Japan issued many political apologies after World War II, although these failed to foster intergroup forgiveness. One possible reason for these failures may be the presence of within-country opposition to government apologies. It has been suggested that some elements of political apologies may be intended to mitigate such within-country opposition. Two studies (total sample size=1,500) tested whether a statement that dissociates past injustice from the country’s present political system and a statement that praises the country’s present system would mitigate opposition to a political apology. The results did not support the mitigating hypothesis. Moreover, we tested whether these statements would be particularly effective in reducing the opposition of strong opponents (e.g., individuals high in Social Dominance Orientation). Although this effect was significant in Study 1, a preregistered study (Study 2) failed to replicate it.

This study examined the relationship between the damage of bullying in junior high school and school adaptation after entering high school. Three surveys of 281 high school students were conducted at various points in time. The first survey was conducted immediately before the respondents started high school to measure the extent of bullying respondents had experienced in junior high school. The second survey was conducted in June, shortly after the respondents started high school, to measure their depressive tendencies and future prospects. The final survey was conducted in November to measure the extent to which respondents had adjusted to high school. An analysis of the survey results suggested that the “prosocial effort orientation” factor and the “positive and active future image” factor that compose a positive future outlook may be related to the process by which being a target of bullying reduces an individual’s ability to adjust to school.