Trust, Gullibility, and Social Intelligence

A series of experiments conducted in Japan by Yamagishi and his associates are presented, all consistently showing that high trusters (as measured with a general trust scale) are more sensitive than low trusters to information potentially revealing lack of trustworthiness in others and judge other people's choice in a one-shot prisoner's dilemma more accurately. Based on these findings, a new theoretical twist is introduced to the "emancipation theory of trust" originally proposed by Yamagishi & Yamagishi (1994), that emphasizes the relation-expansion role of trust in addition to the traditionally noticed relation-fortification role of trust. When opportunity cost for staying in a commitment relation is generally high, it is more advantageous not to stay in secure and stable commitment relations but to explore opportunities that lie outside, and yet such social exploration involves the risk of being exploited by untrustworthy people. It is thus a more gainful strategy to invest "cognitive resources" in the nurturing of "social intelligence" needed to detect signals of untrustworthiness. General trust may be conceived as a by-product of the development of such social intelligence. Those who have invested in the development of social intelligence can afford to maintain a high level of general trust, whereas those who have not are encouraged to assume that "everyone is a thief" and to refrain from pursuing potentially lucrative but risky outside opportunities.     

Color diagnosticity in object recognition

Does color influence object recognition? In the present study, the degree to which an object was associated with a specific color was referred to ascolor diagnosticity. Using a feature listing and typicality measure, objects were identified as either high in color diagnosticity or low in color diagnosticity. According to the color diagnosticity hypothesis, color should more strongly influence the recognition of high color diagnostic (HCD) objects (e.g., a banana) than the recognition of low color diagnostic (LCD) objects (e.g., a lamp). This prediction was supported by results from classification, naming, and verification experiments, in which subjects were faster to identify color versions of HCD objects than they were to identify achromatic versions and incongruent color versions. In contrast, subjects were no faster to identify color versions of LCD objects than they were to identify achromatic and incongruent color versions. Moreover, when shape information was degraded but color information preserved, subjects were less impaired in their recognition of degraded HCD objects than of degraded LCD objects, relative to their nondegraded versions. Collectively, these results suggest that color plays a role in the recognition of HCD objects.     

Second-order relational properties and the inversion effect: Testing a theory of face perception

Recognition of faces is more severely impaired by inversion than is recognition of other types of objects. This was originally interpreted as evidence for the existence of special face-recognition mechanisms. Recently, Diamond and Carey (1986) attributed the inversion effect to the use of second-order relational properties that are important for, but not unique to, face recognition. According to their hypothesis, face recognition differs from the recognition of most other objects in its dependence on second-order relational properties. This hypothesis was tested in two experiments by comparing the effects of inversion on the identification of dot patterns that differed in the extent to which they required the encoding of second-order relational properties. Identification of the second-order relational patterns was not more disrupted by inversion than was identification of first-order patterns. These results fail to support the hypothesis that second-order relational properties are responsible for the inversion effect.     

Second-order relational properties and the inversion effect: testing a theory of face perception.

Recognition of faces is more severely impaired by inversion than is recognition of other types of objects. This was originally interpreted as evidence for the existence of special face-recognition mechanisms. Recently, Diamond and Carey (1986) attributed the inversion effect to the use of second-order relational properties that are important for, but not unique to, face recognition. According to their hypothesis, face recognition differs from the recognition of most other objects in its dependence on second-order relational properties. This hypothesis was tested in two experiments by comparing the effects of inversion on the identification of dot patterns that differed in the extent to which they required the encoding of second-order relational properties. Identification of the second-order relational patterns was not more disrupted by inversion than was identification of first-order patterns. These results fail to support the hypothesis that second-order relational properties are responsible for the inversion effect.     

TOWARD A MULTI-LEVEL,MULTI-STAGE MODEL OF MODERNIZATION A CROSS-CULTURAL SOCIAL-PSYCHOLOGY APPROACH1

Le développement économique est présenté comme un processus écologique impliquant des antécédents et conséquents à la fois institutionnels et psychologiques dont les interactions composent un modèle complexe. Sont étudiées plus particulièrement ici les variables psychologiques qui, dans une culture donnée, se révèlent susceptibles d'influencer le phénomène de modernisation. Les attitudes de divers groupes culturels envers certaines valeurs spécifiques ayant trait au développement économique sont mesurées par des différenciateurs sémantiques multilingues. Ces appréciations sont analysées et comparées en fonction du degré d'industrialisation des pays étudiés.     

Effects of acute simulated microgravity on nocturnal sleep, daytime vigilance, and psychomotor performance: comparison of horizontal and 6 degrees head-down bed rest

This study examined the effect of acute simulated microgravity on nocturnal sleep, daytime vigilance, and psychomotor performance. Each of 7 volunteers were maintained for 3 days of head-down and horizontal bed rest in a counter-balanced design. Assessment measures were polysomnographic recordings on the first night and performance on psychophysiological tasks on the second day involving subjective and objective vigilance, P300, simple reaction time tasks, and dual performance tasks. No clear difference in sleep structure was observed between the head-down and horizontal conditions, except for a slight decrease in Stage 4 for head-down. Both subjective and objective daytime vigilance, P300, and the simple RT task showed no statistical difference, although tracking performance on the dual task showed deterioration at 10:00 for the head-down condition. These results suggest that nocturnal sleep, daytime vigilance, and psychophysiological functions were not disturbed in head-down sleep conditions, although there was a mild deterioration of higher attentional function in the morning.     

Group differences in the mutual gaze of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

A comparative developmental framework was used to determine whether mutual gaze is unique to humans and, if not, whether common mechanisms support the development of mutual gaze in chimpanzees and humans. Mother-infant chimpanzees engaged in approximately 17 instances of mutual gaze per hour. Mutual gaze occurred in positive, nonagonistic contexts. Mother-infant chimpanzees at a Japanese center exhibited significantly more mutual gaze than those at a center in the United States. Cradling and motor stimulation varied across groups. Time spent cradling infants was inversely related to mutual gaze. It is suggested that in primates, mutual engagement is supported via an interchangeability of tactile and visual modalities. The importance of mutual gaze is best understood within a perspective that embraces both cross-species and cross-cultural data.     

INTERPERSONAL ATTITUDES AMONG AMERICAN,INDIAN AND JAPANESE STUDENTS1

Attitudes interpersonnelles parmi les étudiants américains, indiens et japonais. — Le différentiateur sémantique et le différenciateur de comportement ont été administrés à des étudiants, 98 américains (Illinois), 112 japonais (Tokyo) et 99 indiens (Mysore). Les concepts-stimuli étaient composites : il s'agissait d'individus diversifiés selon toutes les combinaisons possibles de profession (médecin ou menuisier), de religion (identique ou différente de celle du sujet), de sexe (homme ou femme), et d'âge (jeune, d'âge mûr, vieux). Les éhelles du différentiateur sémantique ont été empruntées à une étude d'Osgood et al. Les échelles du différentiateur de comportement ont été traduites à partir des échelles de comportement qui avaient les saturations les plus élevées dans l'analyse factorielle des composantes comportementales des attitudes, faites par Triandis (1964 b). Indépendamment des jugements formulés sur les stimuli composites, les sujets devaient juger les éléments constituants des stimuli composites. Le principe de congruité d'Osgood et la théorie de la sommation de Fishbein ainsi qu'un certain nombre d'autres principes, ont été utilisés pour découvrir si l'on peut prédire les jugements d'un sujet à l'égard des stimuli composites à partir de ses jugements à l'égard des stimuli simples. Le but de cette étude était d'établir la généralité des résultats américains concernant certains aspects de la perception interpersonnelle. Les résultats montrent que les résultats antérieurs peuvent être grossièrement généralisés, bien que, dans le détail, les résultats ne se recoupent pas d'une culture à l'autre. Ainsi par exemple, bien que les mêmes structures factorielles se retrouvent dans tous les échantillons qu'il s'agisse du différentiateur sémantique ou du différentiateur de comportement, l'analyse détaillée des échelles qui ont des saturations élevées dans les différents facteurs suggére l'existence d'une spécificité culturelle. La théorie de la sommation s'avère supérieure à la théorie de la congruité, pour prédire les jugements des sujets relativement aux stimuli composites à partir des jugements sur les stimuli simples.     

Ayahuasca in Western society and the metacognitive counselling approach

Ayahuasca is a hallucinogenic plant used throughout South America for religious, cultural and healing ceremonies. Previous studies have analysed it as a therapy method from either the microperspective, such as physiological and psychological effects of substance use, or the macroperspective, such as legal issues or cultural appropriation of ayahuasca by Westerners. There is a need to combine those two aspects to fully understand the effects of ayahuasca for therapists and clients in Western communities. By utilising an autoethnographic instrumental case study, we discuss the possible risk of ayahuasca gaining popularity in Western societies without an understanding of how the social context plays a tremendous part in healing using this method. We also discuss the risk of intrapsychic experiences brought about by ayahuasca that may deter individuals from seeking appropriate treatment. It is not our intention to present ayahuasca as an illegitimate or invalid method of healing; rather, we emphasise the importance of integrating micro- and macroperspectives in psychotherapy practice. We suggest that the metacognitive counselling approach be taken by both clients and therapists when adopting indigenous methods of therapy which may add a significantly positive effect. Although we hope this study offers realistic and lived experiences to generate pragmatic solutions for therapists and clients, we recognise that it is necessary to collect data from a larger number of both clients and therapists to better support our suggestion of the metacognitive counselling approach.     

WOMEN'S GROWING ROLE IN CONTEMPORARY JAPAN

This paper discusses the ongoing changes in socio-cultural values regarding women in business and industrial infrastructure accruing from the emerging womenpower in contemporary Japan. Women are becoming an important part of corporate culture. Their role in political life is also increasing. The mass media programmes are frequently targeted to female audiences. In contrast, the fate of men, especially that of husbands, seems to be getting increasingly obscure in contemporary Japanese society. From the perspective of work organizations, a true picture of ongoing changes in socio-cultural values regarding women and in the infrastructure accrued from the emerging womenpower in Japan deserves future research attention.