Despite ongoing controversies regarding possible directions for the nuclear plants program throughout Japan since the Fukushima disaster, little has been researched about people's belief structure about future society and what may affect their attitudes toward different policy options. Beyond policy debates, the present study focused on how people see a future society according to the assumptions of different policy options. A total of 125 students at Japanese universities were asked to compare a future society with society today in which one of alternative policies was adopted (i.e., shutdown or expansion of nuclear reactors) in terms of characteristics of individuals and society in general. While perceived dangerousness of nuclear power predicted attitudes and behavioural intentions to make personal sacrifices for nuclear power policies, beliefs about the social consequences of the policies, especially on economic development and dysfunction, appeared to play stronger roles in predicting those measures. The importance of sociological dimensions in understanding how people perceive the future of society regarding alternative nuclear power policies, and the subtle discrepancies between attitudes and behavioural intentions, are discussed.

Theoretically, a living wage is a threshold that, once crossed, may transform qualities of work life, including from wage injustice to justice, organizational disengagement to commitment, and life dissatisfaction to satisfaction. Initial studies from New Zealand, South Africa and Thailand have found a threshold-like cusp in the relationship between wages and quality-of-work-life. Our aim in this study was to explore whether we would replicate a cusp in a localized study within China, among 135 employees in Shandong Province, Northern China. Survey data used minimal assumption and exploratory techniques to probe links between levels of employees’ (1) take-home wage and (2) net household income; and (3) perceived wage justice, (4) commitment to employing organization, and (5) life satisfaction. Measures were locally aligned and statistically reliable. Consistent with living wage theory, as a participant’s wage tended to cross a pay threshold of (1) RMB 4–5000 personally per month and (2) RMB 7–8000 household monthly, workers tended to report (3) wage justice (in place of injustice), (4) presence (replacing absence) of organizational commitment, and (5) satisfaction with life (replacing dissatisfaction). Our replication aim was met, but generalizing to any kind of national living wage across China would require a larger and more representative study and sample.

Although many studies have focused on how trustees’ particular or single social identity affects their trustworthiness, only one study has revealed that trustees with multiple social identities are judged as more trustworthy than those with a single identity. However, the study could not show how trustworthiness systematically changes with an increasing number of social identities. The present study addressed this issue and further explored in two experiments whether the growth trend of trustworthiness was particular to social identities. Experiment 1 showed that when the number of trustees’ social identities increased, they were judged as more trustworthy. Experiment 2 found that trustees with more social identities were judged as more trustworthy, whereas the amount of trustees’ personal physical information did not have that large effect in facilitating trustworthiness. These results demonstrate the special influence of social identity information on trust or trustworthiness.

This qualitative study highlights the experiences of ten Serbian refugees who migrated to South Australia from former Yugoslavia as a result of the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s. Multiple semi-structured interviews were employed to examine participants' experiences before, during and after the conflicts. Eight stages of the refugee journey were identified: prewar peaceful co-existence, outbreak of war, fleeing towards refuge in Serbian-held territory, realisation that the pre-war life cannot be regained, dissatisfaction with the family's transition situation, decision and application to emigrate, migration and resettlement in Australia, and adaptation to life in Australia. A number of factors were found to influence each stage of the refugee journey (e.g., social, practical and health challenges, age, and negative Serbian stereotypes). From these findings, three adaptation patterns — active integration, passive integration, and segregation — were identified as specific to the participants in the current study.

A company’s emphasis on corporate social responsibility (CSR) signals its concern with benefits for society, whereas a company’s emphasis on corporate ability (CA) signals its expertise in delivering good quality products. Product-harm crises often put companies at serious risk. Would a company’s prior emphasis on CSR versus CA mitigate the potential reputation damage of a product-harm crisis? In an experiment, we found that when a product-harm crisis occurred, having a CSR focus softened the public’s negative evaluation of the focal company, but this protective function of CSR was found only among people who had the lay theory that CSR and CA are compatible. The joint effect of CSR focus and the lay theory was mediated by the tendency to exonerate the focal company for the causal responsibility of the crisis.

The present study looks into the unifying and divisive effects of ethnopolitical and religious social identities, and an emerging superordinate Bangsamoro identity of Muslims in the southern region of the Philippines. We surveyed 394 Muslims with a mean age of 32.6 and standard deviation of 13.3 from the Tausug, Maranao, and Maguindanaoan ethnopolitical affiliations using various measures of social identities. Findings showed that the Muslims in our sample identify themselves more strongly with their religious identity over their ethnopolitical affiliations. Religious identity may thus be a unifying element in the conflict-ridden context of Mindanao, as a significant correlation was also found between their Muslim identity and attitudes toward the superordinate Bangsamoro identity. Qualitative data on the meaning of Bangsamoro were also analysed and revealed that Bangsamoro means a fusion of Mindanao, Islam, and peace/unity. However, data also reveal the divisive effects of ethnic identity. A moderately high overlap was found between their own ethnic identity and the Bangsamoro identity. The Tausugs, the low-power group in the peace talks, showed lesser overlap compared to Maguinanaons, suggesting that ethnopolitical, or what observers of Mindanao conflict have referred to as ‘tribal’ relations, implicates the respondent's perception of a superordinate Bangsamoro identity.

Holland's RIASEC vocational interest typology may not be fully applicable to Chinese populations, and adapting models from Western cultures directly may fail to address important constructs specifically tied to the Chinese cultural background. This study made an exploration into Chinese college students’ vocational interests and built a new self-report vocational interests scale based on Chinese university student samples. In study 1, researchers constructed a self-report vocational interests inventory developed from an item pool based on open-ended questionnaires and previous scales. Nine dimensions were identified through exploratory factor analysis: Artistic, Biotic, Conventional, Expressive, Investigative, Operational, Social, Enterprising, and Adventurous. In study 2, confirmatory factor analysis was employed to test its construct validity, and the indexes indicated good fit. Empirical evidence proved adequate homogeneity reliability and test–retest reliability, as well as sufficient concurrent validity with the Self-Directed Search. Thus, evidence lent support for the psychometrical properties of this scale. This exploratory research may expand our view of cross-cultural, vocational interest theories.

Our study profiles a varying process of the relationship between delay of gratification (DG) and job performance over time and examines the moderating role of perceived organisational justice in the DG-job performance relationship. Employees’ ability to delay gratification was measured during their job interviews (Time 1). When they had worked for 3 months (Time 2), their job performance was rated by their supervisors. When they had worked for 5 months (Time 3), their perception of perceived informational justice was measured. Their job performance was rated again by their supervisors at 6 months (Time 4). The results showed that DG could directly predict new employees’ short-term (3-month) job performance but not their longer-term (6-month) job performance. Moreover, perceived informational justice moderated the relationship between DG and 6-month job performance.

Bastian, Jetten, and Ferris (2014) reported that shared pain enhances people’s bonding and cooperative behavior, but that shared no-pain has no such effect. They concluded that shared pain is a type of social glue that can improve people’s cooperation. However, in real life, both painful and painless experiences are often nonshared. Logically, the most direct way to determine whether sharing is the important element or not is to compare shared conditions with nonshared conditions. We conducted two experiments to investigate the relative effects of pain and sharing on enhancing people’s bonding and cooperative behavior by adding conditions of unshared pain and unshared no-pain. In experiment 1, we replicated Bastian, Jetten, and Ferris’s (2014) findings, and found that the effect of pain on bonding was mediated by empathy. In experiment 2, we used a 2 (pain/no-pain) × 2 (shared/unshared) design and found that while shared pain still induced more cooperative behavior than shared no-pain, unshared pain did not induce more cooperative behavior than unshared no-pain. Moreover, we found that empathy significantly mediated the relationship between pain and bonding when participants shared the experience. These results suggest that sharing is a necessary component for pain to act as social glue.

Social justice icons, like Rosa Parks, Mahatma Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Jr. and César Chávez, known for their tireless, courageous leadership initiating societal changes that have benefited many, lead the way for contemporary professional psychologists. These leaders opened pathways for inclusive principles and practices in education, employment, and political contexts. At the same time, professional leadership on behalf of multicultural and social justice issues in professional organisations and other contexts is known to be challenging. Biases and assumptions, micro-aggressions, and ignorance of experiences with interpersonal oppression are communicated daily. In multiculturally diverse global societies, social justice leadership is in great demand. Psychologists are encouraged to develop multicultural competencies in educational, research, and organisational practices and emulate the social justice icons.

This study examined the role of social support in managing worry among a sample of Malaysian adults. An online questionnaire was completed by 136 participants (age M = 34, SD = 7.65; 71% female, 29% male). Each wrote open-ended, essay-type descriptions of their experiences with social support in relation to worry, as well as completing measures of pathological worry (Penn State Worry Questionnaire), normal worry (Worry Domains Questionnaire), and perceived social support (Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support). Results indicated that young adults experienced a higher degree of normal worry compared to older adults, but pathological worry was not significantly different between the two groups. No significant differences in worry were found in relation to gender, ethnicity or marital status. Perceived social support was negatively related to levels of both normal and pathological worry. Qualitative analyses pointed towards four important roles for social support: providing a sense of belonging and security, providing emotional relief or catharsis, helping to reappraise situations, and facilitating problem-solving and decision-making. The role of social support as a secure base that facilitates emotion management and helps to ground thinking is discussed.

Supporting the application of positive psychology in the workplace, the Shirom Melamed Vigor Scale (SMVS), which assesses vigorous feelings at work, was adapted to the Thai context. The Thai SMVS contains 14 items as in the original scale and was validated using a sample of 585 employed participants in Thailand. Results of a confirmatory factor analysis are consistent with the conceptual model of vigour as consisting of physical strength, cognitive liveliness, and emotional energy, with a suggestion that a 13-item scale can also be used. As expected, vigour has been found to be conceptually distinct from some similar constructs, and independent from job burnout. Vigour also showed unique predictive effects on employees’ health. These results support the previously-proposed conceptual framework of vigour and indicate crucial roles of positive emotion in the work setting. In concordance with a positive organisational psychology approach, applications of the Thai vigor scale are discussed with respect to its potential for enhancing employees’ wellbeing and productivity.

The current research drew upon the resource perspective (Grzywacz & Marks, 2000; ten Brummelhuis & Bakker, 2012) and firstly focused on the reciprocal mediation relationship between schedule control, work interference with family (WIF) and emotional exhaustion. First, the present study proposed that WIF mediates the negative relationship between schedule control and emotional exhaustion, and emotional exhaustion also mediates the negative relationship between schedule control and WIF. Second, family time adequacy was expected to play an amplifying role in the first path of the two mediations. Using a sample of 563 employees and adopting hierarchical linear modelling, the three-wave study first revealed that the emotional exhaustion mediates the relationship between schedule control and WIF while WIF also mediates the schedule control-emotional exhaustion relationship, which demonstrated a reciprocal mediation. Furthermore, the relationship between schedule control and emotional exhaustion, as well as the indirect effects of schedule control on WIF via emotional exhaustion, were stronger for employees with higher family time adequacy. Implications of the findings and future directions are discussed.

Consensus is an essential ingredient for conflict resolution, reconciliation, agreement, and peace in Melanesian societies. The psychological aspects of its positive influence in establishing a common ground between conflicting parties have not been explored. From a psycho-cultural perspective, I focus on the positive dynamism of consensus. I provide the Bougainville crisis within Papua New Guinea as a case vignette to illustrate the utility and significance of consensus in the search for concrete principles to unite a ‘disoriented’ world. In doing so, the issue of incorporating indigenous psychological knowledge into mainstream psychology becomes clearer. The article searches for psychological principles germane to reducing conflict and maintaining peace. This kind of utility is exemplified in a case study of achieving consensus in Papua New Guinea.

Development or transformation can be understood as an active process. The process has confronted and mobilised Maori people since our ancestors departed Hawai'iki to settle Aotearoa-New Zealand. In coming to understand the land the ancestors called ‘Aotearoa’, we changed. And as we changed, our internal and external symbionts and parasites also changed with us. Maori people have endured disease, climatic change, natural disasters, human made disasters, political disasters, economic disasters, educational disasters, and linguistic disasters for nearly two centuries. And as the indigenous people of Aotearoa we continue to be changed by and to change the prevailing assumptions on development (and sustainability) to become healthier and more imaginative people.

Women experience both physical and psychological changes during different phases of the menstrual cycle (MC), which can affect their decision making. The present study aims to investigate the impact of the MC on women’s preferences for conspicuous consumption. In three studies, women in the low-fertility phase were found to be more inclined toward conspicuous consumption, with the MC effect on conspicuous consumption being mediated by the extent of pride. We assumed that women in the low-fertility phase would feel less proud due to an evolutionary drive and that they would consume conspicuous products as a means of compensation. Meanwhile, women who were only children did not manifest such behavior. We infer that women from one-child families may have a greater sense of security and confidence, which buffers the mediating effect. This research contributes to both evolutionary psychology and marketing research and provides new insights for future studies.

In late 2013, the Asian Association of Social Psychology (AASP) signed an agreement with the Journal of Pacific Rim Psychology (JPRP) to annually produce one themed issue in accordance with both organisations’ missions, for a period of 5 years. For AASP, the annual publication of a themed issue on ‘The Social Psychology of Social Change: Science and Practice in Asia’ was the end result of 2 years of member consultation, undertaken by President-Elect James Liu from 2012 to 2013. This resulted in a Mission Statement, and a directive from members to develop a second publications outlet with an SSCI impact factor, but more focused on applied research, to complement AASP's eponymous flagship journal the Asian Journal of Social Psychology (which is more basic in its research orientation).

This article examines fractures in the social representations of a contested peace agreement in the longstanding territorial conflict of Mindanao. We compared representational structures and discourses about the peace talks among Muslims and Christians. Study One used an open-ended survey of 420 Christians and Muslims from two Mindanao cities identified with different Islamised tribes, and employed the hierarchical evocation method to provide representational structures of the peace agreement. Study Two contrasted discourses about the Memorandum of Agreement between two Muslim liberation fronts identified with separate Islamised tribes in Mindanao. Findings show unified Christians’ social representations about the peace agreement. However, Muslims’ social representations diverge along the faultlines of the Islamised ethnic groups. Findings are examined in the light of ethnopolitical divides that emerge among apparently united nonmigrant groups, as peace agreements address territorial solutions. Research results are likewise discussed in relation to other tribally contoured social landscapes that carry hidden, yet fractured ethnic narratives embedded in a larger war storyline.

Women as a group may be more vulnerable to the impact of hazards, but at an individual level, they also have capacity to adapt to changing circumstances in ways that contribute to their own resilience. This paper provides examples of the ways in which some women adapt to a recurrent natural hazard to which they are exposed, in turn, providing insights on adaptive capacity at a personal level.

The existing written literature on Pacific people is generally limited and available information is often incomplete, inaccurate or outdated. In many geographical locations, including the United States, literature focusing specifically on Pacific people is extremely sparse because it is often subsumed within broader coverage of people throughout the Asia-Pacific region. As such, the experiences are often trivialised. The Journal of Pacific Rim Psychology is filling gaps in contemporary psychology. It is exposing the world to the phenomenally rich and diverse cultures and people of the Pacific Rim. This is not only groundbreaking; it is also a form of social justice work. It advocates the use of a cultural lens in viewing the world and human behaviour; in this case a Pacific-culture lens that emphasises inclusivity, collectivity and reciprocity. Helping to promote a social justice movement that celebrates and honours the rich and extraordinarily diverse region of the Pacific will continue to contribute to the betterment of research, services and programming in today's diverse society. Furthermore, it will contribute to the journal's quest to become a preferred forum for the ??First People of the Pacific inside and outside of their Pacific home.