conducted to assess whether emotions could be evoked by the presentation of the positive and negative noun phrases compared with the neutral phrases. Nouns in the positive and negative noun phrases were recalled more frequently than those in the neutral noun phrases, suggesting that the positive and negative noun phrases evoked emotions that resulted in an increase in recall performance. We propose that these noun phrases could serve as stimuli in studies on emotion, memory, and mental imagery.

This longitudinal study examined developmental changes in perceived apathy states in academics based on the student life cycle theory for university students. The study conducted one survey per year across four years (2019-2022) and analyzed the responses of 545 participants. Using latent curve models, the initial values of perceived apathy and its changes over the years and the variables that determine individual differences were examined. The results suggest that Avoidance and Non-emphasis increase over the years but not Conflict. Males exhibited higher initial values of Avoidance and Non-emphasis than those of females, and females displayed higher initial values of Conflict than those of males. Students at higher years in Time 1 had higher initial values for each of the subscales than those in lower years. Furthermore, the rates of change in Avoidance and Non-emphasis decreased with higher years in Time 1. It is important to have developmental perspectives on at which stage of the student life cycle perceived apathy arises.