Decision making processes based on social conventional rules in early adolescents with and without autism spectrum disorders.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by problems with reciprocal social interaction, repetitive behaviours/narrow interests, and impairments in the social cognition and emotional processing necessary for intention-based moral judgements. The aim of this study was to examine the information used by early adolescents with and without ASD when they judge story protagonists as good or bad. We predicted that adolescents with ASD would use protagonists' behaviour, while typically developing (TD) adolescents would use protagonists' characteristics when making the judgements. In Experiment 1, we measured sentence by sentence reading times and percentages for good or bad judgements. In Experiment 2, two story protagonists were presented and the participants determined which protagonist was better or worse. Experiment 1 results showed that the adolescents with ASD used protagonist behaviours and outcomes, whereas the TD adolescents used protagonist characteristics, behaviours, and outcomes. In Experiment 2, TD adolescents used characteristics information when making "bad" judgements. Taken together, in situations in which participants cannot go back and assess (Experiment 1), and in comparable situations in which all information is available (Experiment 2), adolescents with ASD do not rely on information about individual characteristics when making moral judgements.

[Emotional competence in the multiple intelligences theory from the perspective of laypersons].

Emotional competence has recently, become a widespread concern in schools and workplaces, both which deeplyinvolve laypersons. While academic researchers have discussed the status of emotional competence comparedto the traditional intelligence, it is very important to elucidate how laypersons regard emotional competencecompared to traditional intelligence as well. The present study investigated the position of emotional competencein the multiple intelligences theory by assessing laypersons' self-estimates of their abilities and their rating ofthe importance of emotional competence for thriving in society. Participants (N = 584) answered a questionnaireonline. Results showed that laypersons regarded emotional competence as a distinct construct, and most stronglyrelated it to personal intelligence. Moreover, their ratings of the importance of emotional competence and personalintelligence for thriving in society were higher than that of traditional intelligence.

Can We Apply an Emotional Competence Measure to an Eastern Population? Psychometric Properties of the Profile of Emotional Competence in a Japanese Population.

Researchers have repeatedly argued that it is important to determine whether the psychometric properties of an emotional competence measure hold in Eastern populations because there may be cultural variability in abilities linked with emotional competence. However, few studies have examined potential differences in an emotional competence measure in Eastern cultures. To fill this gap, we investigated the applicability of the Profile of Emotional Competence to a Japanese population. Results demonstrated measurement and structural invariance across our Japanese and the original Belgian data sets. As was found in the Belgian sample, this measure showed adequate convergent and criterion validity in the Japanese sample. Furthermore, the scores on this measure were stronger predictors of subjective health and happiness in the Japanese than Belgian population. This measure also showed incremental validity. Our results suggest that the Profile of Emotional Competence is applicable to the Japanese population, an Eastern society.

[Development of a Japanese version of a short form of the Profile of Emotional Competence].

Emotional competence refers to individual differences in the ability to appropriately identity, understand, express, regulate, and utilize one's own emotions and those of others. This study developed a Japanese version of a short form of the Profile of Emotional Competence, a measure that allows the comprehensive assessment of intra- and interpersonal emotional competence with shorter items, and investigated its reliability and validity. In Study 1, we selected items for a short version and compared it with the full scale in terms of scores, internal consistency, and validity. In Study 2, we examined the short form's test-retest reliability. Results supported the original two-factor model and the measure had adequate reliability and validity. We discuss the construct validity and practical applicability of the short form of the Profile of Emotional Competence.

Digging deeper into the link between socio-cognitive ability and social relationships.

In this commentary on 'Friendlessness and theory of mind: A prospective longitudinal study' by Fink, Begeer, Peterson, Slaughter, and de Rosnay (Brit. J. Dev. Psychol, 2015; 33, 1-17) we reconsider the link between early mastery of theory of mind (ToM) and social relationships by focusing on connections with other related areas of socio-cognitive ability such as emotional competence, ToM development across age, and the effect of interventions.

Role-play facilitates children's mindreading of those with atypical color perception.

The present study examined the effects of role-play experience on children's mindreading ability. Forty-one primary school children (20 boys, 21 girls, mean age: 9.37 years, range: 8-11 years) were introduced to a communication task in which the use of mindreading was essential. During each trial, participants viewed a shelf, presented on a laptop, which contained several familiar objects, and they were instructed to touch an object on the shelf following an order issued by a "manager" who stood at the opposite side of the shelf. There were two managers: one was a monkey manager with normal color vision, and the other was a dog manager with restricted color vision. The monkey manager could see all the objects in the same colors as the participants, whereas the dog manager saw some objects in different colors. Participants were required to respond according to the manager's instruction. In the restricted color vision condition, the dog manager saw the colors of objects differently; thus, participants had to work out his intentions, according to his different perspective. In the normal color vision condition, all objects were in the same colors as those seen by the monkey manager. Before the test phase, participants in the role-play group were provided a role-play experience in which they assumed the role of the dog manager with restricted color vision. The experimental data were analyzed using a 2 × 2 mixed-design ANOVA (role-play condition × communication partner condition) to examine differences in the error rate. Both main effects and its interaction were significant. According to the post-hoc analyses, participants in the no-role-play condition made significantly more errors in the restricted color vision condition than in the normal color vision condition, whereas no such difference was found among participants in the role-play condition. These results suggest that role-play experience could facilitate mindreading of characters with restricted color vision.

The relationship between trait emotional intelligence and interaction with ostracized others' retaliation.

BACKGROUND: Regulation of emotions in others is distinct from other activities related to trait emotional intelligence in that only such behavior can directly change other people's psychological states. Although emotional intelligence has generally been associated with prosociality, emotionally intelligent people may manipulate others' behaviors to suit their own interests using high-level capabilities to read and manage the emotions of others. This study investigated how trait emotional intelligence was related to interacting with ostracized others who attempt retaliation. METHOD: We experimentally manipulated whether two people were simultaneously ostracized or not by using an online ball-tossing game called Cyberball. Eighty university students participated in Cyberball for manipulating ostracism and a "recommendation game," a variation of the ultimatum game for assessing how to interact with others who attempt retaliation, with four participants. After the recommendation game, participants rated their intention to retaliate during the game. RESULTS: People with higher interpersonal emotional intelligence were more likely to recommend that the ostracized other should inhibit retaliation and maximize additional rewards when they have a weaker intention to retaliate. However, they were more likely to recommend that the ostracized other should retaliate against the ostracizers when they have a stronger intention to retaliate. CONCLUSION: This is the first laboratory study that empirically reveals that people with high interpersonal emotional intelligence influence others' emotions based on their own goals contrary to the general view. Trait emotional intelligence itself is neither positive nor negative, but it can facilitate interpersonal behaviors for achieving goals. Our study offers valuable contributions for the refinement of the trait emotional intelligence concept in the respect of its social function.

Role-play experience facilitates reading the mind of individuals with different perception.

The present study examined effects of role-play experience on reading the mind of people with different perception. It is normally difficult but very important in daily life to understand people with different characteristics, including those with restricted color vision. We explored the mechanisms of reading the mind of people with different perception. Forty university students were introduced to a communication task in which the use of mindreading was essential. During each trial, participants viewed a shelf, presented on a laptop computer, which contained several familiar objects, and they were instructed to touch an object on the shelf following an instruction issued by a partner who stood at the opposite side of the shelf. There were two partners: one was a monkey with normal color vision and the other was a dog with restricted color vision. The monkey could see all the objects in the same colors as the participants, whereas the dog saw some objects in different colors (e.g., he saw as yellow objects that the participants saw as red). Participants were required to respond according to the partner's instruction. In the restricted color vision condition, the dog saw the colors of objects differently; thus, participants had to work out his intentions (i.e., mind read), according to his different perspective. In the normal color vision condition, all objects were in the same colors as those seen by the monkey. Before the test phase, the role-play group had a role-play experience in which participants assumed the role of people with restricted color vision. No-role-play participants made significantly more errors in the restricted color vision condition than in the normal color vision condition, whereas among role-play participants, there was no difference between conditions. These results suggest that role-play experience facilitates reading the mind of people with perceptual experiences different from our own.

[Does experience with role play activate "mindreading" in a perspective-taking task?].

This study investigated the development of "mindreading" in young adults. Forty university students were divided into two groups (role-play group and no-role-play group). Then they participated in a perspective-taking task in which the use of mindreading is essential. The participants viewed a computer display of eight familiar objects in different compartments of a wall divider with four rows of four compartments. Some of the compartments were open to see through, while others had back panels and thus which, if any, object was present could only be seen from the participant's side. They were instructed to touch the display corresponding to an object in a compartment in accord with the instructions of a "manager" who stood behind the divider and thus could not see into all of the compartments. The no-role-play group made more errors than the role-play group, and took longer to respond. The effects of role play lasted during five successive task blocks. These results suggest that experience with role play activates mindreading in this perspective-taking task.

[Perceptual and cognitive characteristics of metaphorical pain language].

This study investigated the perceptual and cognitive characteristics of metaphoric and onomatopoeic descriptions of physical pain. Ninety-eight Japanese pain descriptors were identified from previous pain studies and the World Wide Web. Four hundred and thirty-six Japanese undergraduates were asked to indicate for each descriptor: (a) body locations; (b) temporal (duration, interval repetition, and frequency), spatial (movement, depth, area, volume) and magnitude (strength) levels; and (c) ratings on seven semantic differential scales for cognitive evaluation. Correspondent analysis and principal component analysis indicated good correspondence between the perceptual and cognitive characteristics. Cluster analysis revealed that the 98 descriptors fall into eleven clusters that appear to be associated with different underlying metaphors for pain (e.g., the body as a container that experiences pain as the result of damage from an object or weapon). These results are discussed in terms of the relationship between the metaphors people use to describe their pain experience and the potential for bodily-basis conceptualization of pain.

Culture, executive function, and social understanding.

Much of the evidence from the West has shown links between children's developing self-control (executive function), their social experiences, and their social understanding (Carpendale & Lewis, 2006, chapters 5 and 6), across a range of cultures including China. This chapter describes four studies conducted in three Oriental cultures, suggesting that the relationships among social interaction, executive function, and social understanding are different in these cultures, implying that social and executive skills are underpinned by key cultural processes.