Interpersonal relationship-building skills are important for caregivers in the performance of their duties. This is because they are interpersonal support workers. In this study, we interviewed eleven caregivers to identify social skills that are useful for caregivers to build smooth relationships with their care recipients. The definition of social skills in this study is "interpersonal behaviors that allow caregivers to relate to and build interpersonal relationships with their care recipients through verbal or nonverbal means, as well as cognitive ways that enable the expression of these behaviors" for caregivers to provide good long-term care to their care recipients. The obtained 366 social skills were classified into six categories: "communication and information transfer", "forming and maintaining relationships", "manner and attitude", "trouble dealing and prevention", "Care and Consideration" and "Management". Based on these results, we discussed the social skills desired in caregivers.

Some of us are highly sensitive to environmental stimuli. Such a sensitive person is called Highly Sensitive Person. According to the environmental sensitivity theory, highly sensitive persons are more likely to both negatively and positively respond to environmental stimuli (e.g., work stress and empathy). Given the environmental sensitivity theory, we hypothesized that the Highly Sensitive Person Scale (HSPS) would be positively correlated with stress perception, alienation, and empathy. An online survey of 270 Japanese workers was conducted. As predicted, correlation analysis in this study revealed that HSPS was linked to higher stress perception, alienation, and empathy. The result remained even after adding optimism and pessimism as covariates. These results support the environmental sensitivity theory at work, suggesting that highly sensitive workers are easily stressed but more empathetic with others.

This study aimed to identify the particular psychological traits of students entering the master's program at a private university aimed at advanced professional engineering. We surveyed 212 students, and assessed their epistemic curiosity, critical thinking disposition, and Grit. This study compared students entering the master's program with those who were not. Students entering the master's program showed significantly higher diversive curiosity, specific curiosity, inquiry-mind, objectiveness, and evidence based judgment. The binomial logistic regression analysis revealed that only diversive curiosity had a statistically significant positive effect (OR: 1.95, 95%CI: 1.26-3.02). We identified high score of diversive and specific curiosity, inquiry-mind, objectiveness, and evidence based judgment as the particular psychological traits of students entering the master's program at a private university aimed at advanced professional engineering. Future research should explore the influence of psychological traits, outcome expectations, and other factors on motivation.

This study aims to examine how prospective teachers in Japan critically recognize the characteristics of Japanese school culture that could result in intercultural conflicts. 117 students participated in this study. They were given three 90-minute lectures on Japanese school education in the globalized era and possible intercultural conflicts among dominant cultural group members and minorities. Among the minority groups in Japan, participants were educated extensively on Muslim culture. After the lectures, they were asked to analyze a case study of an intercultural conflict between a Muslim student and her classmates within a Japanese school environment. A qualitative analysis of the open-ended responses yielded 11 subcategories, 5 medium categories, and 2 large categories. The unique educational values of Japanese schools were identified as possible causes of intercultural conflict. They included group consciousness and prejudice, aversion, and discomfort with being different; a sense of resistance to breaking rules and disturbing public morals; and desire for approval and dissatisfaction regarding legitimacy of endurance and effort. The possibilities of nurturing self-respecting and culturally tolerant students for an inclusive school environment are discussed.

The study examines whether the reclassification of COVID-19' s category to Class 5 resulted in changes in social isolation, social support, and loneliness among college students. The study targeted 206 participants, conducting longitudinal surveys in May and August 2023. The results revealed an increase in social isolation after the reclassification to Class 5. However, there were no significant changes in loneliness and social support. Furthermore, individuals who were already socially isolated did not show significant changes in loneliness and social support. The study suggests the need to focus on societal factors and individual factors in prevention mental health issues.

In this study, we investigated the effects of facial and background color combinations on the perceived "impression of anger" in illustrations. The study engaged 83 participants to rate their perceived level of anger in 14 different illustrations. These images featured illustrations with either red or yellow-green angry expressions combined with seven distinct background colors on a 6-point scale. The results indicated that significant differences in the impact of background color on yellow-green facial expressions when paired with orange, red-purple, blue-purple, and blue backgrounds. Similarly, red facial expressions exhibited significant differences between orange and red-purple, with yellow showing significantly lower values compared to orange.