HIROFUMI HASHIMOTO
Research Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of
Science (PD)
Last update 11/19/2014
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
Research Interests:
My research has focused on understanding the adaptive
value of culture-specific behaviors. The research projects I have undertaken
are detailed below.
- Culture-specific
Behavior as Adaptive Strategy: It is
reasonable to hypothesize that culture-specific behaviors have adaptive value
for those living in societies. In collectivist societies, (e.g., Japan) in
which groups are typically closed to outsiders, those who are excluded from
their groups have difficulty finding alternative groups that will accept them.
The cost of being excluded, therefore, is much higher in collectivistic
societies than in individualistic societies (e.g., the USA) in which
individuals can more easily replace lost relationships. Indeed, we have already
demonstrated that some culture-specific behaviors, often called
“interdependent” behaviors in cultural psychology, are highly ecological fit in
terms of minimizing the risk of accruing a bad reputation (Hashimoto, et al.,
2011; Yamagishi, et al., 2008; 2012).
- Two Distinct
Aspects of “Interdependence”: Harmony seeking and rejection avoidance: From the adaptationist
perspective, social order in collectivistic societies is thought to be
maintained through mutual monitoring and threats of exclusion from social
relations. In such societies, the avoidance of being disliked and excluded by
close relatives is critical for survival and success. In contrast, in
individualistic societies in which social order depends less on mutual
monitoring and more on a democratic legal system, the need to avoid being
disliked by close relatives is weaker. In light of these differences in the
mechanism of maintaining social order, cultural differences in the levels of
rejection avoidance, but not in the levels of harmony seeking, between
collectivistic and individualistic societies can be predicted. We are now
examining this assumption, and this assumption has been supported by a study
comparing people from Japan and the USA (Hashimoto & Yamagishi, 2013).
- Dual Roles of
Culturally Shared Beliefs: Culturally shared
beliefs play dual roles in affecting people’s behavior; i.e., shared beliefs
create culturally installed goals and affect the expected responses of others.
The former has been a focus of the standard approaches to culture in
psychology. For example, cultural psychologists have successfully delineated
how culturally shared beliefs that promote independence or interdependence
affect people’s perceptions or behavior. The success of these studies, however,
seems to have had the unintended effect of restricting the use of other
approaches to analyze how culturally shared beliefs shape the way that people
construct reality. I am now undertaking research that focuses on the latter,
that is, the expected responses of others. Specifically, I have shown that
Japanese people revealed their preference for independence over interdependence,
while they expected that others would prefer interdependence to independence
(Hashimoto, 2011; 2012). We have also shown that American and Japanese
participants rated the independent target as more desirable than the
interdependent target. However, Japanese participants expected that others
would regard the interdependent target more positively than the independent
target. Our results suggest that the culturally shared Japanese beliefs that
interdependent persons receive more positive evaluations than independent
persons creates incentives for Japanese people to behave interdependently
regardless of their personal preferences (Hashimoto & Yamagishi, in press)
Keyword: social interaction, social niche construction,
adaptation
Education:
2012
Hokkaido University, Ph.D.
2009
Hokkaido University, M.A.
2007
Hokkaido University, B.A.
Employment:
2012-present
Research Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (PD)
2009-2012
Research Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (DC1)
Award:
1. Misumi Award,
Asian Association of Social Psychology and Japanese Group Dynamics Association,
2013
2. Incentive
Award, Hokkaido Psychological Society, 2012
3. Distinguished
Paper Award, Japanese Group Dynamics Association, 2011
4. Distinguished
Presentation Award, Japanese Group Dynamics Association, 2011
5. Graduate
Student Poster Award Runner-up, Society for Personality and Social
Psychology, 2011
6. Distinguished
Presentation Award, Japanese Group Dynamics Association, 2009
7. The
Best-Poster Award, International Congress of the International Association
for cross-cultural psychology, 2008
8. Young
Researcher's Scholarship, Japanese Society of Social Psychology, 2008
9. Distinguished
Presentation Award, Japanese Group Dynamics Association, 2007
Working Drafts:
1. Hashimoto, H.,
& Yamagishi, T. (2014). Are Japanese People Becoming More Independent?: A Cross-Generational Comparison in Japan. Center for the Study of Cultural and
Ecological Foundations of the Mind Working Paper Series (No. 143).: Hokkaido University.
2. Hashimoto, H.,
& Yamagishi, T. (2014). Engaging and Disengaging Aspects of Independence
and Interdependence: An Adaptationist Perspective. Center for the Study of Cultural and
Ecological Foundations of the Mind Working Paper Series (No. 141).: Hokkaido University.
Selected Recent
Papers (Journal Articles):
1. Hashimoto,
H., & Yamagishi, T. (In Press). Preference-Expectation Reversal in
the Ratings of Independent and Interdependent Individuals: A Comparison of Participants
from the United States and Japan. Asian Journal of Social Psychology.
2. Hashimoto,
H., Mifune, N., & Yamagishi, T. (2014).
To Be Perceived as Altruistic: Strategic Considerations That Support Fair
Behavior in the Dictator Game. Letters on
Evolutionary Behavioral Science, 5, 17-20.
3. Hashimoto, H.,
& Yamagishi, T. (2013). Two Faces of Interdependence: Harmony Seeking and
Rejection Avoidance. Asian Journal of
Social Psychology, 16, 142–151.
4. Yamagishi, T., Mifune, N., Li, Y., Shinada, M., Hashimoto, H., Horita, Y., Miura, A., Inukai,
K., Tanida, S., Kiyonari, T., Takagishi,
H., & Simunovic, D. (2013). Is behavioral
pro-sociality game-specific? Pro-social preference and
expectations of pro-sociality. Organizational
Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 120, 260-271.
5. Yamagishi, T., Horita, Y., Mifune, N., Hashimoto, H., Li, Y., Shinada, M., Miura, A., Inukai,
K., Takagishi, H., & Simunovic,
D. (2012). Rejection of Unfair Offers in the Ultimatum Game Is No Evidence of
Strong Reciprocity. Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 109,
20364-20368.
6. Hashimoto, H.
(2012). Ideal Self and Perceived Other’s Self among Japanese and Americans. Hokkaido Journal of Psychology, 35,
1-12. (In Japanese)
7. Yamagishi, T., Hashimoto, H., Cook, K. S., Kiyonari, T., Shinada, M., Mifune, N., Inukai, K., Takagishi, H., Horita, Y., &
Li, Y. (2012). Modesty in Self-Presentation: A Comparison between the U.S. and
Japan. Asian Journal of Social Psychology,
15, 60-68. (*granted Misumi Award)
8. Yamagishi, T., Hashimoto, H., Li, Y., & Schug, J. (2012). Stadtluft Macht Frei (City Air Brings
Freedom). Journal of Cross-Cultural
Psychology, 43, 38-45.
9. Hashimoto, H.,
Li, Y., & Yamagishi, T. (2011). Beliefs and Preferences in Cultural Agents
and Cultural Game Players. Asian Journal
of Social Psychology, 14, 140-147.
10. Hashimoto, H.
(2011). Interdependence as a Self-sustaining Set of Beliefs. Japanese Journal of Experimental Social
Psychology, 50, 182-193. (In Japanese). (*granted Distinguished
Paper Award)
11. Mifune,
N., Hashimoto, H., &
Yamagishi, T. (2010). Altruism toward In-group Members as a Reputation
Mechanism. Evolution and Human Behavior,
31, 109-117.
12. Takahashi, C.,
Yamagishi, T., & Hashimoto, H.
(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)
13. Yamagishi, T., Hashimoto, H., & Joanna
Schug (2008). Preferences vs. Strategies as Explanations for Culture-Specific
Behavior. Psychological Science 19,
578-583. (*featured in Science Editor's Choice)