Mental Contrasting Strategies Promote the Pursuit of Difficult Goals: Japanese Cultural Context.

We examined whether mental contrasting inhibits the pursuit of difficult goals in an Eastern culture-Japan-rooted in self-improvement. Our pilot study found that, compared with American participants, Japanese participants did not perceive a difficult situation as a cue to abandon their goal and pursue alternative objectives. Studies 1a-1c found that mental contrasting encouraged Japanese participants to pursue difficult goals. When Japanese participants perceived their own goals as unattainable, they were more likely to pursue these goals if they mentally contrasted their desired future with the inhibiting reality than if they simply imagined their desired future. Study 2 showed that mental contrasting encouraged Japanese (but not American) participants to pursue difficult goals. Study 3 evidenced the causal effect of beliefs about difficulties on the impact of mental contrasting on motivation to pursue difficult goals. Culturally formed beliefs about difficulties underlie the effect of mental contrasting on difficult goal pursuit.

Goal Length (Short or Long Term) Interacts with Goal Scheduling Strategy (Clock Time or Event Time) for Optimal Achievement.

There are two strategies for scheduling personal goals: (i) clock-time, based on time passage; and (ii) event-time, based on the progress made. Neither strategy is always superior to the other; rather it is necessary to consider the environment and other conditions such as whether the goal is long or short term. We focused on goal lengthas an important factor for determining the best scheduling strategy, hypothesizing that clock-time and event-time strategies would differentially activate higher performance for long-term and short-term goals, respectively. Thus, we conducted a two-part laboratory experiment (Part 1: n = 63, Part 2: n = 86 ) in which we manipulated both goal length and scheduling strategy. Subsequently, we examined the effects of each combination of goal length and scheduling strategy on task performance (i.e., completion of a mathematical problem). Although our two studies were designed identically in most respects, they differed in the number of task problems, task time limits, and question content. Our data supported our hypothesis that clock-time scheduling was optimal for long-term goals while event-time scheduling was optimal for short-term goals.

Can Regulatory Fit Improve Elementary School Students' Performance? Effects of Different Types of Regulatory Fit.

Previous studies have demonstrated the effect of regulatory fit on Japanese elementary school students (aged 9-12 years). The hypotheses were that promotion focused students tend to show good performance related to speed when they use an eager manner; on the other hand, prevention focused students tend to show good performance related to accuracy when they use a vigilant manner. In Study 1, the class teacher assessed their student's regulatory focus and then manipulated the students' manner of solving a calculation task by asking the students to engage speedily so that they solve many tasks in eager manner condition, or accurately so that they can avoid making errors in the vigilant manner condition. The results indicated that students with a promotion focus tended to solve more tasks in the eager manner condition. In addition, the same result was replicated in Study 2. These combined results suggest that regulatory fit is experienced not only by adults but also by young children. Moreover, the influence of regulatory fit depended on the type of regulatory fit. It is suggested that regulatory fit theory could be applied to educational settings to efficiently enhance the performance of students.

Unpredictable Changes: Different Effects of Derailment on Well-Being Between North American and East Asian Samples.

Some individuals experience the feeling that they have become a person they had not anticipated. The life path they had expected to take is not consonant with the one they are taking in reality. This perception of "off-course" in identity and self-direction is referred to as derailment. Although previous studies have postulated and demonstrated that derailment causes a low level of well-being, no studies have examined its existence and effect across cultures. We hypothesized that East Asians (Japanese) are less vulnerable to feeling derailed than North Americans (Canadians/Americans), and that those Japanese who feel derailed do not necessarily experience long-term damage to their well-being. Two correlational studies and one longitudinal study with a one-year interval supported these hypotheses and also demonstrated metric invariance of the Derailment Scale between countries. We discuss that these findings may be explained by East Asian's dialectical thinking, in which the perception of one's life direction is flexible. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at (10.1007/s10902-021-00375-4).

Identifying Positive Features of the Sadness Prototype.

Sadness, an emotional experience of daily life, is typically associated with negative experiences such as the loss of a loved one. However, sadness also has an adaptive function, as it can help us respond appropriately to environmental demands. While previous research has revealed positive functions of sadness, it is unclear whether laypeople recognize any positive aspects of sadness. In the present three-part study, we aimed to identify whether laypeople conceptualize any positive features of sadness. In Part 1, we asked Japanese participants (n = 122) to describe the features of "sadness," and their responses revealed 37 different sadness features, some of which were assumed to be positive aspects (e.g., meaning making). In Part 2, we asked a second group of Japanese participants (n = 140) to rate the centrality of each previously named feature, and we then classified the features into either central or peripheral sadness features. At this point, participants reported positive aspects of sadness (e.g., co-occurrence of positive emotion). To confirm the differences between central and peripheral features, in Part 3 we examined automatic responses toward these features from a third group of Japanese participants (n = 91) and demonstrated the relationship between the concept of sadness and its characteristic features. We presented these participants with a subset of the features of sadness and then asked them to complete a recall and recognition task. As expected, they recalled central features more often than peripheral features of sadness, and they generated false recognitions to central features. In conclusion, this three-part study indicated that there are positive features related to the function of sadness that laypeople can identify in their mental lexicon.