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This study had three purposes: first, to classify the situations that produce feelings of gratitude; second, to clarify the groups of emotional experiences that compose gratitude; third, to examine the relationship between the type of situations and the groups of emotional experiences. Results of a preliminary study indicated that situations that produce gratitude were classified into five types: “receiving help”, “receiving gifts”, “getting a condition improved”, “changeless condition”, and “imposing on others”. Then, words that express emotions in these situations were classified 38 items. Further, 434 undergraduate students were asked to rate these 38 items about emotion in accordance with how they would feel if they were placed in these five situations. Factor analysis revealed three groups of emotional experiences: ‘contentment’, ‘apologetic emotion’, and ‘unpleasantness’. Of these three, ‘contentment’ and ‘apologetic emotion’ composed gratitude. However ‘unpleasantness’ did not compose any part of gratitude. In addition, combination of the group of emotional experiences differed with the type of situation. For example, ‘apologetic emotion’ was felt in situations in which the existence of another person was emphasized, but this emotion was not felt in situations that did not do so.

This study had two purposes: first, to clarify the cognitive appraisals that produce gratitude; and second, to examine the effect of cognitive appraisals on emotional experiences of gratitude. Results of a preliminary study indicated that four predominant cognitive appraisals can produce gratitude: naturalness of the situation, receipt of benefit, concern of benefactor to recipient, and cost to benefactor. Furthermore, 488 undergraduate students were presented with five types of situations that produce gratitude: “receiving help,” “receiving gifts,” “imposing on others,” “getting a condition improved” or “changeless condition.” Then, we asked participants to rate on the scales of the four groups of cognitive appraisals and two groups of emotional experiences of gratitude: contentment and apologetic emotion. Factor analysis revealed three groups of cognitive appraisals: ‘receiving favor,’ ‘cost to benefactor,’ and ‘naturalness of the situation.’ Regression analysis showed that ‘receiving benefit’ facilitates contentment. Furthermore, in three types of situations, namely “receiving help,” “receiving gifts” and “imposing on others,” ‘cost to benefactor’ facilitated apologetic emotion. In addition, the effects of cognitive appraisal on emotional experiences of gratitude differed among the types of situation. These results were discussed regarding the different characteristics among the types of situations.

To assess the particularities of four factors in assessing embarrassment (i.e., apprehension of social evaluation, inconsistency with self-image, disruption of social interaction, and loss of self-esteem) in four nontypical situations in Japan (i.e., nervousness about others, uneasiness with others, self-consciousness, and sexual circumstances), 109 university students were presented descriptions of 8 scenes and rated 17 items to measure factors related to embarrassment. Analysis indicated that disruption of social interaction was rated as characteristic of every situation. This result suggests that disruption of social interaction model is a valid premise of embarrassment in nontypical situations.

This study had two purposes; first, to reconstruct existing models of the mediating mechanisms of embarrassment, and second, to examine the mechanisms underlying the 6 groups of emotions that comprise embarrassment. Two hundred and eighty-eight university students were presented with "Public" or "Private" embarrassing situations, and were asked to rate 18 items related to the 6 elements representing the existing models, and 23 items measuring the 6 groups of emotions of embarrassment. Both explanatory and confirmatory factor analyses revealed that the existing models could be integrated into 4 causal factors. Covariance structure analysis was then conducted to examine the relationship of these 4 factors with each group of emotions. In the Public situations, 3 causal factors affected each group of emotions, although the nature of the effect varied between groups. In the Private situations, none of the groups were affected by "Apprehension of Social Evaluation" and "Disruption of Social Interaction." These results were discussed in relation to the groups of emotions of embarrassment in public and private situations.

People tend to show some types of interpersonal behavior after feeling gratitude: reciprocal behavior, expression of apology, expression of thanks, and prosocial behavior. We examined the mechanism of these behaviors in 304 undergraduate students who were presented with three types of situations that produce gratitude: receiving help, receiving gifts, or imposing on others. We asked participants to rate three types of cognitive appraisals (receiving favor, cost to benefactor, naturalness of the situation), two types of emotional experiences of gratitude (contentment, apologetic emotion), and four types of interpersonal behavior. Hierarchical multiple regression analysis showed that receiving benefit basically facilitated reciprocal behavior, prosocial behavior, and expression of thanks. Furthermore, the cost to the benefactor basically facilitated expression of apology. However, some effects of cognitive appraisal and emotional expression on behaviors differed among the types of situations. In particular, the results for imposing on others were different from the other situations. These results are discussed related to the different characteristics of the types of situations.

This research focused on (a) embarrassment at the time of condom purchase or use, and (b) stages of change (Prochaska & DiClemente, 1983) as psychological factors related to the use of condoms. A written questionnaire was completed by 376 university students. For condom purchases, ANOVAs revealed that scores for "intent of behavior" increased as participants moved from the "precontemplation" stage to the "action" stage. The scores for embarrassment, and many factors of embarrassment, were lower in the "action" stage than in the other stages. However, the patterns of condom use scores were unclear. These results indicate that with regard to condom purchases, persons who are in the "preparation" or earlier stages (i.e., persons who are not purchasing condoms) are particularly susceptible to embarrassment.

In this study the authors investigated which of 4 causal factors of embarrassment is most characteristic in public and in private situations. University students (N = 288) were presented with 2 scenes representing public or private situations and were asked to rate 17 items related to the 4 factors causing embarrassment. The results indicated that in the public situation the causal factors were ordered as (a) disruption of social interaction, (b) apprehension of social evaluation, (c) inconsistency with self-image, and (d) loss of self-esteem, and in the private situation causal factors were ordered as (a) loss of self-esteem, (b) inconsistency with self-image, (c) apprehension of social evaluation, and (d) disruption of social interaction. From these results, new models for the mediating mechanism of embarrassment are proposed.