We examined the effects of multiple goals on verbal responses in an interpersonal conflict situation. Participants who had high or low levels of concern for the personal resource talked with an experimental actor and were made to believe that trained observers would evaluate his or her ability to cooperate or to be assertive based on their conversation. Then, they experienced a conflict resulting from an irrational demand that the actor expressed either politely or impolitely. Participants chose an integrative strategy in the presence of any two of the following conditions: low levels of participants' own concern for the personal resource, observers who would evaluate participants' ability to cooperate, and the actor's use of polite expression. When the opposite conditions applied the participants chose a distributive strategy. In addition, it was found that when a participant's level of concern for the personal resource was high, the use of a polite expression increased the likelihood of a mitigating strategy being adopted whereas the use of an impolite expression increased the likelihood of a hostile strategy being adopted. The results are discussed in light of tactical decision-making processes proposed by the multiple goals theory.

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This study investigated the impact of social skills on the life events experienced by university undergraduates (n=429). Segrin (2001) advocated a social skills deficit stress generation hypothesis which states that social skills reduce the experiences of life events. On the contrary, Tanaka, Yonehara, and Kosugi (2003) showed that social skills increased the experiences of life events, therefore, it may also be possible to posit a social skills surplus stress generation hypothesis. Based on the results of multiple regression analysis, in which the explanatory variables were the components of social skills, and criterion variables were the experiences of life events, it was clear that the components of social skills principally influenced the experiences of life events related to interpersonal relationships. Specifically, trouble-shooting skills decreased life event experiences, while communication-skills increased them. Therefore, it is suggested that both of the above hypotheses are based on the influences of the different components of social skills on life event experiences.

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The present study examined the effects of daily communication on favorability in the perception of romantic relationships, with reference to Matsui's (1990) Developmental Stage Model of Romantic Love. The 484 participants were divided into three categories according to their current relational status: romantic relationships (154 undergraduates), one-sided non-mutual relationships (205 undergraduates), and regular heterosexual friendships (125 undergraduates). The latter two groups were included for comparison. Sternberg's (1997) Triangular Love Scale was used in order to measure favorability in participants' relationships. A separate scale was used to record information relating to daily communication. Participants were asked various questions regarding their relationships. Some examples included, 'Exchanging talk about daily events','Having a relationship-specific verbal style', and 'Perceiving the partner's reaction'. For the purposes of this study,'Exchanging talk about daily events' was discussed in terms of messages regarding content and relational meaning (Watzlawick, Bavelas, & Jackson, 1967). And 'Having a relationship-specific verbal style' was discussed in terms of relational culture (Wood, 1982). The results indicated that the all daily communicational behavior mentioned above influenced the level of favorability of romantic relationships.

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This study was conducted in order to examine effects of early adult attachment styles on exclusivity of romantic relationships. Two hundred fifty seven undergraduates participated in Study 1, which examined how early adult attachment styles influence one's "sense of exclusivity" and "expressions of the sense of exclusivity," from the perspective of attachment dimensions. Results showed that, the higher the level of anxiety was, the more regularly a "sense of exclusivity" was experienced. Furthermore, the higher the level of avoidance was, the lower the "sense of exclusivity" was experienced. In addition, participants with high avoidance were less likely to express their "sense of exclusivity." In Study 2, participants were limited to 104 undergraduates who were currently involved in romantic relationships. Exclusivity of romantic relationships as a function of early adult attachment styles was examined with the construction of causal models as follows: first, two dimensions of early adult attachment, second, feelings of discomfort when a third person intervenes in the romantic relationships, and, lastly, coping behaviors for feelings of discomfort. Results revealed that anxiety increased the frequency of lingering/sadness, while avoidance reduced the frequency of these feelings. Moreover, results indicated that avoidance caused a higher tendency to resort to destructive coping behaviors and a lower tendency towards selecting constructive coping behaviors, such as "voice." These results are discussed in terms of the relations between early attachment styles, emotional experiences, and destructive behaviors in romantic relationships.

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Past research based on the unrelated-affect paradigm has demonstrated that distinct emotions exert specific influences on cognition (e.g., Keltner, Ellsworth, & Edwards, 1993). This study investigated the effects of anger or fear on the perceived persuasiveness of an unrelated statement. Under anger, fear, or neutral conditions, participants read two statements, one critical and the other threatening, regarding a bad debt situation. The participants then made judgments about the pursuasiveness of these statements. As predicted, anger enhanced the persuasiveness of the critical statement by increasing the tendency to think that justice had been violated, whereas fear enhanced the persuasiveness of the threatening statement by increasing the tendency to think there would be negative repercussions. These results suggest that emotions increase the persuasive impact of affect-arousing communication by producing specific cognitive tendencies.

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Assuming that labels describing a victim as a dehumanized entity reduce a harm-doer's control over aggressive behavior, we attempted to examine the effects of such labels on levels of aggression. A one-on-one fighting video game was used in order to conduct this experiment. During the game, 63 male undergraduates exhibited uncomfortable noises to an opponent who was given either a dehumanizing or anonymous label. We predicted that the dehumanizing label would decrease empathetic concern for, and increase both perceptual and outward hostility towards the opponent (this was measured by high levels of noises during matches). To examine the question of whether the dehumanizing label actually lessens aggressive behavior, or in fact motivates aggressive behavior, we compared the effects of the label on levels of aggression observing whether the opponent showed hostile behavior or not. The results partially-supported our hypothesis. Although the dehumanizing label did not directly increase aggression, further analysis showed that it indirectly increased aggression by lowering empathetic concern for the opponent. Similarly, our results suggested the possibility that dehumanizing labels may in fact increase aggressive behavior in people.

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This study explored the determinants of intent of primary caregivers to continue taking care of elderly family members. The exploration was guided by two previous lines of study, one arguing the additive effect of positive and negative aspects of caregiving, and the other arguing the effect of attitude towards family caregiving. Four hundred and forty-five family caregivers answered questions relating to depression, caregiving intent, attitude towards family caregiving, and positive and negative aspects of caregiving. Structural equation modeling revealed that attitude to wards family caregiving increased both depression and intent to continue family caregiving. It is argued that when constructing a support system for family caregivers one must consider the possibility of family members being trapped by their attitude towards family care.

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Recent studies have demonstrated that stereotypical expectations result in biases not only in memories and judgments, but in language use as well. The present study examined the effects of communicative contexts on verbal expressions of stereotype-relevant information. In order to do this, we developed a new linguistic index for content analyses, involving stereotypic representations. In our experiment undergraduate students were presented with behavioral descriptions of either an ingroup, or an out-group member, and were asked to describe their impressions. The stimulus information given to the students included both stereotype-consistent, and inconsistent cases. Results showed that the out-group member was described in more stereotype-consistent, abstract terms, than the in-group member. This was interpreted as higher tendency of bias against the out-group. Ultimately, the newly developed index was found to be useful in identifying dispositional expressions that are peculiar to the Japanese language. Finally, implications for the study of stereotypes as collectively shared representations are discussed.

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This study had two purposes:(1) to investigate the effects of coviewers on participants' responses to humor, and (2) to investigate the effects of expectations of the role of entertainers on participants' perceptions of humor. One hundred and forty undergraduate student participants were asked to answer a questionnaire, imaging they were in the situations presented. In the case of aggressive humor, participants answered that they would perceive it to be funnier when they watched it with a friend rather than with an acquaintance. In the case of sexual humor, they answered that they would consider it to be funnier if they watched it with a friend or a person of same sex rather than with an acquaintance or a person of the opposite sex. Participants also indicated that they would moderate their responses more with an acquaintance or a person of the opposite sex, than with a friend or a person of the same sex. Lastly, participants reported that humor stimuli were funnier when performed by more familiar entertainers.

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This article aimed to test the social identity mediation model of procedural justice on group-oriented behaviors and self-esteem. The model consists of two processes involving perceived procedural justice and behaviors or self-esteem: the mediate process of social identity and the direct process of procedural justice. Three surveys concerning national politics were conducted with a sample of 1000-1180 citizens to test the model. Study 1 revealed that procedural justice enhances the justice perceivers' pride as a Japanese citizen and that the pride was linked to an assertive attitude toward the nation. Their self-esteem trait measured in Rosenberg (1965) was also associated with pride. Study 2 tested the model on supportive behaviors for authority and for members. For members, SEMs revealed that pride mediated between procedural justice and helping behaviors. On the other hand, the supportive behaviors for authority were enhanced by both the pride mediate process and the direct process of procedural justice. Study 2 also revealed that people's collective self-esteem (Luhtanen & Crocker, 1992) was linked to procedural justice by both processes. Study 3 proposed a concept of "relational self-esteem" and developed a new scale for its measurement. A CFA revealed that relational self-esteem consists of three elements: importance of relational existence, relational happiness, and social self-acceptance. Testing the model on relational self-esteem found two mediate processes, affective-pride mediation and respect mediation, but did not reveal any direct process. This result suggested that relational self-esteem is an effective indicator for self-value of procedural justice. The results of these studies indicated that social identity which is connected to procedural justice enhances people's positive self-image, and simultaneously motivates them to act on the behalf of others. Procedural justice could make people internalize the link to society through the social identification processes.

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