2005 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Cultural difference of meta expectation about interpersonal relationship -Comparison between Japan and America-
| Project/Area Number |
15530394
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Social psychology
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| Research Institution | University of Tsukuba |
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Principal Investigator |
YAMAMOTO Mariko University of Tsukuba, Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Science, Professor, 大学院・人間総合科学研究科, 教授 (70166825)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
MIYAMOTO Sousuke Tokiwa University, College of Human Science, Associate Professor, 人間科学部, 助教授 (60292504)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2003 – 2005
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| Keywords | Primary stage of interpersonal relationship / meta expectation / cultural difference |
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| Research Abstract |
It is not difficult to imagine that speed and depth of developing interpersonal relationships depend on the positive or negative expectation that people generally hold for forming friendships. If cultural differences for the expectation about interpersonal relationships exist, they affect intercultural activities. The purpose of this study was to reveal the cultural difference of the image (meta-expectation) for the development of interpersonal relationships.
We conducted mainly two researches. Main purpose of these researches was to reveal the meta-expectation for the relationship toward a person who was a friend of one's friend.
In the first research, we used image scene method called "dinning hall scenario". In this scenario, participants allegedly encountered a person "A", in a dinning hall, who was a friend of respondent's friends but they themselves did not know well eath other. We asked participants how they would behave by using open-ended and close-ended questionnaires. Results showed that compared with Japanese people, more U.S.people wanted to get along with the person "A". On the other hand, Japanese respondents inclined to avoid the person A.
In the second research, we advocated unit and autonomy orientation concepts for interpersonal relationships and tested the scale which measured these concepts. Three factors were extracted from the scale, unit, concern for relationship and autonomy. Among these factors, unit orientation score for U.S.respondents were higher than Japanese respondents. This finding means U.S.people expand their network more actively than Japanese people.
These findings suggest the cultural difference for the meta-expectation of interpersonal relationships between U.S.and Japan. In the future, we hope to clarify the cultural difference in intimate and collapsing process of interpersonal relationships.
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