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.

[Importance of stressful events moderates dispositional optimism, pessimism and coping strategies].

Prior research has reported that dispositional optimists tend to take approach-type coping strategies in response to health threats, and as a result, experience positive health benefits. This study investigated whether dispositional optimism or pessimism interacted with the importance that a participant assigned to stressful events to predict their coping behavior. College students (N = 178) participated in the study. The results indicated that the importance participants assigned to stressful events moderated the relationship between dispositional optimism and positive interpretations, as well as the relationship between dispositional pessimism and positive interpretations, abandonment, and avoiding of responsibility. It was concluded that optimistic individuals used positive interpretations for highly important events but not for less- important events. Moreover, less pessimistic individuals also used positive interpretations for highly significant events, and did not use abandonment or avoidance of responsibility; there was no such relationship with less- important events. These findings suggest that individuals high in optimism and low in pessimism are flexible, which plays a valuable role in their self-regulatory behavior.

[Knowledge of results and self-estimates of motions in motor learning using a coordination motor task].

The effect of knowledge about the results of movements (KR) and self-estimates about such results were investigated. In a 2x2 factorial design, participants (N=61) first practiced a coordination motor task. Then they either estimated or did not estimate the results of previous movements they made. During acquisition, participants were provided KR either after every response, or after every third response. A no-KR retention test revealed an interaction between KR frequencies and self-estimates about the results of movements. When participants did not estimate the results of movements made during acquisition, retention was enhanced in the low KR frequency condition, compared to the high KR frequency condition. However, when participants did estimate the results of movements, high KR enhanced retention more than low KR.

[Development of the Japanese Optimism and Pessimism Scale: reliability and validity].

This study reports about the construction of a bidimensional measure of optimism and pessimism (defined as positive and negative outcome expectancies), called the Japanese Optimism and Pessimism Scale (J-OPS), and examines its reliability and validity. The participants were college students. The results revealed the following: (a) the J-OPS had sufficient reliability and validity, (b) optimism and pessimism were bidimensional in structure, (c) the general pattern of correlations with external criteria of psychological well-being (positive and negative affectivity). After controlling for optimism and pessimism respectively, it indicated that these two constructs were partially independent of each other. Namely, optimism, but not pessimism, was found to be a consistent predictor of positive affectivity (psychological well-being), whereas pessimism, but not optimism, was found to be a predictor of negative affectivity (psychological distress).

[Are positive illusions adaptive?: self- and other-rating].

The present study investigated the relationship between children's overly positive self-perceptions of their own social competence and mental health. Elementary school students (grades fourth to sixth, n=331) and their homeroom teachers (n=9) participated in the study. The positive illusion was measured by the difference between the self-rating and the other (homeroom teachers) -rating. And, the index of mental health was administered in both self-rating and other (homeroom teachers and same-sex classmates) -rating forms. Positive illusions about children's social competence were positively related to self-ratings of mental health. However, the present study also found detrimental effects of such positive illusions. Children with excessively positive views of their social competence were viewed by teachers and same-sex classmates as significantly more aggressive than those children who showed more evidence of self-devaluation. In addition, children with overly positive self-perceptions were not as accepted by same-sex classmates.

[Perceptions of self and relationship in problem solving situations: the influence of the differences for the tasks].

The purpose of this study was to examine how the differences of task influenced the perceptions of self and their relationship in problem solving situation, and to study the relation between self and their relationship. The participants were 64 college students. Two same-sex students made a pair and were engaged to solve the task together. After pairs solved the task, they completed the questionnaire. Pairs were randomly divided into one of two experimental conditions. In the "ability task" condition, pairs solved the logical task, and pairs of the "interpersonal relations task" condition solved the task concerning interpersonal relations. The results indicated that the self and their relationship were perceived differently between the two conditions of tasks.

Early acral melanoma in situ: correlation between the parallel ridge pattern on dermoscopy and microscopic features.

In non-white populations, acral skin is the most prevalent site of malignant melanoma. Early melanomas of this anatomic site are often misdiagnosed as melanocytic nevi, which are not uncommon on acral skin. In fact, clinical and/or histopathological features of melanocytic nevi occasionally mimic those of early acral melanoma and vice versa, and thus differentiation of early acral melanoma from melanocytic nevus is sometimes very difficult for clinicians as well as for histopathologists. Our dermoscopic investigation has revealed that the parallel ridge pattern, a band-like pigmentation on the ridges of the skin markings, is highly specific to malignant melanoma in situ on acral volar skin. In the present study, we reviewed 22 acral melanocytic lesions that showed the parallel ridge pattern on dermoscopy but had very subtle clinical and/or histopathological presentations. We diagnosed 20 of them as early melanoma in situ by careful histopathological examination, which revealed histopathological features very similar to those seen in macular portions of overt acral melanoma, but fundamentally different from features found in melanocytic nevi on acral skin. In correspondence with their dermoscopic pattern, in these early lesions of acral melanomas, proliferation of solitary arranged melanocytes was mainly detected in the crista profunda intermedia, the epidermal rete ridge underlying the ridge of the skin marking. The two remaining lesions were diagnosed as possible cases of acquired melanocytic nevus because of the formation of well-demarcated nests of melanocytes in the epidermal rete ridges. We propose that a finding of preferential proliferation of solitary arranged melanocytes in the crista profunda intermedia is an important clue for the histopathological diagnosis of early phases of acral melanoma.

[Comparison with friends, closeness of friendship, and academic achievement and perceived academic competence of junior high school students].

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence friends had on academic competence of children. Junior high school students, 322 in total, participated in the study. Results essentially replicated previous studies on the relationship between academic achievement and perceived academic competence, and it was positive. The present study also found that when the friendship was close and reciprocal, the achievement-competence relationship was strong if the friend's achievement was low, and weak if it was high. In contrast, children's perception of academic competence was not influenced if the comparison of academic achievement was made with a friend who was not very close.