Kenichi Ito

The Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) is a widely used self-report measure of life satisfaction. Across four high-powered samples (total N = 14,913; age 18-79 years), we examined the construct validity of the Japanese version of the SWLS. The SWLS formed a single factor, with a mean score of 17.52. The SWLS achieved full strict measurement invariance across gender, age, and regional groups, while the scale showed partial strict measurement invariance across translated versions. Internal consistency coefficients of the SWLS were .90 or higher, and six-week test-retest reliability coefficients of the scale were .80 or higher. SWLS scores were strongly correlated with neuroticism, self-esteem, and spouse-report SWLS scores, moderately correlated with extraversion, openness, and conscientiousness, and weakly correlated with agreeableness (rs = .19-.59). Our findings not only increase confidence in previous work using the measure but also encourage further research on Japanese life satisfaction.

Crying is an intense emotional expression that can shape important workplace outcomes such as coworker relationships and performance evaluations. However, research on perceptions of employees who cry at work has focused on a limited set of features (e.g., competence), resulting in other potentially relevant ones (e.g., being sensitive) being understudied. Existing literature also suggests that some features may be attributed to criers more quickly than others, although this has not been directly examined. To address these gaps, we conducted three studies with full-time employees to investigate whether perceptions of workplace criers are prototypically organized with a broad range of features that vary in representativeness. In Study 1 (n = 163), participants listed their perceptions of workplace criers, generating 51 overarching features that varied in frequency of mention. These features included commonly studied traits (e.g., competence, warmth) and less studied ones (e.g., being stressed). In Study 2 (n = 97), a separate sample rated how strongly the features from Study 1 represented workplace criers. Results unravelled clear differences in prototypicality: features such as “Stressed” and “Sensitive” were rated as highly representative, while others such as “Incompetent” and “Unmotivated” were less representative. Prototypicality ratings were also positively associated with the feature frequencies obtained in Study 1. Lastly, participants in Study 3 (n = 162) completed a reaction time task and were faster to confirm central features and reject peripheral ones. Together, these findings demonstrate that perceptions of workplace criers are extensive and prototypically structured, offering insights into how crying shapes interpersonal perceptions at work.

Past investigations into the temporal trends of environmental concern (EC) yielded varying results across different time spans and nations, highlighting the need for nation‐specific studies with extended time frames. Using data from Google Ngram Viewer, this pre‐registered study examined the temporal trends and influencing factors of EC as reflected in books published in the United States and China—the world's two largest greenhouse gas emitters—between 1945 and 2019. The findings revealed distinct patterns between the two countries. In the United States, EC rose sharply in the 1960s, peaked in the 1990s, and declined steeply thereafter, with local environmental problems emerging as the most stable predictor of this trend. In contrast, in China, EC has steadily increased since the 1980s, potentially driven by both local and global environmental problems as well as post‐materialist values. These findings highlight that while EC trends and their potential determinants share commonalities across nations, they also exhibit unique characteristics. This underscores the importance of considering each society's distinct socio‐historical context when examining the evolution of EC.

People grapple with the reality that their individual actions are too insignificant to impact climate change—a phenomenon known as personal climate response inefficacy. The compensatory control theory articulates that people may turn to overarching social institutions or ideologies (e.g., conservatism) when they lack personal control. Inspired by this theory, the present research explored whether individuals experiencing personal climate response inefficacy are more likely to embrace political conservatism. Study 1 analyzed data from the European Social Survey ( N = 44,387) and provided preliminary evidence of a positive association between personal climate response inefficacy and political conservatism. Study 2 utilized four‐wave longitudinal data from 1008 American participants and identified a consistent within‐person cross‐lagged effect, where personal climate response inefficacy predicted increased political conservatism over time. Both studies ruled out the potential conflating effect of the perceived threat of climate change. Study 3 collected cross‐sectional data from 270 Americans and replicated the major findings while controlling for the potential confounding effect of general self‐efficacy. Study 4 ( N = 261) manipulated personal climate response inefficacy yet only provided partial supportive evidence for our main findings. These pieces of evidence suggest that psychological processes specific to climate change can have spillover effects on other domains.

Egoistic value is conceptualized as anti‐environmental in many environmental value theories, yet contradictory evidence exists for its relation with pro‐environmental attitude and behaviour. To provide insights into these inconsistent findings, this research examined the moderating role of the psychological distance of environmental problems on their relationship. Across one cross‐sectional survey study (1008 community participants from the United States) and one World Values Survey study (66,704 nationally representative participants from 46 countries/regions), results converged in showing that psychological distance of environmental problems (i.e. climate change and local pollution) moderated the relationship between egoistic value and pro‐environmental attitude and behaviour. Their association became more positive as that psychological distance got closer. Different patterns were observed for altruistic and biospheric values. These findings highlight the potential pro‐environmental utility of egoistic value and the importance of paying attention to contexts when theorizing its relation with pro‐environmental attitude and behaviour.

Visible tears have been shown to enhance the perception of sadness. Whether the sadness perception from visible tears can occur automatically, which is essential for the rapid identification of emotional cues in real‐life social interactions, is still unclear. We employed the reaction‐time‐based Implicit Association Test (IAT) to assess the implicit association of tears and sadness in two studies. Study 1 ( N  = 58) used sadness/non‐sadness or negative/positive affect words as attribute pairs and images of tearless or tearful neutral expressions as targeted concepts. In Study 2 ( N  = 54), the neutral expressions were replaced with anger, disgust, fear, surprise, and happiness expressions with or without tears. Both studies revealed a strong tendency among participants to implicitly associate tears with sadness and negative affect. The results complemented findings from self‐report measures by showing that the perception of sadness from visible tears can occur efficiently with little control.