Effects of personality, cognition, affection, attitude, and information on inappropriate behaviors

2006 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

• Project/Area Number: 15530398
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Social psychology
• Research Institution: University of Tsukuba
• Principal Investigator: UEICHI Hideo University of Tsukuba, Graduate School of Systems and Information Engineering, Assistant Professor, 大学院システム情報工学研究科, 講師 (20334534)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): KUSUMI Takashi Kyoto University, Faculty of Education, Associate Professor, 大学院教育学研究科, 助教授 (70195444)
• Project Period (FY): 2003 – 2006
• Keywords: decision-making / life risks / risk perception / regret / structural equation modeling

Research Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine : 1) the effects of decision-making style (intuitive I deliberate), access to mass media (newspapers, newscasts, and infotainment), cognitive factors (perceived cost and benefit, life-risk perception, moral sense, and risk controllability), affection (anticipated regret), and attitude (facilitatory and inhibitory factors) on avoidance behavior in three life-risk situations (lifestyle-related diseases, NEET, and multiple consumer loans) ; 2) the effects of personality (Five Factor Model : extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness, and neuroticism) on cognitive factors, stress coping, and behavior in an enclosed environment (boat training camp for a month) ; and 3) the effects of information on changes in cognitive factors and behavior in two situations (smoking and illegal copying of music CDs). Results illustrated that : 1) two processes were involved in avoidance behavior of life risks : (1a) perceived cost and benefit (cognitive factor) affected avoidance behavior mediated by attitude in the three life-risk situations investigated, and (1b) moral sense, life risk perception, (cognitive factors) and decision-making style affected avoidance behavior mediated by affection and attitude in two of the situations investigated (NEET and multiple consumer loans) ; 2) individuals with high extroversion, agreeableness, or conscientiousness could properly cope with stress and did not behave inappropriately (for example, take out their frustration on others or drop out of training camp) ; and 3) it was important to present the appropriate information to individuals expressing inappropriate behavior in order to change their cognitions about socially-inappropriate behavior : for example, (3a) by comparing individuals shown a Canadian packet of cigarettes bearing an extreme cautionary statement with individuals shown a Japanese packet of cigarettes bearing a simple cautionary statement, those shown the Canadian package with the more extreme cautionary statement thought more strongly that they could quit smoking cigarettes than those shown the Japanese package, and (3b) After being shown positive information regarding the copy control of CDs, individuals with high moral sense felt more strongly about the need to maintain musical copyrights than those with low moral sense. These results suggest that, in order to change an individual's inappropriate behavior, it is necessary to : 1) present the appropriate information, with consideration to individual differences, and 2) encourage deliberate decision-making.