The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of exchanging emoticons through mobile text messages on interpersonal emotions. We examined whether reciprocal use of emoticons influence interpersonal emotions, by using the scenario method. The scenarios used were either usual mail exchanges, such as waiting for a friend (Study 1), apologizing, and being accepted by a friend (Study 2), or being rejected by a friend (Study 3). Results of Studies 1 and 2 indicated that positive emotions decreased and negative emotions increased when an emoticon was not used in response to a sent message with an emoticon, which could be caused by the violation of the reciprocity norm. In Study 3, the reciprocity norm had no effect and while positive emotions increased, negative emotions decreased as a result of emoticons in messages that were received. These results suggest that reciprocal use of emoticons is important in cooperative mail exchanges, such as usual communications, and when being accepted, but not important in non-cooperative situations, such as being rejected.

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The purpose of this study was to develop the Kanji (Chinese characters) Maze Technique (KMT) as a new measure for assessing both rigidity and relational framing, and to investigate KMT's validity as a measure of the rigidity. In addition, a preliminary analysis of KMT's validity as a measure of relational framing was investigated. A total of 67 undergraduate students answered questionnaires and completed the KMT and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). After the experiment, six raters evaluated the KMT's believability based on the participants' feedback. KMT's validity as a measure of rigidity was examined through a comparison with WCST, and by assessing its believability. These results showed that the KMT is a valid measure of rigidity. In the preliminary analysis of KMT's validity as a measure of relational framing, the feature of reaction time in each section was investigated. The results showed that the reaction time of the Set section was less influenced by choosing a route, so it was shown that there was possibility to apply the reaction time to measure relational framing.

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This study examined the relationships between cultural self-construal (independence/interdependence) and the clarity of emotional awareness, and if the relationships were mediated by interoceptive accuracy. Participants included 100 graduates and undergraduates. After completing scales that assessed cultural self-construal and private self-consciousness, participants performed a heartbeat tracking task, which assessed their interoceptive accuracy. They then viewed negative pictures and evaluated their emotional states. We found that, in males, independence was positively linked to the clarity of emotional awareness, and interdependence was negatively linked to it. Furthermore, when controlling private self-consciousness and heart rate during the heartbeat tracking task, only the relationship between a high sense of interdependence and unclear emotional awareness was mediated by inaccurate interoception. On the other hand, independence and interdependence were not linked to the clarity of emotional awareness in females. These results suggested the possibility that males who had a high sense of interdependence were not clearly aware of their own emotional states because of their insensitivity to internal bodily states.

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The purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of finitude salience and the meditational effect of uncovering the social values on the emotional responses of being moved. We tested the hypothesis that the narrative depiction of separation as finitude salience would result in readers uncovering the social values of the story, and increase their emotional responses of being moved. Participants read a novel whose theme was friendship with or without the depiction of separation. Then, all the participants rated the extent to which they were moved by the novel. As hypothesized, our results indicated that participants who read the novel that depicted separation were more strongly moved. In addition, mediational data demonstrated that the effect of the depiction of separation on being moved could be explained by the participants' uncovering of the social values of the story.

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Two studies examined relationships between general trust and improved mental health. Japanese university students participated in Studies 1 (n=325) and 2 (n=402) and they completed self-report measures assessing general trust, committed relationships, tendencies to make acquaintances, which is considered an aspect of extraversion, and negative affect. Consistent with the emancipation theory of trust, both studies indicated that general trust was negatively associated with committed relationships and positively associated with tendencies to make acquaintances. General trust was negatively associated with negative affect and neuroticism, and positively associated with proneness for experiencing positive emotions, which suggested an association between general trust and improved mental health. Study 2 indicated that tendencies to make acquaintances mediated the association between increased general trust and decreased negative affect. These findings suggest that general trust enables people to broaden their interpersonal relationships in daily life, and that the increase in available social support improve mental health. It is suggested that the emancipation theory of trust could be the basis for developing a model that explains mental health.

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