Executive function and the strategic formation of "open" social networks

• Project/Area Number: 17K04314
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Social psychology
• Research Institution: Nagoya University
• Principal Investigator: Igarashi Tasuku 名古屋大学, 教育発達科学研究科, 准教授 (90547837)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2022)
• Budget Amount: ¥4,290,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥990,000); Fiscal Year 2020: ¥1,560,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥360,000); Fiscal Year 2019: ¥910,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥210,000); Fiscal Year 2018: ¥650,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥150,000); Fiscal Year 2017: ¥1,170,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥270,000)
• Keywords: 社会的ネットワーク / 実行機能 / 分配課題 / コミュニティ

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, we examined the hypothesis that executive function, a cognitive system that needs to understand different norms and social rules across groups, plays an important role in the strategic formation of "open" social networks. We ran two experiments in undergraduate and crowdsourcing samples and revealed that individuals high in task-switching ability were likely to belong to the greater number of communities, even when controlling for individual factors such as extraversion and self-monitoring tendencies.

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究は、異なるルールを素早く切り替えるための高次認知能力が、規範や文化が異なるコミュニティへの参加を通じて個人の社会的ネットワークを拡大し、「開かれた」社会的ネットワークを構築する上で重要な役割を果たしている可能性を明らかにした。この知見は、ある集団に所属する個人が別の集団に所属する際、他者との対話を円滑に進めるための複雑な認知スキルを活性化している可能性を示唆するものである。

Research Products

• [Int'l Joint Research] メルボルン大学(オーストラリア)
• [Journal Article] Is Mentalizing Essential to Predict Human Network Size? Reexamining the Social Brain Hypothesis From a Social Network Perspective (2022)
  • Author(s): Hirashima Taro、Igarashi Tasuku
  • Journal Title: Letters on Evolutionary Behavioral Science Volume: 13 Issue: 2 Pages: 50-56
  • DOI: 10.5178/lebs.2022.99
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access
• [Journal Article] 孤独感と対人関係の再帰的な構築 (2020)
  • Author(s): 五十嵐祐
  • Journal Title: 心理学評論 Volume: 63 Pages: 403-417
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access
• [Journal Article] Development of the Japanese version of the three-item loneliness scale (2019)
  • Author(s): Igarash, T.
  • Journal Title: BMC Psychology Volume: 7 Issue: 1 Pages: 20-20
  • DOI: 10.1186/s40359-019-0285-0
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] Cognitive flexibility and empathy: Key factors in detecting and adapting to different norms (2023)
  • Author(s): Igarashi, T.
  • Organizer: The 15th Biennial Conference of the Asian Association of Social Psychology
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] Task-switching ability and community switching (2022)
  • Author(s): Tasuku Igarashi, Taro Hirashima
  • Organizer: The 42nd International Social Networks Conference
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] Executive functions and community multiplexity (2020)
  • Author(s): Tasuku Igarashi, Taro Hirashima
  • Organizer: 日本社会心理学会第61回大会
• [Presentation] Loneliness may be contagious, but among the non-lonely: A longitudinal analysis of social influence process in large adolescent friendship networks. (2019)
  • Author(s): Igarashi, T.
  • Organizer: The 4th Australian Social Network Analysis Conference, Adelaide, Australia.
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] Task-switching ability fosters multiple community belonging on social networking service. (2019)
  • Author(s): Igarashi, T., Chen, J., Hayakawa, M., Sawada, G. & Hirashima, T.
  • Organizer: The 13th biennial Asian Association of Social Psychology, Taipei, Taiwan.
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] Are lone wolves more sociable than a wolf pack? (2018)
  • Author(s): Igarashi, T., Tamai, R., Yoshida, T., & Hirashima, T.
  • Organizer: 日本社会心理学会第59回大会
• [Presentation] Stochastic Actor-Oriented Modelを用いた社会的ネットワーク分析 (2018)
  • Author(s): 五十嵐祐
  • Organizer: 第3回計算社会科学研究会
• [Presentation] Generalized trust and generalized social selection processes in social networks. (2017)
  • Author(s): 五十嵐祐・平島太郎
  • Organizer: 日本社会心理学会第58回大会
• [Presentation] Seeking a sense of power or security from personal communities: Motivational basis of community affiliation. (2017)
  • Author(s): 平島太郎・五十嵐祐
  • Organizer: 日本社会心理学会第58回大会
• [Presentation] Chasing stars and confirming alliance: Two effective strategies for learning social network structure. (2017)
  • Author(s): Igarashi, T, Kato, J, Shiraki, Y, Hirashima, T, & Tamai, R.
  • Organizer: The 2nd Australian Social Network Analysis Conference
  • Int'l Joint Research