Reducing negative attitudes toward older adults and increasing advocacy for policies to support older adults: Bayesian analysis approach.

As the world's population is aging, it is necessary to create societies in which older adults and young people can live together comfortably. Reducing young people's negative attitudes toward older adults is a pressing issue. Given the unique characteristics of older adults, which most people will eventually become, we focused on how long people believe it will be before they become older adults (i.e., the subjective time of becoming older). To examine our hypotheses, we performed a Bayesian analysis, which has attracted considerable attention in psychological research in recent years. In Studies 1 and 2, even after controlling for variables such as youth identity and aging anxiety, those with a longer subjective time of becoming older had more negative attitudes toward older adults and lower advocacy for policies to support older adults. In Study 3, we examined the effect of shortening the participants' subjective time of becoming older by presenting an explanatory text on the stereotype embodiment theory and several related empirical findings. We observed decreased negative attitudes toward both the young-old and old-old groups and increased advocacy for policies to support older adults. In the supplemental experiment, the experimental manipulation used in Study 3 reduced participants' aging anxiety. Future studies should elaborate on the negative attitudes toward a broad subgroup of older adults, and examine the perceived relative importance of policies to support older adults compared with policies in other areas.

Anti-old and anti-youth attitudes among older adults: focusing on middle-aged and old age identity.

There is currently a lack of comprehensive scholarly information concerning the attitudes older people hold toward both older adults and the young. Using the social identity theory framework, this study investigated older identity issues including middle-aged identity and old age identity. We conducted an online survey of Japanese older participants (N = 301) and then implemented a Bayesian structural equation modeling to examine whether age and gender predicted middle-aged/old age identity in addition to whether middle-aged/old age identity predicted anti-old/anti-youth attitudes. Results showed the more strongly participants identified with being middle-aged the more positive their attitudes were toward old/young people, while they showed no significant relationship between old age identity and the attitudes. Regarding participant ages, the results found no significant relationship with middle-aged identity but a positive relationship with old age identity. These findings will contribute to psychological research aimed at reducing anti-old/anti-youth attitudes among older adults.11 A part of this study was presented at the 85th Annual Convention of the Japanese Psychological Association.

Influence of Contact Experience and Germ Aversion on Negative Attitudes Toward Older Adults: Role of Youth Identity.

The world's population is currently aging, and the issue of ageism has become serious worldwide, including in Japan. Negative attitudes toward older adults can have undesirable effects on the mental and physical health of this group. We focused on the effects of contact experience with older adults and germ aversion, or the degree of aversion to infection, on negative attitudes toward older adults. Additionally, we included a moderating variable; youth identity, or the sense of belonging with younger rather than older age groups. An online survey was conducted with Japanese participants (N = 603). We conducted multiple regression analyses and the results showed that the interaction effect between youth identity and contact experience on negative attitudes toward older adults was significant. The findings suggest that contact experience may help in reducing negative attitudes toward older adults among people with low youth identity. The interaction effect between youth identity and germ aversion, however, was not significant. Academic research on the effects of some psychological interventions (e.g., intergenerational social exchange) should pay particular attention to the role of youth identity. Future directions for empirical studies are also discussed.

The Social Acceptance of Smart Health Services in Japan.

In recent years, smart health (s-Health) services have gained momentum worldwide. The s-Health services obtain personal information and aim to provide efficient health and medical services based on these data. In Japan, active efforts to implement these services have increased, but there is a lack of social acceptance. This study examined social acceptance concerning various factors such as trust in the city government, perceived benefits, perceived necessity, perceived risk, and concern about interventions for individuals. An online survey was conducted, and Japanese participants (N = 720) were presented with a vignette depicting a typical s-Health service overview. The results of structural equation modeling showed that trust was positively related to perceived benefit and necessity and negatively related to perceived risk and concern about interventions for individuals. Perceived benefit and trust were positively related to social acceptance, and perceived risk was negatively related to acceptance. The model obtained in this study can help implement s-Health services in public. Empirical studies that contribute to improving public health by investigating the social acceptance of s-Health services should be conducted in the future.

For Whom Does Determinism Undermine Moral Responsibility? Surveying the Conditions for Free Will Across Cultures.

Philosophers have long debated whether, if determinism is true, we should hold people morally responsible for their actions since in a deterministic universe, people are arguably not the ultimate source of their actions nor could they have done otherwise if initial conditions and the laws of nature are held fixed. To reveal how non-philosophers ordinarily reason about the conditions for free will, we conducted a cross-cultural and cross-linguistic survey (N = 5,268) spanning twenty countries and sixteen languages. Overall, participants tended to ascribe moral responsibility whether the perpetrator lacked sourcehood or alternate possibilities. However, for American, European, and Middle Eastern participants, being the ultimate source of one's actions promoted perceptions of free will and control as well as ascriptions of blame and punishment. By contrast, being the source of one's actions was not particularly salient to Asian participants. Finally, across cultures, participants exhibiting greater cognitive reflection were more likely to view free will as incompatible with causal determinism. We discuss these findings in light of documented cultural differences in the tendency toward dispositional versus situational attributions.

Attributing Mind to Groups and Their Members on Two Dimensions.

Psychological research has revealed that people attribute mental states to groups such as companies, especially to those groups that are highly entitative. Moreover, attributing a mind to a group results in the decreased attribution of mind to individual group members. Recent research has demonstrated that the minds of others are perceived in two dimensions-agency and experience. The present study investigated the possibility that this two-dimensional structure exists in mind attribution to groups, and group entitativity has different patterns of relations with these dimensions. A vignette experiment revealed that highly entitative groups were attributed both agency and experience to greater degrees compared to non-entitative groups, while group entitativity reduced only the attribution of agency to the individual group members. Individual members were attributed an equivalent amount of experience regardless of group entitativity. Mind attribution to individual members showed an unpredicted third factor of other-recognition, which was positively related to group entitativity. The implications of mind attribution to moral issues were discussed.

Impact of consumer power on consumers' reactions to corporate transgression.

We addressed how individuals' power influences their judgments regarding corporate transgressions. Based on the Situated Focus Theory of Power, which theorizes that powerful people respond more in accordance to circumstantial factors, we tested the interaction of power and the type of corporate discourse offered by the accused company. Across two studies (overall N = 216), we experimentally primed power (Study 1) and manipulated participants' sense of direct control over the company (Study 2). We consistently found an interaction effect of power and corporate discourse on people's negative attitudes toward the company-particularly on the unwillingness to use the company's products. Particularly, high-power individuals were prone to strongly vary their attitudes based on the mitigative/non-mitigative nature of the discourse, while those low in power were unsusceptible to the type of discourse. The results suggest how the potential rise of consumer power in society may critically influence the consumer-corporate relationships following corporate transgressions.

We perceive a mind in a robot when we help it.

People sometimes perceive a mind in inorganic entities like robots. Psychological research has shown that mind perception correlates with moral judgments and that immoral behaviors (i.e., intentional harm) facilitate mind perception toward otherwise mindless victims. We conducted a vignette experiment (N = 129; Mage = 21.8 ± 6.0 years) concerning human-robot interactions and extended previous research's results in two ways. First, mind perception toward the robot was facilitated when it received a benevolent behavior, although only when participants took the perspective of an actor. Second, imagining a benevolent interaction led to more positive attitudes toward the robot, and this effect was mediated by mind perception. These results help predict what people's reactions in future human-robot interactions would be like, and have implications for how to design future social rules about the treatment of robots.

[The effect of participation of the victims in trials on their confidence in the criminal justice system: procedural justice].

To evaluate the effectiveness of the new victim participation systems, we examined whether the use of these systems had an effect on the confidence of the families of victims about the criminal justice system. The results of a questionnaire survey revealed that victims who participated in their criminal court cases had more confidence in the criminal justice system and were more accepting of the court decisions. Moreover, the present study examined the process of victims' confidence in criminal justice based on the value-expressive theory of procedural justice. In particular, the assumption was confirmed that the victims' feelings of expressing opinions resulted in their increased confidence in criminal justice through their confidence in the judges and their acceptance of court decisions.

[Explicit and implicit attitudes toward standard-Japanese and Osaka-dialect language use].

This article examines the effects of language use on explicit and implicit attitudes. We employed the matched-guise technique to measure participants' impressions of standard-Japanese and Osaka-dialect speakers. Implicit attitudes were assessed by the Implicit Association Test (IAT). The Osaka-dialect speaker was evaluated as warmer than the standard-Japanese speaker, suggesting that explicit attitudes toward the Osaka dialect have changed positively. On the other hand, the results for the impression of intelligence were consistent with the previous literature that the standard-Japanese speaker was seen as more intelligent than the Osaka-dialect speaker. Compared with explicit attitudes, the analyses of implicit attitudes revealed that participants showed a consistent implicit bias favoring standard-Japanese language use. The changing processes and relationships of explicit and implicit attitudes were discussed.

[False memories based on indirect associations of gender stereotypes of occupations].

This study examined whether false memories, as revealed by the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm, can arise from indirect stereotype associations, as proposed by Lenton, Blair, and Hastie (2001). We found significant indications of stereotype-evoked false memories. The participants in our experiment reported that they were unaware of the gender theme of the studied list, suggesting that the false memories were due to implicit associative processes. Although we could not replicate an increase in the false recognition of stereotypically gender-congruent occupations, we detected a gender-congruent effect partially by the analyses of the "Remember" responses and the participants' egalitarian attitudes against the gender role. Moreover, analyses of the "Know" responses indicated that participants' attitudes toward gender roles potentially moderate the degree that they form occupational gender stereotypes. Implications of the results for basic/applied research on the interactions between stereotype and memory are discussed.

[Valences of self-evaluation and approach-avoidance tendencies: research based on regulatory focus theory].

Four studies were conducted to investigate the relationship between valences of self-evaluation and approach-avoidance tendencies. Based on regulatory focus theory (Higgins, 1997, 1998), we predicted that positivity of self-evaluation is related to the tendency to approach gains, while negativity of self-evaluation is related to the tendency to avoid losses. In Study 1, a self-report measure of behavioral tendencies for approaching gains and avoiding losses was developed. In Studies 2 to 4, correlations between these approach/avoidance tendencies and various kinds of self-evaluations were examined. Overall, the authors' predictions were supported. The results suggest that the self-evaluation system and the self-regulation system work in close cooperation with each other in controlling human behavior.

[The effect of goal framing on the activation of affective representations].

Guided by regulatory focus theory, this study examined the effects of goal framing on the subjective experience of affect and the accessibility of affective representations. Study I examined lay persons' beliefs concerning the relationship between goal framing and certain kinds of affective experiences. The results indicated that a promotion focus was associated with happiness and disappointment, whereas a prevention focus was associated with relaxation and tension. Study 2 examined the effect of goal framing on the activation of affective representations, and found that a promotion focus activated both gain-related representations (happy and disappointment) and loss-related representations (relaxation and tension), whereas a prevention focus activated only loss-related representations. These results suggest that goal framing activates particular affective representations, and the activated affective representations may influence the interpretation of positive or negative experiences. The discussion considered the function of the activation of affective representations as a mediator between goal framing and its cognitive and behavioral consequences.

[What causes self-control failure in delayed-cost dilemma: the role of affective expectancy and regulatory resource].

Two studies were conducted to examine the effect of affects on self-control behavior in delayed cost dilemma. Results of Study 1 suggested that long term negative affects such as regret and self-disgust might have facilitating effects on motivation of self-control if they were anticipated before delayed-cost dilemma situations, but inhibiting effects on self-efficacy of control when experienced after dilemma situations. Study 2 examined the effect of affect priming on self-control in eating behavior, as well as an interaction effect of anticipated affect and regulatory resource on it. Results indicated that participants who had enough regulatory resource succeeded in self-control, i.e. they ate less, regardless of the type of affect priming, but those who did not have sufficient resource and were not primed with long-term negative affects failed to control their behavior. It was argued that regulatory resource explanation of self-control should be expanded to the theory including anticipated affects.

[Appraisal dimensions of emotions: an empirical integration of the previous findings].

Appraisal theories of emotions assume that the emotions are elicited by the appraisals of events or circumstances along with the several dimensions. However, there are some inconsistencies among the dimensions proposed by various appraisal theories. The purpose of this study was to integrate the appraisal dimensions that were proposed by Scherer, Roseman, and Smith & Ellsworth's theories by empirically investigating the appraisals associated with each emotion. Three hundred seventy-six Japanese participants recalled a past experience associated with one of 13 emotions, and rated the nature of the emotional event along the appraisal dimensions proposed by them. A factor analysis identified eight factors: pleasantness, self/other control, certainty, anticipated effort and attention, novelty, human/situation control, motivational state, and coping potentials. These dimensions were consistently proposed by the appraisal theorists. Moreover the associations between each emotion and its appraisal profiles were mostly consistent with the previous theories except for a few dimensions. Discussion argued that the appraisal dimensions identified in this study adequately capture the important features of major emotions.

[Effect of orthography on the usage of recognition heuristic].

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.

Interpersonal reactions toward depression and anger.

Two studies examined the effect of interpersonal attitude on reactions toward others' expression of anger or depression, Participants read a story in which their schoolmate experienced a negative event and expressed anger or depression, and reported their perceptions, affective reactions, and behavioural intentions such as support or rejection. The results indicated that an expression of anger elicited more negative reactions than an expression of depression only when a person whom participants disliked expressed the emotion. Furthermore, structural equation modelling indicated that the effect of interpersonal attitude on sympathy, blame, and support intention was mediated by the perception of the distressfulness of the event. The discussion considered the processes through which the expression of negative emotions evokes positive or negative interpersonal reactions.

[Identification with an ingroup and a super-ordinate group and support provision toward outgroups: an examination in a simulated society game].

This study examined the determinants of attitudes toward intergroup support. The data was collected from the participants of a simulated society game (SIMINSOC; Hirose, 1997). The global society in the game includes rich and poor regions, and the poor regions need to obtain support from rich regions for survival. One hundred and thirty-two participants were randomly assigned to either rich or poor regions and were engaged in various activities in the game. The level of ingroup identity was manipulated by facilitating group activities in some groups but no in others. Then they answered questions regarding the identification, attributions of responsibility, and attitude toward support provision. The results indicated that the identification toward the ingroup increased attribution bias. Furthermore, the identification toward the global society increased the intent to provide support among those from the rich regions. The discussion considered the importance of including intergroup variables in the attributional approach to support provision.