Junko Toyosawa

This study examined the conceptual structure and motivational effects of growth mindsets based on the perspective of character strengths. An internet survey was conducted with 1,000 workers (500 males and 500 females; age range 20–59 years, M = 40.1 years, SD = 10.7 years). Participants were presented with 25 strengths (i.e., intelligence and 24 character strengths) and were asked to rate their perceived competence, growth mindset, and improvement intention for each strength. The exploratory factor analyses on perceived competence, growth mindset, and improvement intention identified five common factors: wisdom, willpower, temperance, transcendence, and groupness. Moreover, regression analyses indicated that a growth mindset was more strongly related to improvement intention than perceived competence. Furthermore, regression analyses found domain-specific effects of growth mindsets on improvement intention. Thus, the intention to improve a particular strength was more closely related to that particular growth mindset than to other growth mindsets. The theoretical and educational implications are aired in the discussion section.

Grit refers to a non-cognitive trait that is characterized by perseverance and passion for long-term goals. In this study, we developed a Japanese version of the Grit Scale and examined its reliability and validity. A confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the Japanese version of the Grit Scale had two factors corresponding to the original version (study 1, 2, and 3). The results indicated that the scale has high reliability (study 1 and 3). Grit was positively correlated with conscientiousness (study 2 and 3) and self-control (study 3). Nonetheless, grit demonstrated predictive validity of longitudinal persistence and success measures over conscientiousness, self-control, and intellectual ability (study 3). These results are consistent with previous studies and support the reliability and validity of the Japanese version of the Grit Scale.

<p>  In the present study, education on emergency responding after disasters was conducted at 2 elementary schools, in order to teach the students how to predict risks and how to respond in crises. The participants, 281 second graders, studied with multimedia teaching materials which included information about possible dangers when an earthquake occurs in their everyday life, such as on their way to school or while they were sleeping, and ways to protect themselves after disasters. Together with their guardians, they completed homework assignments that considered possible risks when disasters occur when they are on their way to school or in their sleeping area. Because of the young age of the participants, both numerical subjective ratings and free descriptions were evaluated. The results generally confirmed that the children had learned from this experience. The discussion deals with the importance of children learning not only possible dangers relating to disasters, but also ways to protect themselves, and with the importance of learning in cooperation with their guardians.</p>

This study applied life history theory to eating behavior and examined the relationship between SES (Socio-Economic Status) and impulsiveness toward discounted food. Five hundred web-survey participants answered a questionnaire about impulsiveness toward discounted food, SES (childhood SES, current SES, food-specific poverty experience), cognition of discounted food (health effects, taste, attraction, limitations), and demographic factors (sex, age, household income). The result of hierarchical multiple regression analysis showed that childhood SES, food-specific poverty experience, attraction, limitations, and sex had an effect on impulsiveness toward discounted food. In addition, participants who experienced food-specific poverty had negative cognition regarding health effects, taste, and attraction, but nevertheless purchased discounted food impulsively. The necessity to verify the validity of the measurement of childhood SES and the effectiveness of intervening in negative beliefs were discussed.

This study examined the relationship between speed and accuracy in police calls for service, verbal behavior (listener, communicator), and communication structure (adjacency pairs, turn-taking). Forty participants were randomly assigned to either the role of reporter or police officer, and asked to communicate based on a scenario of snatching by using the mobile phone. The results showed that verbal behavior were positively correlated with accuracy and negatively correlated with speed. Communication structure were positively correlated with accuracy and not correlated with speed. However, adjacency pairs were positively related with speed accuracy. The way of intervention to facilitate forming adjacency pairs was discussed.

This study examined the effect of educational intervention on ability of self-control. Ten participants in a correspondence upper secondary school took a class about ability of self-control and were asked to engage self-control training that they straighten themselves up for two months. Before and after the training, the participants were asked to indicate intentions of eight types of self-control behaviors. Result indicated that post rating of self-control intention was higher than pre rating of it. Moreover, there found positive correlation between amount of training and increase of self-control intention. These results suggest a possibility that longitudinal training of self-control may be effective in increase of the intentions of self-control behaviors.

The present study examined, in the context of fear-appeal research, effects of disaster education for elementary school children on their affect and cognition, as well as on the children's guardians' disaster preparedness actions. Fifth and sixth graders (N=135) completed questionnaires just prior to disaster education, just after disaster education, and 3 months afterwards. At all administrations of the questionnaires, items dealt with fear of earthquakes, perceived susceptibility to threats, perceived severity of threats, and perceived response efficacy. In addition, just after the disaster education, questions were asked about perceived self-efficacy toward their guardians and the students' intention to talk about the content of the disaster education with their guardians. In the 3-month follow-up, questions were added about actual transmission of the content of the disaster education and their guardians' actual disaster preparedness actions. The results showed that just after the disaster education, the children's affect and cognition were heightened, but at the 3-month follow-up, their affect and cognition were found to have returned to the pre-training level. Furthermore, heightened fear and perceived self-efficacy heightened the children's intention to talk with their guardians, heightened intentions facilitated actual transmission, and facilitated transmission promoted the guardians' actual disaster preparedness actions.

This study examined the effect of orthography (kanji, kana, and alphabet) on the usage of recognition heuristic, in the context of ecological rationality research. Forty-five students participated and performed the task consisted' of randomly drawn two-alternative questions about population sizes of the 20 largest Chinese cities, except Beijing and Shanghai. It was found that kanji and kana tasks led to the usage of recognition heuristic more than alphabet task. Furthermore, judgments in kanji and kana tasks were more accurate than in alphabet task. These results suggested that the usage of recognition heuristic was facilitated when it increased judgment accuracy, and that recognition heuristic had ecological rationality.

This study examined the effects of need for "richness in life" on the need for residential environment. Two-hundred and fifty house wives participated in the study and answered the questions to assess the important conditions for enabling "richness in life" and requirement for residential environment to enable the richness in life. A factor analysis for the enabling conditions of richness revealed the seven-factor structure (richness in family relationship and well-being, abundance of material resource, stability and prosperity of work, good interpersonal relations, luxury, and fashionable life style), thus suggested the complexity of the conception for richness. Furthermore, a structural equation analysis revealed that the factors representing the materialistic aspect of richness increase the need for exterior and amplitude of the housing, whereas the factors representing the interpersonal aspect of richness increase the need for the conditions of residential locations. Discussion argued that future studies should include the variables to account for the way people actualize the psychological need for "richness in life" by adopting certain requirements in residential environment.

This study adopted the perspective of CEST (Epstein, 1994), and examined whether the Japanese version of REI (Naito, Sakamoto, and Suzuki, 2000), which measures rational and experiential thinking styles, was related to performance in a ratio-bias paradigm (Study 1), and the Linda problem (Study 2). Study 1 revealed that rational thinking style was inversely related to nonoptimal responses in the ratio-bias paradigm, while experiential thinking style was unrelated to it. These results were consistent with the results of Pacini and Epstein (1999). Study 1 also suggested the possibility that the ratio-bias paradigm was not adequate for identifying the function of the experiential system. Study 2 revealed that rational thinking style was inversely related to nonoptimal response in the Linda problem, while experiential thinking style was positively related. These results demonstated the utility of the Japanese version of REI for examining individual differences on judgment, as well as the necessity of using a task which can clearly identify the functions of both systems.

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether leisure activities influence on the cognitive functions in middle aged and elderly people. Eight hundred and twenty rural community residents (age ranged from 39 to 88) participated in the study. They answered a questionnaire regarding 28 leisure activities, (e.g., walking, gardening, handicrafts, and reading) and subjects rated the frequency of the leisure activities on the rating scales ranged from 1 (almost never) to 5 (more than once a week). Five hundred and two of them participated in cognitive tests with their consent. The cognitive tests consisted of 3 kinds of letter fluency tests (Ito et al. 2002), digit cancellation tests (Hatta et al. 2001), and tests of immediate and delayed recall of a 25 word-sentence (Wechsler's Memory Scale). A factor analysis was conducted to explore the interrelationship among leisure activities and correlational analyses were also conducted to examine the relations between leisure activities and cognitive functions that reflect the activities of the prefrontal area. There were positive correlations between some leisure activities (watching video-tapes, listening to music, reading, visiting art galleries, flower arrangement, tea ceremony, calligraphy, traveling, driving) and the cognitive functions. It was suggested that some leisure activities could improve the cognitive functions.