The Extraction of Nonverbal Behaviors: Using Video Images and Speech-Signal Analysis in Dyadic Conversation

This study examined the validity and possible utility of a new procedure for the extraction of nonverbal behaviors from dyadic conversation. Three methods were used to extract nonverbal behaviors (i.e., hand gestures, adaptors, and utterances). A novel automated method employing video images and speech-signal analysis software programs was compared to the more traditional coding and behavioral rating methods. The automated and coding methods provided an objective count of how many times a target behavior occurred, while behavioral ratings were based on more subjective impressions. Although there was no difference between the automated and coding methods for hand gestures, the coding method using an event recorder yielded marginally significantly more instances of adaptors and utterances as compared to the software programs. Measures of each nonverbal behavior were positively correlated across the different methods. In addition, interpersonal impressions of each speaker were rated by both observers and conversational partners. Although R ² was lower than for the coding/behavioral rating methods, nonverbal behaviors extracted using the software programs significantly predicted familiarity and activeness ratings from both observer and partner points of view. These results support the validity and possible utility of the software-based automated extraction procedure.     

Male mating behavior in relation to spermatophore transfer in the white cabbage butterfly

The lifetime mating frequency of female butterflies is believed tobe dependent on the reproductive status of the males which they have mated. This report assesses those status usingPieris rapae L. Multiple mating females mated males with a short time interval after the last mating or males with many mating records. Such males, like small ones, produced small spermatophores during copulation, which may have resulted in high mating frequency of those females. The males with short time interval after the last mating or those with many mating records also showed a long mating duration. Alternative interpretations of the adaptive significance of this behavior for males are discussed.     

Trade and Factor Market Reforms in China

The benefits of the multi‐faceted liberalization of the Chinese economy can be seen in various indicators of economic development. The rate of growth of the economy, the flow of foreign investment in China, and rising quality of life are some of the indicators of gains from the liberalization process. Most of the research has focused on the role of trade reforms on the Chinese economy. There is, however, one unfinished agenda that has not been addressed adequately by policy makers as well as academia, i.e. labor‐sector reforms. In this paper, we analyze the effect of labor market liberalization in China using a Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model. Most CGE models on China using a neoclassical approach assume that there is a single wage rate for the economy. This is a simplifying assumption and has strong implications. Studies show that inter‐industry wage differentials persist even after accounting for obvious explanations such as differences in human capital or job hazard. Inter‐industry structural rigidities in developing countries lead to wage differentials. In China, labor mobility from the rural to the urban sector is restricted. Furthermore, China is on its way to joining the WTO agreement. As a signatory to the WTO agreement, China would be required to reform its trade sector by eliminating tariffs. In this paper, we explicitly model wage differentials in the case of the Chinese economy. Various counterfactual experiments have been conducted to introduce efficiency by the removal of factor market differentials in China in the presence and absence of tariff and non‐tariff barriers. Our results indicate that factor market reforms are essential to the realization of full gains from accession to the WTO agreement.     

Work-self balance: A longitudinal study on the effects of job demands and resources on personal functioning in Japanese working parents

Abstract

In work-family research the effects on the individual, or the “self”, in terms of personal interests independent of the work and family domains, have been largely neglected. This longitudinal study on 471 Japanese employees with young children investigated how job demands and job resources may have an impact on well-being by facilitating or hindering personal functioning. It was hypothesized that workload would have an unfavourable impact on work-to-self conflict, while supervisor support would have a favourable impact on work-to-self facilitation. In addition, we hypothesized that work–self conflict would diminish well-being (psychological distress and happiness), while work–self facilitation would enhance well-being over time. Structural equation modelling analyses using a full panel design showed that work overload was positively related to work–self conflict over time, whereas supervisor support was positively related to work–self facilitation. Furthermore, work–self conflict predicted psychological distress and happiness at T2, one year later, after controlling for T1 levels. These findings suggest that the demands and resources encountered at work can spill over to the home domain and have an impact on personal functioning and context-free well-being. Further research is needed to determine the importance of work-self constructs in relation to work-family constructs.     

Reliability and validity of the Japanese version of the Survey Work–Home Interaction – NijmeGen,the SWING (SWING-J)

ABSTRACT

This study sought to validate the Japanese version of the Survey Work–Home Interaction – NijmeGen, the SWING, which assesses multi-dimensional work–family interaction by differentiating between the direction and quality of influence. We translated the SWING into the Japanese language, the SWING-J. A back-translation procedure confirmed that the translation was appropriate. A total of 2701 dual-earner parents with preschool children (1193 men and 1508 women) were surveyed. The complete questionnaire included the SWING-J, job and family domain variables, and well-being indicators. The reliability and factorial and convergent validity of the used measures were examined. As the results, four dimensions (i.e. work-to-family negative spillover, family-to-work negative spillover, work-to-family positive spillover and family-to-work positive spillover) were determined by an exploratory factor analysis. A series of confirmatory factor analyses suggested that the hypothesized four-factor model provided a reasonably good fit to the data. Convergent validity was generally supported by the expected correlations of work–family spillovers with the possible predictors and consequences. Cronbach's alpha coefficients of the four subscales of the SWING-J were satisfactory (0.75–0.86). The present study confirmed that the Japanese version of the SWING is an adequate tool to measure positive and negative spillover between working life and family life among Japanese workers.     

Interactional Synchrony in Conversations about Emotional Episodes: A Measurement by “the Between-Participants Pseudosynchrony Experimental Paradigm”

Interactional synchrony refers to the coordination of movements between individuals in both timing and form during interpersonal communication. Most previous studies in Western culture used a coding methodology and concluded that interactional synchrony occurred for positive episodes but not for negative episodes (e.g., Charny, E. J. (1966). Psychosomatic Medicine, 28, 305–315). In this study, we examined interactional synchrony using a between-participants pseudosynchrony experimental paradigm (Bernieri, F. J., & Rosenthal, R. (1991). In R. S. Feldman & B. Rime (Eds.), Fundamentals of nonverbal behavior (pp. 401–432). New York: Cambridge University Press). Sixty Japanese female university students viewed interaction clips and judged the level of perceived synchrony. The results show that interactional synchrony was perceived in negative episodes as well as in positive episodes. The degree of perceived synchrony was higher in positive episodes than in negative episodes.

Resettlement and Border Crossing: A Comparative Study on the Life and Ethnicity of Vietnamese in Australia and Japan

Abstract: This paper deals with the life world and ethnic identity of Vietnamese residents who entered and settled in Australia and Japan as refugees after the end of the Vietnam War. It focuses on how social and cultural conditions in the host countries and global influences affect the lives of overseas Vietnamese and consequently transform their ethnic identities. Through this comparative research study conducted in Australia and Japan, I have focussed on Vietnamese religion, social networks, perceptions of the homeland and the host country, notions of Vietnamese identity between generations, and images of Vietnamese in the media of the host country. I explore the features of each host society in accepting refugees and also the commonalities and differences in how the overseas Vietnamese construct their life world and ethnic identity. I also discuss the “location of Vietnamese identities” in Australia and Japan. I will also rethink the meaning of “settlement” and “crossing borders” related to the politics of Vietnamese identities that confirm the importance of investigating the effects of displacement on the life of the Vietnamese diaspora in contemporary world context.     

Mindful and Masculine: Freeing Women Leaders From the Constraints of Gender Roles

Despite gains in women's status, successful leaders are more likely to be men than women. The styles that successful leaders set tend to be masculine. Female leaders face a paradox: If they emulate a masculine leadership style, their male subordinates will dislike them. If they adopt a stereotypically warmand nurturing feminine style, they will be liked, but not respected. Two experiments found that female leaders who are mindful can escape this paradox. In an experiment, college-aged men perceived a woman who was masculine and mindful to be a better leader than a woman who was masculine and mindless. A second experiment replicated that result with middle-aged businessmen.