Predicting the behavior of each other is a fundamental process of social interaction. In order to ensure smooth communication, it is important not only to accurately predict the behavior of others but also to act in a way that is easily predicted by others. The choice perseverance, the tendency to repeat past choices, could play an important role in making one’s behavior more predictable. To examine it, we conducted an experimental task in which participants predicted the choices of agents with different levels of perseverance. Here, we hypothesized that (1) the choices of those with high perseverance are more predictable than those with relatively low perseverance, and (2) participants with high perseverance can easily predict agents’ choices with similarly high perseverance. To examine hypothesis (2), we quantified participant’s perseverance by computational modeling. The experimental results showed that the accuracy of predictions in the block predicting choices of agents with high perseverance was significantly higher than in the block predicting choices of agents with relatively low perseverance (p < .01). There is a significant correlation between the participant’s perseverance estimated by the computational model and the prediction accuracy only when predicting choices of those with high perseverance (p < .01). This result raises the possibility that people with similar behavioral tendencies are more likely to interact smoothly with each other. In conclusion, these results supported our hypotheses, and choice perseverance thus seems to be a key component in predicting others’ behavior.

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The present study explored the effect of cognitive load during lying on attention to stimuli. Ninety-four participants were assigned to one of two groups (i.e., “concealment” or “non-concealment” group). All of them were asked to utter the displayed word in sequence. However, they were asked to utter, a word different from the displayed one when target word was displayed. But participants in the concealment group were asked to cover up that the word was different from the displayed one. In other words, they had to utter a different word as if it was not. After the task, they were asked to write the words that they remembered. The results showed that participants in the concealment group recalled smaller number of words than those in the non-concealment group. However, individual difference in tendency to lie positively predicted the recall rate. People who tended to lie in their daily lives might be more fluent in lying, which could keep the recall rate high. The present study indicated that cognitive load during lying reduce the cognitive resource, which led people to paying less attention to stimuli. This study also implied that measuring attention was one possible way to detect deceptions.

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Repeated deception gradually leads to large transgressions. Oftentimes, people behave deceptively without their awareness. However, the mechanism in which the repetition of ambiguous deception without obvious intention of deceptive behavior influences intentional deception remains unclear. The study set up a scenario where a participant can opt for ambiguous deception and investigated the intervals between such instances in interpersonal situations. Moreover, a sender-receiver game was conducted in which participants were allowed to voluntarily and repeatedly deceive another participant. Results revealed that 26 of the participants cheated during the experiment and that their intentional deceptive decisions gradually increased in the latter half of the game. Furthermore, the intervals between ambiguous deceptive acts shortened over the course of the game. These findings indicate the necessity to investigate the mechanisms involved in the dynamic changes that occur during the practice of deception.

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The present study examined how job satisfaction and exhaustion are affected by motivational regulation and style in the part-time jobs of international students in Japan, based on self-determination theory. A multivariate regression analysis, which included five motivational regulations as independent variables and job satisfaction and exhaustion as dependent variables, was conducted. The results showed that job satisfaction was positively correlated with intrinsic regulation and identified regulation and negatively correlated with introjected regulation. For exhaustion, a negative correlation was shown with intrinsic regulation, and a positive correlation was shown with extrinsic and identified regulation. The results of a cluster analysis based on five motivational regulations revealed four motivational styles. High motivational styles were shown to have the highest job satisfaction, and low intrinsic/high extrinsic styles were shown to have the highest exhaustion.

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[in Japanese]

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[in Japanese]

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The present study examined possible influences of perfectionism and narcissism on anger rumination. Ninety-five undergraduates completed the Japanese version of Anger Rumination Scale (ARS), the Multidimensional Perfectionism Cognition Inventory (MPCI), and the Narcissistic Personality Inventory-Short Version (NPI-S). Multiple regression analysis revealed that “concern over mistake” subscale of the MPCI, “need for attention and praise” and “a sense of superiority and competence” subscale of the NPI-S were predictors of anger rumination. The results showed that “a sense of superiority and competence” was a negative predictor of anger rumination as Hatta et al. (2018) has proposed. The effects of perfectionism and narcissism on anger rumination might be restrictive, so further investigation should be needed.

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The reliability by the test-retest examination of the cognitive test items that have been used in the Yakumo Study was examined using 40-55 years old community dwellers. These participants’ performances can be regarded that the possible influence of cognitive decline due to aging can be ignored. As a result of the test-retest examination, reliability of the subjects who participated in the Yakumo Study health examination for successive consecutive years during the 40-55 years old were as follows; D-CAT1 and D-CAT3, Stroop (dot) and troop (letter) showed a high correlation of 0.75 or more. The logical memory test had a correlation of less than 0.6, the letter fluency test had a correlation of 0.6 or more, but the semantic fluency test had a correlation of 0.4 or less. From these results, it was clarified that the D-CAT and Stroop tests are reliable measures for examining the intra-individual fluctuation of frontal lobe executive function with aging.

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The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between participation in local community activities and the living situation of residents of large-scale urban apartments. An anonymous self-administered questionnaire was conducted for 1,647 people. Questionnaire items were gender, generation, number of household members, type of ownership status, floor level of residence, years of residence, presence or absence of employment, and presence or absence of participation in community activities. There were responses (recovery rate: 56.5 %) from 931 persons; 858 of these (valid response rate: 52.1 %) were completed correctly and used in the final analysis. A multivariate logistic analysis was performed with the presence or absence of participation in community activities as the dependent variable. As a result, it was found that participation in community activities was significant for women under the age of 65. A significant association was found in the residential floor level for those aged 65 and over, and the association became weaker as the age increased. Regardless of the age group, there was a significant association between participation in community activities and the number of household members, the type of ownership status (i.e. rent vs own), and the length of years of residence. It was also confirmed that for those aged 65 and over, the longer the number of years of residence, the stronger the relationship. This study showed that in addition to the number of household members and years of residence, it is necessary to also consider the ownership status and floor level of residence when evaluating participation in community activities.

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Policy information, included in the experimental design of mini-publics, aims at enhancing knowledge about policy issues on the mini-publics’ agenda. However, the effectiveness of the presentation format of this information provided to respondents in enhancing knowledge about the relevant issues remained unexamined in previous studies. This study used Japanese energy policy as an issue and conducted a survey experiment on Japanese voters (N = 3,214) in 2014, which manipulated the difference in terms of the presentation format and volume of information contained in the policy information. The experimental conditions were as follows: full information, which presented all the prepared policy information; textual reduction information, which deleted some peripheral sentences from the full information; numerical reduction information, which deleted numerical values from the full information; and control conditions, which did not present any policy information. The condition for presenting the complete policy information significantly increased the knowledge about policy issues, notwithstanding the strength of policy-related attitudes that moderated the effects of policy information. Further, contrary to this study’s hypotheses, the results showed that respondents with weak attitudes toward energy policy were more likely to increase their policy knowledge under the full information condition, thereby narrowing their knowledge gap compared to those with strong policy attitudes. Thus, factors such as textual or numerical information excluded from policy information in each experimental condition contributed to the amount of policy issue-related knowledge. Recently, to prevent the spread of “harmful rumors”, the Consumer Affairs Agency released a pamphlet called “Food and Radiation Q&A,” providing information to consumers. This study’s findings can further contribute to such governmental measures by identifying a format of presenting pamphlets that can effectively enhance people’s knowledge about relevant issues.

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[in Japanese]

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Positive psychology is recognized as an important contributing factor in terms of well-being. Positive psychological constructs as dispositional optimism or purpose in life have been linked to positive health outcomes. However, there is little research in relation to it within the dementia field. In the present study we investigate an association between dispositional optimism and cognitive functions in the middle aged and the older. Participants were 285 community-dwelling middle aged and older persons without dementia. The cognitive functions were measured by means of logical memory test, Money road test, Stroop test, D-CAT (digit cancellation test), verbal fluency test and MMSE. Dispositional optimism was assessed using 10 item questionnaire adapted from Japanese versions of the Life Orientation Test-Revised. Participants were divided into three dispositional optimism groups (upper, middle and lower) based on the score of the questionnaire. ANCOVA, using age, sex and education as covariate, dispositional optimism group as independent variables, and scores on the cognitive tasks as dependent variables, was conducted to investigate the effect of positive psychological constructs on the age-related decline of cognitive functions. A significant main effect of dispositional optimism was shown for the score on digit cancellation test and verbal fluency test. The score of these cognitive functions in lower optimism group was lower than that in the other groups. Greater dispositional optimism is associated with higher cognitive functions. It became clear that positive psychological constructs could reduce a risk of cognitive decline.

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[in Japanese]

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Disgust is perceived to be a negative emotion, which restricts or decreases an organism’s behaviour to defend the body, mind, and/or social order when exposed to stimuli from the outside world. However, disgust may also lead to behaviours that are advantageous for an organism’s survival and thus have value. Moral foundations theory proposes that human moral judgments are based on six inherent criteria, one of which is the moral value of sanctity/purity. This study explores the relation between disgust and sanctity/purity. Most research in this field has been conducted primarily in the United States and in Europe and has yielded contradictory findings. While disgust becomes moralized specifically in the domain of sanctity/purity, it is also related to a wide array of other domains. This study revealed that the disgust displayed by Japanese participants was not associated with sanctity/purity alone but was deeply connected to and affected by relations with others and moral values, namely, loyalty and authority, which emphasize the importance of continued survival and maintaining one’s social group.

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