The purpose of this study was to develop Gender Identity Scale (GIS). In previous studies, gender identity was measured as specific gender roles and/or sexual orientation that the person assumed. The new scale, however, was to measure the sense of identity with one's gender, based on the identity theory of Erikson. Participants in the preliminary study were university students, 153 women and 153 men, who completed the new scale. Several models were tested against the data: two factor, four factor, and hierarchical models. The hierarchical model, with two higher-level factors and two lower-level factors each, was the best fit. In order to examine validity of GIS, the new scale, university students, 205 women and 207 men, completed it along with such other scales as gender role, gender acceptance, and self-esteem. In addition, people with gender identity disorder, 120 MTF (male to female) and 155 FTM (female to male), responded to the scale. Results indicated that the scale had adequate validity.

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The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between empathy and perception of thoughtlessness, in the context of acts by friends and acquaintances. One hundred and thirteen (113) students completed a questionnaire designed to measure the respondent's empathy, perception of interpersonal thoughtlessness in acts of an acquaintance, such perception in acts of a friend, and grounds for the perception ratings they made. Results partially supported the hypothesis that individuals low in trait empathy were quicker to perceive thoughtlessness in the acts of others than those high. In addition, individuals high in situational empathy appeared to temper perception of thoughtlessness with the actor's perspective. Finally, our study confirmed that thoughtlessness of an acquaintance was perceived more negatively than that of a friend, and situational empathy scores were higher when the actor was a friend than an acquaintance.

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The present study investigated the temperament model of Behavioral Inhibition/Activation Systems (BIS/BAS) conceptualized in Gray's Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory with a Japanese sample. In Study 1, a Japanese version of BIS/BAS scales was developed and administered to 446 university students. Results showed that the BIS/BAS scales had sufficient internal consistency and validity. Study 2 examined the relationship between the BIS/BAS scales and biological foundations of individual differences, using the twin method. Twins recruited for Keio Twin Project completed a questionnaire. Results of human behavior genetic analyses of the data from 293 pairs revealed that approximately 30% of observed individual differences in BIS and BAS could be attributed to independent genetic factors. These findings suggested that the BIS and BAS scales had biological validity as personality measures.

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According to social information-processing theory of aggression, attribution of hostile intent in a provocation situation increases the likelihood that the person will aggress. However, in bullying for example, aggression is often initiated even when no victim provocation occurs in the first place. This study attempted to investigate the mechanism of such aggression by assessing the characteristics of impression formation by aggressive students. First, a scale of overt and relational aggression was developed. Subsequently, with the scale, participants were classified into high and low groups for each type of aggression. One week later, they listened to a story describing a day on campus of a person who showed two acts each of relational aggression and prosocial behavior. Participants rated their impressions, feelings, and levels of acceptance toward the person. The next was another story with overt aggression and the same rating tasks. Results from 147 undergraduates showed that students high on aggression tended to rate the person showing the same type of aggression more positively, and the person showing different type more negatively.

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Previous clinical research has suggested that narcissistic personality and social phobia had common psychological factors and processes. In this research, we conceptualized needs for affiliation as interpersonal orientation, and commonalities and differences between narcissistic personality and social phobia were examined in terms of four different aspects of interpersonal orientation. Two hundreds and ninety nine (299) undergraduates completed a questionnaire, to measure four aspects of interpersonal orientation, narcissistic personality, social phobia, and self-esteem. Results indicated that needs for external evaluation and positive stimulation each had a positive correlation with narcissistic tendency. On the other hand, need for positive stimulation had a negative and need for social approval and external evaluation a positive correlation with social phobic tendency. From these results, along with correlations between subscales of the personality measures, commonalities and differences between narcissistic personality and social phobia were discussed.

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Two clinical indications regarding intra-individual factors in manipulating others were examined. The first suggests that in order to affirm an overblown sense of own worth, strong need for praise results in the manipulation of others, showing off superiority and competence. In contrast, the second explains that because of grave threat to self-esteem, strong need for support by others causes the manipulation of others, attracting attention to inferiority and incompetence. University students, 347 in total, participated in a questionnaire study, and path analysis found support for both clinical indications. Effects of strong self-affirmation and low self-esteem on manipulative strategies were mediated in the model. Comparison of manipulative strategies and social skills indicated that strong self-affirmation and high self-esteem resulted in adaptive interpersonal behavior. However, if unstable, equally high self-evaluation resulted in manipulative strategies.

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The purpose of the present study was to investigate the relationship between trust for teachers and early childhood attachment in junior high school students. A total of 201 junior high school students completed a questionnaire that asked their attachment to parents and trust for teachers. We analyzed data separately for boys and girls, and found first for both sexes, secure and dependent attachment to parents had a positive correlation with trust for teachers, and insecure and avoidant attachment had a negative correlation. In addition, for girls, separation anxiety had a positive correlation with the trust. The results of this research showed that not only factors on the teacher side but also such psychological factors on the student side as attachment in early childhood were necessary to predict students' trust for teachers.

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The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between trait social anxiety, cognitions of perfectionism, and state music performance anxiety. Seventy-seven (77) members of a university piano club completed the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (Spielberger, Gorsuch, & Lushene, 1970) twice, before and after their performance. In addition, as indices of main factors for state music performance anxiety, cognitions of perfectionism before performance, audience and interaction anxieties, and self-oriented perfectionism were measured. Results showed that of two social anxiety tendencies, only audience anxiety, and of three cognitions of perfectionism, only concern over mistakes significantly explained pre-performance state anxiety. An interaction effect of the two variables was found; that is, audience anxiety significantly explained pre-performance state anxiety only in high concern-over-mistakes group. These findings should provide some practical suggestions for musicians and their educators.

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We attempted to integrate various factors of communication skills into a hierarchical structure model. By classification, we found six categories of factors: Expressivity, Assertiveness, Decipherer ability, Other Acceptance, Self control, and Regulation of Interpersonal Relationship, from various existing scales. We hypothesized that the six factors were located at the basic or interpersonal level, and could be combined to form higher-level factors of three: the encode, decode, and management systems, respectively. Thus, we proposed ENDCORE theory to integrate various factors of communication skills into a hierarchical structure. College students, 233 in all, participated in the study, and complated a number of scales. Results indicated high utility of the hierarchical structure model, and we have developed ENDCOREs, a scale of 24 items to measure four sub-skills each for the six main-skill factors.

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Depersonalization is considered to be elicited by traumatic stress, and is characterized by episodes of detachment or estrangement from one's self. Recently, this phenomenon was understood as a coping mechanism, reducing the impact of a traumatic event. But findings of previous empirical studies were not consistent, possibly because depersonalization has not been classified into more detailed, finer categories. In this study, we preliminarily investigated the classification scheme of Cambridge depersonalization scale using factor analysis, and the relationships between depersonalization and behavioral inhibition system (BIS). Results suggested that depersonalization might lead to reduced and maladaptive emotional responses.

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