Collaborative Research Project

A Comparative Study of Body Consciousness between Japan and Foreign Cultures

Research Term August 2025 -

Principal Investigator Tsuneyuki Abe (Professor, Graduate School of Arts & Letters)

Overview

　While it is not uncommon for people to have tattoos in Europe, in East Asia, including Japan, there is still a strong aversion to them. The ultimate aim of this project is to clarify the causes and effects of cultural differences in attitudes towards the body, or ‘body consciousness’ but the goal of this proposal is to clarify how these attitudes differ from culture to culture.

　To achieve this, we will create a new list of terms for body expression by utilizing the Tohoku University Digital Archives (ToUDA). For example, we will ask how natural the expression 'stiffen' is as a physical and psychological expression and calculate the degree to which physical and psychological expressions are fused. In addition to Japan, we plan to collect data in Indonesia, where many women wear hijabs covering their upper body and head; Thailand, where many people are Theravada Buddhists; and Taiwan, where Buddhism, Taoism and folk beliefs are commonplace.

Researchers

Tsuneyuki Abe

Principal Investigator
Professor, Graduate School of Arts & Letters, Tohoku University

Field of research: Psychology

Takashi Arai

Professor, Graduate School of Arts & Letters, Tohoku University

Field of research: Psychology

Collaborators

・Yuliana Hanami
(Assistant Professor, Faculty of Psychology, Padjajaran University)
・Juthatip Wiwattanapantuwong
(Associate Professor, Faculty of Psychology, Chulalongkorn University)

Results

■Conference Presentation■
The 3rd Thailand International Conference of Psychology
　2025/7/15-16　Bangkok (Mandarin Hotel)

　Professor Tsuneyuki Abe and Professor Takashi Arai, along with ten Tohoku University students, participated and gave presentations and engaged in discussions. This provided a valuable opportunity to discuss differences in body consciousness between Japan and Southeast Asia with local researchers and students.

▼ Tsuneyuki, A. (2025). Psychophysiological influence of Cosmetic behavior.

　In a panel discussion titled “Engaging the Senses to Improve Mood, Mind, and Performance,” Professor Abe presented alongside speakers from the University of Queensland (Australia) and the University of Hong Kong (China), participating in a discussion moderated by a representative from Chulalongkorn University (Thailand). We discussed how cosmetic practices are closely linked to body image and yield various psychological effects.

▼ Qiao, S. (2025). Effects of facial expressions on first impressions.

　This study examined the effects of happy, angry, disgusted, sad, and neutral facial expressions on first impressions (attractiveness, trustworthiness, and dominance). Attractiveness and trustworthiness increased with happy expressions, while anger, disgust, and sadness decreased them. Dominance increased with anger and decreased with sadness. Gender differences were also observed, particularly showing that happy expressions lowered dominance only in male faces. Participants expressed interest in the study's validity and the findings regarding gender differences.

▼ Yoda, K. (2025). An ensemble representation of faces is the average face, isn’t it?

　Ensemble perception, which enables instantaneous reading of statistical summaries such as the average and variance of multiple objects, had been confirmed for various objects but was unclear for faces. This study revealed that ensemble representations of faces are indeed average faces by manipulating the number of faces used in the average face. Participants raised questions about cultural differences, such as “Would the same results be obtained if a similar experiment were conducted in Thailand?” This provided a different perspective a valuable experience for the research.

■Conference Presentation■
The 2nd Asian International Conference on Psychology
　2025/7/17　Bangkok (Chulalongkorn University)

　Following the 3rd Thailand International Conference of Psychology, the same members participated in this conference. Through presentations at this conference and direct experiences of Thai architecture, traditions, and customs, we were able to deepen our understanding of cultural differences in body consciousness.

▼ Qiao, S. (2025). Facial viewpoint modulates emotional influence on risk-taking in a balloon analog risk task.

　This presentation reported on an experimental design examining the influence of facial expressions on risk assessment and coping. We presented an experimental design investigating how facial expressions (happiness, anger, fear, neutral) affect risk behavior in a modified Balloon Analogue Risk task. Interest was expressed in the novelty of the stimulus presentation method and task design, and we received valuable advice regarding future analysis plans. Furthermore, we established connections that may lead to future collaborative research.

▼ Yoda, K. (2025). Does the average face of a group affect the cheerleader effect?

　The cheerleader effect is a phenomenon where individual faces are rated as more attractive due to the influence of a group's average face. However, no studies have empirically demonstrated the influence of the average face, and this research examines that point.

■Conference Presentation■
The 89th Annual Convention of the Japanese Psychological Association
　2025/9/5-7　Sendai (Tohoku Gakuin University)

　The conference, attended by approximately 3,000 participants, is the largest academic gathering in psychology in Japan, with Professor Tsuneyuki Abe serving as conference chair.

▼ Arai, T. & Iwama, S. (2025). The dark side brought out by “cute”: Regulating positive emotions through negative behavior.

　Cute Aggression refers to the occurrence of aggressive reactions toward “cute” subjects such as babies or characters. It is hypothesized that this negative emotion arises to regulate the positive feelings evoked by cute subjects. This study investigated whether such reactions occur toward adults as well, and whether they arise not only toward cute subjects but also toward beautiful subjects, using facial expression stimuli. At the academic conference, it received numerous questions from researchers and was a huge success.

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