The aim of this study was to find the main learning ability in teaching practice at elementary school. Especially, considered the previous research, we focused on the claim advanced by the school teachers, compared to more reports toward students or university educators. We conducted the mail-in survey and asked the elementary school teachers to answer the two type’s questions. The first question was consisted of eighteen learning contents in teaching practice. As a second question, we asked them to write to-be-learned contents in teaching practice freely apart from the first question. As a result, the five hundred-twenty nine valid answers were obtained. Eighteen items by first question consisted of 5 factors: (1) school management; (2) class management; (3) lesson practice abilities; (4) the understanding for special need education; (5) the qualifications as a teacher. All these factors had a high degree of internal consistency for Cronbach’s alpha reliability for the scale. Moreover, the independence of categories was rated as the most significant learning content. Furthermore, in free descriptions, it seemed that thirty-two percent of teachers insisted on the significance of the positivity and motivation for learning. Our findings corresponded to previous studies for each type of school. For future direction, we need to examine how to cultivate the abilities as an acceptable member of society during a four-year university education.

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Everyday stress is a negative experience that impairs cognitive performance. Managing negative emotions competes with executive function processes. Therefore, reducing negative emotion could improve cognitive function while under stress. This study tested if stress reappraisal improves selective attention. In the Reappraisal condition, participants were instructed that stress is not harmful and that increased arousal actually aids performance in stressful situations. In the Ignore condition, participants were instructed that ignoring stress optimally reduces nervousness and improves outcomes. All the participants were instructed that they would be completing a stressful task (speaking before an audience and a video camera), received instructions corresponding to their condition, and completed the Eriksen Flanker Task. The distractors’ interference effect on the targets was measured. If stress reappraisal would reduce negative emotion while under stress, participants in the reappraisal condition could more effectively ignore the distractors by preventing negative emotion management processes that interfere with executive function. The results supported this hypothesis: the interference effect was reduced only in the reappraisal condition, suggesting that stress reappraisal improves executive function while under stress.

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The present research examined the possibility that a victim’s perspective-taking to the perpetrator, which has been argued to be a promotor of the victim’s forgiveness, does not take effect under certain personalities. Based on the finding that perspective-taking positively correlates with two of Big Five personalities (Toto, Man, Blatt, Simmens, & Greenberg, 2015), we examined whether openness and agreeableness moderate the degree of perspective-taking’s effect on forgiveness. In the experiment, we first measured participants’ personality on the Big Five scale and presented them with a vignette describing a situation where one becomes a victim of transgression; participants read the vignette under the manipulation of perspective taking (transgressor perspective or no perspective taking). Lastly, we measured participants’ levels of forgiveness. The results indicated that the participants who took the transgressor’s perspective reported weaker motivations of revenge and avoidance specifically when they were low in openness. Furthermore, perspective-taking mitigated the revenge motivation among people low in agreeableness while not among those high in agreeableness. The results suggest that people either high in agreeableness or in openness are likely to engage in spontaneous perspective-taking while the prompt to do so takes a more strong effect among those low in such personality traits.

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[in Japanese]

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Phrases describing “sweetness” are commonly used to express romantic love and the quality of kindness, such as “my sweet love” and “she is a sweetie.” Recent research suggests that the experience of sweetness also affects one’s romantic perceptions and prosociality. However, because previous studies manipulated the experience of sweetness through taste, there exists the possibility that the results were derived not from the experience of sweetness itself but from other factors such as the calories of sweet foods. In addition, some of the findings in previous research, though not exactly the effects of the experience of sweetness, have not been replicated, meaning it is possible that the effects of the experience of sweetness also do not exist. Considering these, this study manipulated the experience of sweetness through scent and tested whether it affects romantic perceptions and prosociality. First, participants smelled a cotton puff on which a sweet scent was (or was not) put. Then, they answered questions regarding romantic interest, evaluation of a relationship with a hypothetical partner, and prosocial intention. The experience of sweetness did affect romantic interest and prosocial intention. However, the effects were contrary to those of previous research: sweet scent decreased romantic interest and prosocial intention. The opposing results may be interpreted by taking into consideration whether “comparison with the self” occurred or not. Specifically, participants in the sweet scent condition of this study felt that they were not sweet compared to the cotton puff because the cotton puff was outside of their bodies and, therefore, reported decreased romantic interest and prosocial intention. On the other hand, participants in the sweet food conditions of previous studies felt that they were sweet like the sweet foods because they had taken the sweetness into themselves and, therefore, reported increased romantic interest and prosocial intention. Overall, this study suggests the flexibility of the effects of the experience of sweetness.

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Based on the Yakumo Study database, relations between left and right footedness were examined for maximum stride (MS), walking speed (WS) and timed go-up-and go (TGUG) performances with 309 (men: 135 and women: 174) middle and upper-middle aged community-dwelling healthy people. As a result of statistical analysis, there was a sex differences however no difference was found in relation to footedness in all three indices. Possible mechanisms from the viewpoint of developmental change were discussed in relation to previous reports that found footedness differences in young adults, and previous studies that reported laterality difference concerning the knees and hips troubles such as knee osteoarthritis among middle-aged and elderly people.

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The purpose of this study was to examine a physical education class utilizing information and communication technology (ICT). In particular, it aimed to clarify the effects of visual feedback displaying the participants’ heart rate (HR) on a monitor during endurance running. The participants comprised 45 (boys = 20, girls = 25) fifth-grade students enrolled in a Japanese elementary school in Osaka prefecture. The study compared the participants’ HR when it was displayed on a monitor during their running and when it was not displayed. Their HR was measured using a wearable device (Polar A360). The participants’ rating of perceived exertion (RPE) and responses to the feeling scale (FS) were measured after their endurance running. The results showed that when the participants’ HR was displayed on the monitor, it was significantly higher (p < 0.01) than when it was not displayed. In the case of the girls, their RPE was also significantly higher (p < 0.05) when their HR was displayed on the monitor. In the case of the boys, even when their HR was significantly higher as a result of being displayed on the monitor, their RPE was maintained. These results raise the possibility that a more challenging learning environment was created, whereby the students tried to increase their HR, even though their RPE was already strong. The responses to the FS showed that negative feelings were not aroused, even when HR increased for both the boys and the girls. Therefore, the visual feedback during the endurance running may have been effective. In this way, physical education classes using ICT can be effective in enhancing children’s endurance and motivation for learning.

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We examined the effects of evaluative and affective components of attitudes on interactions with people with physical disabilities. Participants (N = 81) completed a questionnaire measuring self-efficacy regarding interactions with people with physical disabilities; we used a semantic differential (SD) method to measure impressions of people with physical disabilities and derived evaluative and affective components of attitudes. Using a maximum likelihood factor analysis of the self-efficacy questionnaire, we extracted 2 factors: embarrassing relationship and self-assertiveness. Using a maximum likelihood factor analysis of the data from the SD method, we extracted evaluative and affective components. Based on these factor scores, to examine the effects of attitudes (i.e., evaluative and affective components) on the self-efficacy regarding interactions with people with physical disabilities (i.e., embarrassing relationship and self-assertiveness), we conducted multiple regression analysis with factors of evaluative and affective components as an independent variables and factors of embarrassing relationship and self-assertiveness as a dependent variables. In the results of embarrassing relationship and self-assertiveness factors, we found significant regression equation in evaluative but not in affective components, showing that people with positive evaluation, showed a decreased feeling of disgust. Our present study assumed that evaluative components of attitudes might be an important factor in self-efficacy regarding interactions with people with physical disabilities, which could enhance the general public’s understanding of disability.

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This study examined the determinants of public acceptance of siting a repository for High-level radioactive waste (HLW), focusing on procedural fairness and trust. The study presumed that interactive effect of procedural fairness × trust on public acceptance exist. To examine the presumption, the study implemented a hypothetical scenario experiment that manipulated two factors: an opportunity of voice as an antecedent of procedural fairness and value similarity to the authority as a component of trust. Three-hundred seventeen people participated in the web-based experiment. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: procedural fairness (voice vs. no voice) × trust (similarity vs. no similarity) factorial design associated with acceptance of siting investigation for a repository of HLW. The experiment measured affective reaction to the siting, and evaluations of procedural fairness, trust, public acceptance in the decision-making process. Results indicated that affective reaction, procedural fairness, and trust determined public acceptance. Moreover, the interactive effect of procedural fairness × trust on public acceptance was found. A process analysis indicated that the effect of procedural fairness was strengthened when the trust on similarity was negative.

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It seems that cultivated abilities for student apprentices during practice are still unknown because of few fundamental studies regarding teaching practice. The aim of this study was to find the main learning content of teaching practice in schools, especially with special-needs. Especially, considering previous research, we focused on the claims advanced by school teachers, in comparison to reports toward the apprentices or university. We conducted a mail-in survey and asked the special-needs school teachers to answer two types of questions. The first question consisted of eighteen learning contents composed of five categories, (1) school management; (2) class management; (3) lesson practice abilities; (4) understanding for special-needs education; (5) qualifications as a teacher in teaching practice. As a second question, they were asked to write about the contents of learning in teaching practice freely apart from the first question. As a result, six hundred and fifty nine valid answers were obtained. More importantly, the qualifications as a teacher category was rated as the most significant learning content. Furthermore, in free descriptions, it seemed that one third of teachers insisted on the significance of positivity and motivation for learning, which were comprised in the behavior as an acceptable member of society. Our findings corresponded to previous studies for each type of school. For future direction, it is necessary to examine how to cultivate the abilities as an acceptable member of society during four-year university education.

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[in Japanese]

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[in Japanese]

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