Three studies investigated whether apologies and thanks are used differently when asking favors in the United States and Japan and examined whether their use makes a favor asking message less face-threatening. In Study 1, participants (N = 152) composed an email message for a favor asking situation. Next, participants in Study 2 (N = 634) and Study 3 (N = 417) completed one of four versions of a questionnaire regarding a prototype of an email message. Results showed that (a) more Japanese included apologies in their messages while more Americans used thanks and (b) Japanese considered apologies to reduce some face threats while Americans did not consider thanks to reduce face threats. Implications and future research directions are discussed.

Poor hospital hygiene and the lack of standard infection control measures contributed to infections hospital-wide. Recommendations to the hospital included adoption of written infection control policies.

Intergroup contact theory suggests that developing a close relationship with outgroup members ameliorates the negative impact of prejudice that individuals perceive from outgroup members. This article specifically investigates the moderating role of cross-ethnic self-disclosure in the link between international students’ perceived ethnic/racial prejudice and depression as well as loneliness. One hundred and forty-three international students in Japan were asked to rate their perceived prejudice, depression, and loneliness as well as their self-disclosure to host nationals. The results showed that self-disclosure buffers the negative effects of prejudice on depression and loneliness such that international students who were more likely to disclose themselves to host nationals were less likely to be influenced by prejudice. Theoretical and practical contributions are considered.

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