Roles of deviants in the processes of cultural maintenance

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K03004
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 10010:Social psychology-related
• Research Institution: Shiga University
• Principal Investigator: Takemura Kosuke 滋賀大学, 経済学部, 教授 (20595805)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 清水 裕士 関西学院大学, 社会学部, 教授 (60621604)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 火災 / 感染症 / 文化 / 規範 / コミュニティ

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Safety behaviors are difficult to sustain. People often forget the possibility of future disasters. We investigated responses to two types of threats, fire and infectious diseases, to understand how safety behaviors can be sustained in societies. Our web survey found initial evidence that members of volunteer fire corps, which is a part of a community's effort for fire control, promote non-members' daily safety behaviors. Analyses of archival data (fire statistics) also showed the possibility of fire volunteers' contribution to reducing fire damages. At the same time, it was shown that reduced fire damage related to the reduced number of volunteers some years later, suggesting difficulty to sustain volunteer fire corps. Regarding infectious diseases, results of a web survey suggest that governments promote peoples' health-protecting behaviors by enhancing their expectation of others doing the same behaviors. This was found not only in the East (e.g., Japan) but also in the West.

Free Research Field

社会心理学、文化心理学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

近年、社会・文化心理学は、人間行動の文化的多様性をローカルな環境への適応と見る視座から理解する試みを急速に展開している。ただし、適応的な行動が、どのようにして獲得され、集団内で広がり、そして長期的に維持されるのか、その過程はまだ十分な検討対象となっていない。本研究は、火災と感染症という2種類の脅威への人間の反応に注目したケーススタディである。時系列変化を捉えうるアーカイブデータの分析と、個人の反応を捉えるWEB調査を組み合わせることで、①脅威への対策行動は必ずしも容易に持続しないこと、②対策行動はコミュニティ内の社会関係の中で維持されやすくなることなどが示された。