HIROFUMI HASHIMOTO

Research Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (PD)

Last update 4/4/2012

Address:

Department of Social Psychology, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology,

The University of Tokyo

7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033 Japan

Phone: +81-3-5841-3869

Fax: +81-3-3815-6673

E-mail: hirofumi@l.u-tokyo.ac.jp

Education:

2012 Hokkaido University, Behavioral Science, Ph.D.

2009 Hokkaido University, Behavioral Science, M.A.

2007 Hokkaido University, Behavioral Science, B.A.

Employment:

2009-2012 Research Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (DC1)

2012-present Research Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (PD)

Research:

I am currently undertaking a research project to identify culture-specific behaviors as adaptive strategies. It should be reasonable to hypothesize that culture-specific behaviors have adaptive value for those living in that societies. In collectivist societies, like Japan, in which groups are typically closed to outsiders, those who are excluded from their groups have a hard time finding alternative groups that will accept them. The cost of being excluded, therefore, is much higher in collectivistic societies than in individualistic societies, like USA, where individuals can more easily replace lost relationships. In fact, we have already demonstrated that some behaviors deemed culture-specific to East-Asians by cultural psychologists, have high ecological fit, in terms of minimizing the risk of accruing bad reputations. Now, I am taking the extra step to demonstrate the self-sustaining mechanism whereby acting upon these culture-specific strategies itself in turn makes them adaptive. In other words I am now seeking those incentives that make Japanese behave in a culture-specific way.

Award:

1. Distinguished Paper Award, Japanese Group Dynamics Association, 2011

2. Distinguished Presentation Award, Japanese Group Dynamics Association, 2011

3. Graduate Student Poster Award Runner-up, Society for Personality and Social Psychology, 2011

4. Distinguished Presentation Award, Japanese Group Dynamics Association, 2009

5. The Best-Poster Award, International Congress of the International Association for cross-cultural psychology, 2008

6. Young Researcher's Scholarship, Japanese Society of Social Psychology, 2008

7. Distinguished Presentation Award, Japanese Group Dynamics Association, 2007

Working drafts (Working papers):

1. Hirofumi Hashimoto, & Toshio Yamagishi (2011). Two Faces of Interdependence: Harmony Seeking and Avoidance of Rejection.

Selected Recent Papers (Journal Articles):

1. Toshio Yamagishi, Hirofumi Hashimoto, Karen S. Cook, Toko Kiyonari, Mizuho Shinada, Nobuhiro Mifune, Keigo Inukai, Haruto Takagishi, Yutaka Horita, Yang Li (2012). Modesty in Self-Presentation: A Comparison between the U.S. and Japan. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 15, 60-68.

2. Toshio Yamagishi, Hirofumi Hashimoto, Yang Li, & Joanna Schug (2012). Stadtluft Macht Frei (City Air Brings Freedom). Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 43, 38-45.

3. Hirofumi Hashimoto, Yang Li, & Toshio Yamagishi (2011). Beliefs and Preferences in Cultural Agents and Cultural Game Players. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 14, 140-147.

4. Hirofumi Hashimoto (2011). Interdependence as a Self-sustaining Set of Beliefs. Japanese Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 50, 182-193. (In Japanese). (*granted Distinguished Paper Award)

5. Nobuhiro Mifune, Hirofumi Hashimoto, & Toshio Yamagishi (2010). Altruism toward In-group Members as a Reputation Mechanism. Evolution and Human Behavior, 31, 109-117.

6. Chisato Takahashi, Toshio Yamagishi, & Hirofumi Hashimoto (2009). Interdependent Self as a Form of Self-presentation in Response to a Threat of Exclusion from the Group. Japanese Journal of Social Psychology, 25, 113-120. (In Japanese)

7. Toshio Yamagishi, Hirofumi Hashimoto, & Joanna Schug (2008). Preferences vs. Strategies as Explanations for Culture-Specific Behavior. Psychological Science 19, 578-583. (*featured in Science Editor's Choice)

Presentations (International conference):

1. Hirofumi Hashimoto, & Toshio Yamagishi (2011, June). Unpacking Japanese Interdependence: The Usefulness of Likert-type Self-report Measures to Detect Cultural Differences. International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology Regional Conference. Istanbul, Turkey.

2. Hirofumi Hashimoto, Kanako Ohashi, & Toshio Yamagishi (2011, January). Common Beliefs, Behaving by Anticipating Other’s Response, and Self-sustaining Mechanism of Japanese Interdependence. The 12th annual meeting of the society for personality and social psychology, San Antonio, Texas, USA. (*granted SPSP Graduate Student Poster Award, Runner-up)

3. Hirofumi Hashimoto, & Toshio Yamagishi (2010, July). Correlations among Measures Showing Cultural Differences in Psychological Tendencies and Cognitive Styles. The 20th International Congress of the International Association for cross-cultural psychology, Melbourne, Australia.

4. Hirofumi Hashimoto, Yang Li, & Toshio Yamagishi (2010, January). Beyond Cultural Preference: Culture-Specific Behavior as a Default Adaptive Strategies. The 11th annual meeting of the society for personality and social psychology, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

5. Hirofumi Hashimoto, & Toshio Yamagishi (2009, December). A Study of the Self-sustaining Mechanism behind Japanese Interdependence: The Distinction between Cultural Beliefs and Preferences 8th Biennial Conference of the Asian Association of Social Psychology. New Delhi, India.

6. Hirofumi Hashimoto, Nobuhiro Mifune, & Toshio Yamagishi (2009, August). Your Peers Are Watching You: Reputation Sensitivity and In-group Favoritism. The 12th International Conference on Social Dilemmas, Kyoto, Japan.

7. Hirofumi Hashimoto, & Toshio Yamagishi (2009, May). Default Strategies as a Form of Error Management. The 21th annual meeting of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, California State University Fullerton, Fullerton, U.S.A.

8. Hirofumi Hashimoto, Chisato Takahashi, & Toshio Yamagishi (2008, July). Holistic Cognition as an Adaptive Tool. The 19th International Congress of the International Association for cross-cultural psychology. Bremen, Germany. (*granted The Best-Poster Award)

9. Hirofumi Hashimoto, & Toshio Yamagishi (2008, July). Why People Show Self-effacing Tendency? The 29th International Congress of Psychology. Berlin, Germany.

10. Hirofumi Hashimoto, Naoto Suzuki, & Toshio Yamagishi (2007, July). Strategy versus Preference as Explanations of Culture-specific Behavior: The Case of Preferences for Uniqueness and Conformity. The 7th Conference of Asian Association of Social Psychology. Kota Kinabalu, Sabah Malaysia.