The anagram task is widely used in psychological research as a manipulation of independent and dependent variables. The purposes of this study were to develop a database of anagrams and to clarify the relationship between material word characteristics and the difficulty of an anagram. We developed 147 five-letter hiragana anagrams and tested them on 39 university students. In the experiment, we measured the rate of correct answers within 3 minutes, solution time, and subjective difficulty as indices of task difficulty, as well as familiarity, imageability, and emotional valence as word characteristics. We found significant correlations between task difficulty indices and word characteristics; specifically, increasing word characteristic ratings indicated decreasing difficulty of the anagrams. The data from this study could be used to choose anagrams for psychological experiments, and as a guideline to modulate difficulty when developing other anagrams.

2019) 。本研究では，よりよい働き方につながる心理 的な側面として「仕事の意味づけ(meaningful work) 」 に着目する。仕事の意味づけとは，私たちにとってた だ単に仕事とは何か，何を意味するのかということで はなく，仕事がどのように意義深く，肯定的な価値を 有しているのかということに焦点を当てた概念である (Steger, Dik, & Duffy, 2012) 。Steger et al.(2012)は， さらに具体的に，仕事の意味づけの主要な側面として， 個人が仕事を肯定的に意味づけること(positive meaning in work) ， 個人が仕事を通して世の中とつながったり， 成長したりすること(meaning making through work) ， さらに， 広く世の中に良い影響をもたらすこと(greater good motivations)の 3 つを挙げ，仕事の意味づけの把 握にはこれらすべてが必要であるとしている 4 。仕事 の意味づけは快楽志向的な価値ではなく，成長・目的 志向的な価値に焦点を当てているという点で，働き方 改革の基本的な考え方とも合致する。また，働き方改 革の目指すところでもある労働生産性の向上，職務満 足や人生満足の向上，仕事への積極的な関与，離職率 の低下，高齢者就労などと関連することが示されてい る(de Lange,

Applying the stereotype‐content model, which categorizes stereotypes into two dimensions (warmth and competence), we investigated whether gender‐stereotype‐related concepts activate other concepts on the same dimension and concepts on the other dimension. To test this, we conducted two experiments, both based on the Deese–Roediger–McDermott paradigm. In Experiment 1, we conceptually replicated the results of previous research, which revealed that when trait‐related words are presented to participants, gender‐stereotype‐related concepts induce the later false recognition of stereotypically consistent non‐presented words. Then, in Experiment 2, we revealed that exposure to gender‐stereotype‐related concepts induces the false recognition of non‐presented words relevant to stereotypical concepts on the same dimension, but not those on the other dimension. We conclude by discussing the underlying process of ambivalent stereotype activations, referring to implicit processes and system justification.

Virtual Reality (VR) technology is used in various fields, and research on VR creative activities has been widely conducted. This study examined the effects of VR environment on divergent thinking, a component of creative thinking. Specifically, two experiments were conducted to test the prediction that viewing visually open VR environments with immersive head-mounted displays (HMD) affects divergent thinking. Divergent thinking was evaluated using Alternative Uses Test (AUT) scores; AUT was performed while the participants viewed the experiment stimuli. In Experiment 1, I manipulated the VR viewing medium by having one group view a 360° video with an HMD and a second group view the same video on a computer screen. Additionally, I established a control group that viewed a real-world laboratory instead of the videos. The HMD group showed higher AUT scores than the computer screen group. In Experiment 2, I manipulated the spatial openness of a VR environment by having one group view a 360° video of a visually open coast and a second group view a 360° video of a visually closed laboratory. The coast group showed higher AUT scores than the laboratory group. In conclusion, exposure to a visually open VR environment on an HMD promotes divergent thinking. The limitations of this study and suggestions for further research are discussed.

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