Cultural grounding of regret: regret in self and interpersonal contexts

The purpose of this study was to explore cultural similarities and differences in regret, focusing on distinctions between interpersonal and self-situations, and between action and inaction regrets. Japanese and American undergraduates were asked to describe regrets experienced in interpersonal and self-situations. We found that both situational and cultural contexts influenced the likelihood of regretting inactions over actions. Participants were more likely to recall inaction regrets in self-situations than in interpersonal situations, and that the likelihood of recalling inaction regrets was more pronounced for Americans than for Japanese. Furthermore, we examined the intensity of the regret. Whereas American students experienced regret as intense as that of Japanese students in self-situations, Japanese students experienced regret more strongly than American students in interpersonal situations. Detailed content analysis also showed that individuals experienced regret in ways consistent with cultural values. The situational and cultural grounding of regret is discussed.     

Should We Aim to Create a Perfect Healthy Utopia? Discussions of Ethical Issues Surrounding the World of Project Itoh’s Harmony

Science and Engineering Ethics - To consider whether or not we should aim to create a perfect healthy utopia on Earth, we focus on the SF novel Harmony (2008), written by Japanese writer Project...     

Subjective and objective measures of quality of life have different predictors for people with schizophrenia

This study investigated the relationship between subjective and objective quality of life and assessed predictors in people with schizophrenia. The study population consisted of 99 stabilized outpatients with schizophrenia (DSM-IV) who had been regularly receiving outpatient treatment at the Department of Psychiatry, The Tokushima University Hospital. Subjective and objective quality of life were estimated using the Schizophrenia Quality of Life Scale and the Quality of Life Scale, respectively. Psychiatric symptoms were also measured with the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale and the Calgary Depression Scale for Schizophrenia. Scores on the Schizophrenia Quality of Life Scale Motivation and Energy scales significantly correlated with the Quality of Life Scale total scores -.40 (p <.001), and with the scores on Interpersonal Relations subscale -.42 (p <.001), Instrumental Role subscale -.28 (p = .005), Intrapsychic Foundations subscale -.39 (p<.001), and Common Objects and Activities subscale -.25 (p =.014). The Schizophrenia Quality of Life Scale Psychosocial scale significantly correlated with only the Quality of Life Scale total score -.20 (p =.05), and there was no significant correlation between the scores on the Schizophrenia Quality of Life Scale Symptoms and Side-effects scales and the Quality of Life Scale. Stepwise regression analyses showed that the Calgary Depression Scale for Schizophrenia score was the most important predictor of each scale of the Schizophrenia Quality of Life Scale, and the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale Negative Symptoms score was the most important predictor of the Quality of Life Scale total score and each subscale. These results suggest that subjective and objective quality of life have different predictors and should be considered as separate and complementary outcome variables.     

Effects of facial expression and gaze direction on approach-avoidance behaviour

Humans must coordinate approach-avoidance behaviours with the social cues that elicit them, such as facial expressions and gaze direction. We hypothesised that when someone is observed looking in a particular direction with a happy expression, the observer would tend to approach that direction, but that when someone is observed looking in a particular direction with a fearful expression, the observer would tend to avoid that direction. Twenty-eight participants viewed stimulus faces with averted gazes and happy or fearful expressions on a computer screen. Participants were asked to grasp (approach) or withdraw from (avoid) a left- or right-hand button depending on the stimulus face's expression. The results were consistent with our hypotheses about avoidance responses, but not with respect to approach responses. Links between social cues and adaptive behaviour are discussed.     

Cultural grounding of regret: Regret in self and interpersonal contexts

The purpose of this study was to explore cultural similarities and differences in regret, focusing on distinctions between interpersonal and self-situations, and between action and inaction regrets. Japanese and American undergraduates were asked to describe regrets experienced in interpersonal and self-situations. We found that both situational and cultural contexts influenced the likelihood of regretting inactions over actions. Participants were more likely to recall inaction regrets in self-situations than in interpersonal situations, and that the likelihood of recalling inaction regrets was more pronounced for Americans than for Japanese. Furthermore, we examined the intensity of the regret. Whereas American students experienced regret as intense as that of Japanese students in self-situations, Japanese students experienced regret more strongly than American students in interpersonal situations. Detailed content analysis also showed that individuals experienced regret in ways consistent with cultural values. The situational and cultural grounding of regret is discussed.     

Sex differences in the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire Brief among Japanese employees and undergraduates: A cross-sectional study

Schizotypal personality may be seen as an indicator predisposition to schizophrenia and psychosis proneness. Schizotypal personality traits behave differently depending on a person’s age and sex, but few studies have examined the causal relationship between age-related sex differences and schizotypal personality traits. The aim of the present study was to examine the relationship between the schizotypal personality and sex in different age groups. In our study, we used the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire Brief (SPQ-B). Participants were 371 college students (107 men) with an age range from 18 to 25 years, and 322 working people (156 men) with an age range of 22–67 years. The results showed that the young adult males in the college student group had tendencies to score higher than females in the same group on the SPQ-B total score and its two subscale scores (the cognitive-perceptual and the interpersonal scores). In the adult sample taken in the working people group, the total score and subscale scores of the SPQ-B did not significantly discriminate male subjects from female subjects. These findings indicate that sex differences of schizotypal personality traits may reflect differential age-related variation.     

Perception of Affordances for Striking Regulates Interpersonal Distance Maneuvers of Intermediate and Expert Players in Kendo Matches

In daily life and in many sports, people must adjust interpersonal distance between themselves and others based on task constraints and goals. For example, in martial arts such as boxing and kendo, players must adjust interpersonal distance before starting or defending strikes. However, it is not clear what players perceive and how players use this perceptual information to maneuver interpersonal distance and start strikes during real matches. We investigated players' perception of affordances and the criteria for perception and behaviors, and how these change with expertise, using real kendo matches as a one-on-one opponent task. Players perceived affordances for striking for themselves and for their opponent based on subtle interpersonal distance changes and clearly switched stepping forward and backward. In addition, players perceived affordances for strike success and entered closer interpersonal distance than the possible striking distance to increase their own striking ability and exited the closer distance to decrease their opponent's striking ability, respectively. Furthermore, expert players stayed in and moved into the critical interpersonal distance more frequently than intermediate players did. Our research indicates a relationship between action-scaled affordance perception of and maneuvers associated with interpersonal distance in one-on-one situations that occur in daily life and in many sports.     

Benefits of negative thinking and negative affect: analyses of answers to an open-ended question by Japanese undergraduates

What are the benefits of negative thinking and negative affect? Although previous studies in evolutionary psychology, social psychology, and clinical psychology have clarified the question, there has been no definitive study asking people directly about the perceived benefits. In the present study, 119 Japanese undergraduates were asked how they recognized the benefits of negative thinking and negative affect. Their answers were analyzed qualitatively. The answers were arranged into 30 smaller categories and 12 superordinate ones. The benefits were divided into "benefits to the self" and "benefits to interpersonal relations". Finally, the conditions necessary for the negative thinking and negative affect being benign, and possible cultural differences, were discussed.     

Cognitions and behavior in asymmetric social dilemmas: a comparison of two cultures

This study investigated whether cognitions and behavior in an asymmetric social dilemma can be predicted by national culture. Results indicated that, as predicted, groups of decision makers from Japan--a collectivist, hierarchical culture-were more cooperative, expected others to be more cooperative, and were more likely to adopt an equal allocation distribution rule to resolve the dilemma than were groups of decision makers from the United States-an individualist, egalitarian culture. An opportunity for communication had a greater impact on expectations of others' behavior in groups of U.S. decision makers than in groups of Japanese decision makers.