Preference‐expectation reversal in the ratings of independent and interdependent individuals: A USA–Japan comparison

We predicted and supported the prediction that a ‘preference‐expectation reversal’ would occur among Japanese but not among Americans. American and Japanese participants evaluated ideal‐typical independent and interdependent persons on the negative–positive dimension, and estimated how others would evaluate these persons. They also indicated their preference for acting like each of the target persons; that is, which of the two target persons they would prefer to act like. Both the American and Japanese participants wanted to act like the typical independent person rather than the typical interdependent person. However, the Japanese participants expected that others would evaluate the interdependent person more positively than the independent person. This preference‐expectation reversal was not observed among the American participants. Further analysis demonstrated that the American participants' personal evaluations of the two targets were consistent with their preferences. The Japanese participants' personal evaluation represented a compromise between their preferences and the expected responses of others. These results suggest that the culturally shared belief in Japan that interdependent persons would receive more positive evaluations than independent persons created an incentive for them to behave interdependently despite their preferences.     

Autonomy and Interdependence in Japanese and American Mother–Toddler Dyads

This study investigated two hypotheses: (a) Japanese mother-toddler dyads will work together more interdependently than American mother-toddler dyads; (b) American toddlers will act more autonomously than Japanese toddlers. The hypotheses were investigated using videotapes of 10-minute shape-fitting interactions of 12 Caucasian American and 12 Japanese national mothers visiting the United States and their 24- to 31-month-olds (matched by mean age, gender and birth order). A significant MANOVA and subsequent stepdown analyses revealed: (a) that Japanese mothers more frequently assisted their toddlers in fitting a shape before the toddlers had tried to fit the shape on their own (interdependence); (b) that American toddlers did not attempt to fit more shapes on their own (autonomy); and (c) that more American toddlers left the task than did Japanese toddlers (autonomy). The results indicate greater interdependent task-engagement among Japanese mother-toddler dyads. Greater autonomy on the part of American dyads was evident not in how they did the task, but rather in toddlers choosing to leave the assigned task. Discussion focuses on the implications of these nationality differences for understanding possible differences in early socialization.     

Trust and commitment in the United States and Japan

A distinction is proposed betweentrust as a cognitive bias in the evaluation of incomplete information about the (potential) interaction partner andassurance as a perception of the incentive structure that leads the interaction partner to act cooperatively. It is hypothesized that trust in this sense helps people to move out of mutually committed relations where the partner's cooperation is assured. Although commitment formation is a rather standard solution to the problems caused by social uncertainty, commitment becomes a liability rather than an asset as opportunity costs increase. Facing increasing opportunity costs, trust provides a springboard in the attempt to break psychological inertia that has been mobilized to maintain committed relations. In conjunction with an assumption that networks of mutually committed relations play a more prominent role in Japanese society than in American society, this hypothesis has been applied to predict a set of cross-national differences between the United States and Japan in the levels of trust and related factors. The results of a cross-national questionnaire survey (with 1,136 Japanese and 501 American respondents) support most of the predictions, and indicate that, in comparison to Japanese respondents, American respondents are more trusting of other people in general, consider reputation more important, and consider themselves more honest and fair. In contrast, Japanese respondents see more utility in dealing with others through personal relations.The research reported in this paper has been supported by the Institute of Nuclear Safety System, Inc. We would like to thank Professor Jyuji Misumi, the director of the Social System Research Department of the institute, and Mr. Akira Yamada, the associate director of the department, for their constant encouragement and support. We would also like to thank past attendants of the trust workshops, also supported by the institute, Professors Karen Cook, Peter Kollock, Mary Brinton, Tatsuya Kameda, Taro Kamioka, Ichiro Numazaki, Motoki Watabe, Kumiko Mori, Nahoko Hayashi, Nobuhito Jin, and Nobuyuki Takahashi. This research has been supported also by Abe Fellowship and a Ministry of Education Scientific Research Grant provided to Toshio Yamagishi.     

Individualism and Resistance to Affirmative Action: A Comparison of Japanese and American Samples1

It has been proposed that part of the resistance to affirmative action in the U.S. derives from the American discomfort with categorical social arrangements. An instance of gender discrimination was described to samples of Japanese and American students. The students then evaluated a set of remedies, one of which was a classic affirmative action solution and filled out Singelis’ Self-Construal Scale (Singelis, 1994). The Japanese sample was more collectivist than the American sample and endorsed the affirmative action solution more strongly than the American sample.     

CROSS-CULTURAL COMPARABILITY OF TEMPERAMENT AMONG JAPANESE AND AMERICAN PRESCHOOL CHILDREN

The generalizability of temperament, as measured by the Revised Dimensions of Temperament Survey (DOTS-R) (Windle and Lerner 1986), was investigated through a series of data analytic procedures comparing the item responses of Japanese and American preschool children. Consistent with the results of an American preschool sample, a nine-factor model emerged for the sample of Japanese preschool children. Configurational similarity of salient and non-salient factor loadings for the nine temperament constructs across the two cultural groups was supported via congruence coefficients which ranged from 0.73 to 0.98 (Mdn = 0.91). Restricted (confirmatory) simultaneous group models for each of the nine temperament constructs indicated that the factor loading patterns were invariant across the two preschool samples, thus supporting the equality of scale metrics or units of measurement across groups. Statistical tests of differences in factor means between the two cultural samples suggested that the primary caregivers of Japanese preschoolers, relative to the primary caregivers of American preschoolers, rated their children as higher in Activity Level - Sleep and lower in Approach - Withdrawal, Flexibility - Rigidity, Quality of Mood, and Rhythmicity-Sleep; no statistically significant differences in mean levels were reported for Activity Level - General, Task Orientation, Rhythmicity-Eating and Rhythmicity-Daily Habits.     

Autobiographical memory functions in young Japanese men and women

The present study examined whether the three major functions of autobiographical memory observed in Western societies (i.e., directing-behaviour, social-bonding and self-continuity) also exist in an East Asian society. Two self-report measures were used to assess the autobiographical memory functions of Japanese men and women. Japanese young adults (N = 451, ages 17–28 years) first completed the original Thinking About Life Experiences (TALE) Questionnaire. They subsequently received three TALE items that represented memory functions and attempted to recall a specific instance of memory recall for each item. Confirmatory factor analyses on the TALE showed that the three functions were replicated in the current sample. However, Japanese participants reported lower levels of all three functions than American participants in a previous study. We also explored whether there was an effect of gender in this Japanese sample. Women reported higher levels of the self-continuity and social-bonding functions than men. Finally, participants recalled more specific instances of memory recall for the TALE items that had received higher ratings on the TALE, suggesting that the findings on the first measure were supported by the second measure. Results are discussed in relation to the functional approach to autobiographical memory in a cross-cultural context.     

Origins of the stuttering stereotype: stereotype formation through anchoring-adjustment

The stereotype of people who stutter is predominantly negative, holding that stutterers are excessively nervous, anxious, and reserved. The anchoring–adjustment hypothesis suggests that the stereotype of stuttering arises from a process of first anchoring the stereotype in personal feelings during times of normal speech disfluency, and then adjusting based on a rapid heuristic judgment. The current research sought to test this hypothesis, elaborating on previous research by [White, P. A., & Collins, S. R. (1984). Stereotype formation by inference: A possible explanation for the “stutterer” stereotype. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 27, 567–570]. Participants provided ratings of a hypothetical typical person who stutters, a person suffering from normal speech disfluency and a typical male on a 25-item semantic differential scale. Results showed a stereotype of people who stutter similar to that found in previous research. The pattern of results is consistent with the anchoring–adjustment hypothesis. Ratings of a male stutterer are very similar to a male experiencing temporary disfluency, both of which differ from ratings of a typical male. As expected, ratings of a stutterer show a small but statistically significant adjustment on several traits that makes the stereotype of stutterers less negative and less emotionally extreme than the temporarily disfluent male. Based on the results of this research, it appears that stereotype formation is a result of generalization and adjustment from personal experience during normal speech disfluency.

Educational objectives: The reader will be able to: (1) explain how the negative stereotype of people who stutter arises; (2) discuss the negative implications of stereotypes in the lives of people who stutter; and (3) summarize why the stereotype of people who stutter is so consistent and resistant to change.     

Beliefs About the Disconfirmability of Stereotypes: The Stereotype Disconfirmability Effect1

Two studies examined people's beliefs about the relative disconfirmability of out‐group and in‐group stereotypes. In Study 1 (n= 56), Hispanics and White non‐Hispanics judged the in‐group and out‐group stereotypes in terms of the ease with which they could be dis‐confirmed. The results indicated that strongly, ethnically identified participants believed the out‐group stereotype to be more difficult to disconfirm than the in‐group stereotype. The second study with 73 White participants examined their beliefs about the disconfirmability of the White and African American stereotypes. The results indicated that participants higher in prejudice believed the African American stereotype is more difficult to disconfirm than the White stereotype to a greater degree than participants lower in prejudice. The results suggest that disconfirmability beliefs comprise a distinct construct thai may contribute to the difficulty of changing out‐group stereotypes.     

Two ways to overcome social uncertainty in social support networks: A test of the emancipation theory of trust by comparing kin/nonkin relationships

Many findings of previous research have supported the predictions of the emancipation theory of trust ( Yamagishi, 2011 ) in experimental settings. Although the key concept of the theory is social uncertainty, few studies of the concept have been conducted in natural settings. In the present study, we operationally defined social uncertainty by comparing kin and nonkin relationships. We analyzed survey data representative of the Japanese population and compared the exchange of social support between kin and nonkin. The prediction was that commitment helps respondents construct cooperative nonkin relationships more than it does kin relationships, and general trust helps only resource‐rich respondents to do so. The results supported the predictions. The study found significant interactions with relationship type × commitment and relationship type × household income × general trust. The patterns of mean score for social support exchanged were consistent with the predictions. High trusters with low household income exchanged more support independent of the relationship type.     

性别刻板印象表征的形式及神经基础

本实验采用ERP技术,考察性别刻板印象的表征。结果发现,无论启动是上位范畴、子范畴、典型样例还是反例,被试对于刻板印象不一致的表征比一致的表征均诱发了波幅更大的N400,反应时更长。并且,被试对于性别刻板印象的表征存在层级差异。研究结果表明：（1）性别刻板印象的表征存在层级结构。（2）语义启动下,性别刻板印象违背诱发N400效应。（3）性别刻板印象表征存在自上而下的由大脑额叶进行的语义分类加工。     

Stereotyping in American,British, and Japanese Corporations in Hong Kong and Singapore

Abstract

The auto- and heterostereotypes of 806 local and expatriate managers in 89 American, British, and Japanese companies in Hong Kong and Singapore were compared. Disparities were computed as Euclidean distances to identify similar and dissimilar perceptions of groups, and dissimilarities were further examined by comparison of the stereotype perception profiles. The disparities were also used as dissimilarity data for a multidimensional scaling of the auto- and heterostereotypes, yielding a two-dimensional map of the stereotype profiles that is helpful for summarizing and comparing the profiles. The results and the methodology may be useful to multinational corporations in identifying sources of potential conflict and misunderstanding between different cultural groups working together.     

THE EFFECTS OF DIALECTICAL SIMILARITY,STEREOTYPING, AND MESSAGE AGREEMENT ON INTERPERSONAL PERCEPTION

This project was undertaken to investigate the interrelationships among three variables—dialectical similarity, stereotyping, and message agreement—and their effect on the speaker evaluation variables of source competence, character appeal, interpersonal attraction and message coherence. The main experiment consisted of four stimulus conditions; two levels of dialect (Southern and Midwestern); and two messages (one relevant and one irrelevant to the Southern stereotype). The results of the study indicated that (1) the relationship between dialectical similarity and stereotyping was contingent on message context; (2) an interaction occurred between the message relevant to the stereotype and the dialect associated with the stereotype producing disproportionately low means; and (3) stereotyping appeared to be more strongly associated with the dependent variables than message agreement, but dialectical similarity was less strongly associated than message agreement.     

Reducing the Effects of Stereotype Threat on African American College Students by Shaping Theories of Intelligence

African American college students tend to obtain lower grades than their White counterparts, even when they enter college with equivalent test scores. Past research suggests that negative stereotypes impugning Black students' intellectual abilities play a role in this underperformance. Awareness of these stereotypes can psychologically threaten African Americans, a phenomenon known as “stereotype threat” (Steele & Aronson, 1995), which can in turn provoke responses that impair both academic performance and psychological engagement with academics. An experiment was performed to test a method of helping students resist these responses to stereotype threat. Specifically, students in the experimental condition of the experiment were encouraged to see intelligence—the object of the stereotype—as a malleable rather than fixed capacity. This mind-set was predicted to make students' performances less vulnerable to stereotype threat and help them maintain their psychological engagement with academics, both of which could help boost their college grades. Results were consistent with predictions. The African American students (and, to some degree, the White students) encouraged to view intelligence as malleable reported greater enjoyment of the academic process, greater academic engagement, and obtained higher grade point averages than their counterparts in two control groups.     

How efficacious, caring samaritans cope when their help is rejected unexpectedly

This experiment, with 167 introductory psychology subjects, successfully replicated and extended to a wider array of affective, evaluative, and cognitive reactions, previous research on how would-be helpers cope when their help is rejected. It again supported the thesis that violation of perceived expectancy of acceptance mediates the effects of rejection. Using an individual difference measure of generalized self-perceptions of being a person who is sufficientlyefficacious and caring (acronym, EFCA) to help others, we found support for the predictions that high EFCAs would react more strongly than low EFCAs on “proximal” forms of coping, but relatively less strongly on “confrontational” (future-oriented) forms. Our rationale was that high EFCAs expect more acceptance, are more optimistic, and have greater self-investment in the outcome. Mixed support was obtained for the prediction that situational differences in prior expectancy of acceptance moderate the effects of rejection. Portions of the research were presented by the first author at the 98th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, Boston, August 1990.     

How efficacious,caring samaritans cope when their help is rejected unexpectedly

This experiment, with 167 introductory psychology subjects, successfully replicated and extended to a wider array of affective, evaluative, and cognitive reactions, previous research on how would-be helpers cope when their help is rejected. It again supported the thesis that violation of perceived expectancy of acceptance mediates the effects of rejection. Using an individual difference measure of generalized self-perceptions of being a person who is sufficientlyefficacious and caring (acronym, EFCA) to help others, we found support for the predictions that high EFCAs would react more strongly than low EFCAs on “proximal” forms of coping, but relatively less strongly on “confrontational” (future-oriented) forms. Our rationale was that high EFCAs expect more acceptance, are more optimistic, and have greater self-investment in the outcome. Mixed support was obtained for the prediction that situational differences in prior expectancy of acceptance moderate the effects of rejection. Portions of the research were presented by the first author at the 98th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, Boston, August 1990.     

Leftists’ and rightists’ IQ as a function of stereotype salience

This study examined the intellectual performance of leftists (or liberals) and rightists (or conservatives) when a stereotype about members of a disadvantaged outgroup (immigrants) is salient. Building on system-justification theory (SJT) and the motivated social cognition approach of political conservatism, it was predicted that when the stereotype about immigrant students’ underachievement is salient in academic settings, leftist students would perform worse, whereas rightist students would perform better than in a control condition. In two samples, Swiss native students were first reminded (or not) of the stereotype and then performed a difficult intellectual test. The results yielded support for the predictions. These findings illustrate how different ideological motives (system-challenging vs. system-justifying) might influence performance among leftist and rightist students.     

The perception of erotic arousal in men and women by same- and opposite-sex peers

Recent empirical evidence suggests that males and females differ very little in their response to erotica. Yet public opinion suggests that there are indeed differences: perceived differences. The present study explored two possibilities why these perceived differences continue to exist. One basis for such differences would be that both males and females see males as being more aroused (or arousable) by erotic stimuli, that is, a pure gender stereotype. A second possibility, suggested by Griffitt (1973), is that individuals who are asked to indicate how they think others would respond depend primarily on a projection process to make these attributions. The results of the study suggest that the latter process is more typical of males than of females; and that the former process is partially true for females, who tend as well to view all others (males and females) as being more aroused by erotic stimuli than they themselves are.This research was supported in part by Research Grant MH 16351-02 from the National Institute of Mental Health to the second author and is based in part on a paper delivered at the International Conference on Love and Attraction, Swansea, Wales, 1977. The authors wish to thank Glenn Littlepage and Rita Steifel for their assistance.     

Egalitarian sex role attitudes: Scale development and comparison of American and Japanese women

The English Form of the Scale of Egalitarian Sex Role Attitudes was administered to 238 American women after the original Japanese Form was developed and administered to 420 Japanese women. The results reveal that the English Form has a potential for use as a measurement of American women's sex role attitudes. The results of cross-cultural comparisons suggest that American women have more egalitarian attitudes than their Japanese counterparts. However, they have basically similar attitudes toward more general egalitarian values. Among the four roles of woman, wife, mother, and person, the majority of the American women choose person as the most important role, whereas the Japanese women do not claim any clear dominant role. But the results show that the Japanese women's attitudes toward women's roles have become more egalitarian and individualistic during the past two decades.This research was partly supported by a grant from the Dentsu Corporation's Yoshida Hideo Memorial Foundation. The author wishes to thank Roger Brown, Cynthia Chataway, Matina Horner, Ellen Langer, and Annemette Sorensen, Yoshiyasu Uno, and the reviewers for their critical and helpful comments on an earlier version of this article. The statistical help by Ellen Herbener and Valerie Leiter are gratefully acknowledged.     

Predicting pre-service teachers’ opposition to inclusion of students with disabilities: a path analytic study

This study addressed predictors of pre-service teachers’ opposition toward the practice of educating students with disabilities in mainstream classroom settings—a practice known as inclusion. We tested a hypothesized path model that incorporated social dominance orientation (SDO) and contact as distal predictors, and intergroup anxiety, stereotype use, and self-efficacy for including students with disabilities as more proximal predictors of opposition to inclusion in a sample of 229 pre-service teachers from the Southwestern United States. In large part, the predicted relationships among our variables were supported. The effect of SDO on opposition to inclusion was both indirect (via stereotype use and intergroup anxiety) and direct. The effect of close contact with persons with disabilities relevant to inclusion was mediated by intergroup anxiety and, more distally, by stereotype use. Stereotype use and intergroup anxiety were positive predictors of opposition to inclusion. The predicted relationship between self-efficacy and opposition to inclusion was not supported by the data. Rather, the data supported a reverse causal ordering. Implications for future research are addressed.     

To be is not always to be The hypothesis of cognitive universality in the light of studies on elliptic language behaviour

Abstract.— This paper introduces evidence as to whether the cognitive base of natural languages is universal or not. When a speaker or writer has too little time or space to use complete, grammatically well-formed sentences, he will first leave out the parts of speech which are least essential for the decoding process of the receiver. If, in two different languages, different parts are left out, the cognitive base of the languages cannot be the same. It was predicted that native Finnish-speaking subjects will be more prone to leave out the verb from newspapers headings and from reports of sporting events, than will native Swedish-speaking subjects. In addition, it was expected that Finnish subjects will rate sentences lacking verbs as more, and sentences lacking nouns, as less "language correct" than will Swedish subjects. It was also predicted that in perception of a sporting event, Finnish reporters will focus on topological, and Swedish, on vectorial, information. The predictions were borne out exactly by the findings, which thus are strongly negative to the universality hypothesis.