著者

入戸野 宏 小森 政嗣 金井 嘉宏 井原 なみは

出版者

広島大学

雑誌

基盤研究(B)

巻号頁・発行日

2011-04-01

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“かわいい(kawaii)”は日常生活でよく使われる言葉であり,日本のポップカルチャーの代表ともいわれる。本研究では,“かわいい”を対象の属性ではなく,対象に接することで生じる感情であると捉え,その性質と機能について質問紙調査と実験室実験を用いて検討した。その結果,“かわいい”は,好ましい人やモノを“見まもりたい”“一緒にいたい”という接近動機づけに関連した社会的なポジティブ感情であり,主観・生理・行動の3側面に影響を与えることが明らかになった。

著者

井原 なみは 入戸野 宏

出版者

広島大学大学院総合科学研究科

雑誌

広島大学大学院総合科学研究科紀要. I, 人間科学研究 (ISSN:18817688)

巻号頁・発行日

no.6, pp.13-17, 2011-12-31

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"Kawaii" is a Japanese word that is translated as cute in English. This word becomes popular worldwide and is regarded as a key concept characterizing modern Japanese culture. However, the word is used so widely in daily life that it is difficult to define what is kawaii and what makes things kawaii. Ethologists have suggested that baby schema, a set of physical features of baby animals, is a key stimulus to elicit the feeling of cuteness. In this study, we examined the relationship between the feeling of cuteness and the infantility of various objects in a survey of 166 university students. First, we collected 93 animate and inanimate objects that are sometimes described as kawaii. Half of the raters (n = 84) made the cuteness ratings of the 93 items (either words or short phrases), while the other half (n = 82) made the infantility ratings of these items. Consistent with the baby schema hypothesis, the ratings of cuteness and infantility were moderately correlated (rs = .50 and .45 for men and women, respectively). However, there was a cluster of items that were rated as cute but not infant (e.g., smile, accessories, and pastel color), which are probably related to feminine culture. Moreover, women rated various items to be cuter than men did, while no gender difference was found for the infantility rating. The findings suggest that, although the feeling of kawaii is elicited by baby schema and infantility, its scope is not limited to them.

著者

井原 なみは 入戸野 宏

出版者

広島大学大学院総合科学研究科

雑誌

人間科学研究 (ISSN:18817688)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.7, pp.37-42, 2012

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In Japan, the word kawaii ("cute" or "adorable" in English) has become difficult to define because it is widely used for describing various objects. This study attempted to find common psychological factors in the feelings of kawaii toward different types of objects. Both male and female university students (N = 180) rated their feelings on six 5-point scales after imagining a scene in which they encountered each of four types of kawaii objects: objects with baby schema (e.g., infants, baby animals), humans (e.g., women, smiles), inanimate objects (e.g., accessories, sweets), and idiosyncratic objects (e.g., lizards, mushrooms). The scales consisted of two adjectives ("kawaii," "infantile"), two scales of approach motivation ("want to be closer to it," "want to keep it nearby"), and two scales of nurturance motivation ("want to help it when it is in trouble," "want to protect it"). Results show that kawaii and infantility ratings were correlated with each other only moderately. Partial correlation analyses revealed that higher kawaii ratings were associated with higher approach motivation, but not with higher nurturance motivation, across four categories. The findings were inconsistent with the baby schema hypothesis, which holds that the feeling of kawaii is linked with caregiving and protection for the young and the weak. Rather, the results suggest that the scope of kawaii is not limited to baby schema and that the feeling of kawaii can be better conceptualized as a positive emotion with strong approach motivation.