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A frequent expert assumption is that the public will consider cisgenics more “natural” and therefore more acceptable than transgenics. Experimental (Studies 1 and 2) and representative survey (Eurobarometer) data highlight that public concerns indeed are stronger when the boundaries of species are crossed. However, genetic combinations that could come into existence naturally are not always considered unproblematic. Human intervention in the process amplifies concern while familiarity with the method and its products explains little of the variance. Although cisgenics is more supported than transgenics, a majority of respondents across countries considers cisgenic products to be genetically modified food that must be labeled.

This article presents a theory of the perception of hybrids, resulting from cross-breeding natural animals that pertain to different species and of children parented by couples with a mixed ethnic or racial background. The theory states that natural living beings, including humans, are perceived as possessing a deeply ingrained characteristic that is called ‘essence’ or ‘blood’ or ‘genes’ in everyday discourse and that uniquely determines their category membership. If, by whatever means, the genes or essences of two animals of different species are combined in a hybrid, the two incompatible essences collapse, leaving the hybrid in a state of non-identity and non-belonging. People despise this state and reject the hybrid (Study 1). This devaluation effect holds with cross-kind hybrids and with hybrids that arise from genetically combining animals from incompatible habitats across three cultures: Austria, India and Japan (Study 2). In the social world, groups and ethnic or racial categories frequently are essentialized in an analogue way. When people with an essentialist mindset judge ethnically or racially mixed offspring, they perceive a collapse of ethnic or racial essence and, consequently, denigrate these children, as compared to children from ‘pure’ in-group or out-group parents (Study 3). The findings are discussed in terms of the widespread ‘yuck factor’ against genetically modified animals, in terms of the cultural concepts of monstrosity and of racism and prejudice.

The lack of knowledge of current public attitudes towards basic research into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) is a serious problem when considering appropriate ways of governance regarding research and its clinical applications. We therefore conducted an internet-based survey to determine public opinion regarding the research and development of iPSCs and regenerative medicine (RM). A total of 14, 908 valid responses were collected, which revealed that the Japanese public were familiar with the terms iPSCs and RM, and many of them had received information about iPSCs and RM through the television and newspapers. They also generally accepted the need for extra funding for research into iPSCs, but also decided to adopt a "wait and see" approach and thought that research and development of iPSCs and RM should be conducted under proper governance in accordance with an international regulatory framework. It will be necessary to discuss an internationally consistent regulatory system and effective mechanisms for information flow.

環境開発における住民参加手法の一つとして，シナリオアンケートを開発し実施した。シナリオアンケートは，環境開発がもたらす環境の多様な属性の変化についての自然科学的情報を提供し，かつ，それらの環境の属性の変化に対する人々の選好および複数の環境開発シナリオへの相対的支持率を明らかにすることができるアンケート手法である。シナリオアンケートの開発にあたっては，社会科学者と自然科学者が緊密に連携した。開発したシナリオアンケートは，研究フィールドである北海道幌加内町の朱鞠内湖集水域を対象地域として，幌加内町住民を対象として実施した。コンジョイント分析の結果，森林伐採がもたらす水質悪化や植生の変化が最も懸念されていることが明らかになった。最後に，シナリオアンケートの，環境開発における住民参加への貢献可能性について考察した。

How collective representations of a natural disaster are intersubjectively created and maintained through everyday communication was examined by the method of conversation analysis. Conversational data in four groups that were assumed to maintain clear representations, i. e., (a) officials responsible for disaster prevention in a local government, (b) two different groups of residents who experienced severe damage of a disaster, and (c) members of a voluntary citizen group that was involved in environmental problem, were collected. Two types of collective representations were identified, namely, representations derived from shared perceptual experience and representations derived from shared conceptual propositions. It was found that exclusive reliance on the former, as observed in group (b), as well as exclusive reliance on the latter, as observed in group (a), was not sufficient for long-term maintenance of the representations. The latter that was frequently renewed and reorganized by the former types of representations concerning various specific disaster was found effective in persisting representations, as observed in group (c).

‘Conflict analysis’followed by‘sensitivity analysis’, a kind of meta-game theory, was applied to a conflict over restoration planning of the Megane-bashi bridge damaged in the 1982 Flood in Nagasaki. First, through a review of relevant newspaper articles and intensive interviews with the players involved (i. e. Nagasaki city office, a citizen movement group advocating reconstruction of the bridge, and a collection of ordinary citizens), the options available to each player and their preferences for possible outcomes were determined. Second, through conflict analysis, the most likely solution to the conflict was predicted in terms of equilibrium solution. Finally, sensitivity analysis clarified the stability conditions of the equilibrium against fluctuations in each player's preferences. The results showed that sensitivity analysis was a valuable method for evaluating macro-level structure of a conflict from the perspective of micro (player's preferences) and macro (equilibrium solution) dynamics. Some practical significance of the method was discussed.

A huge earthquake devastated the Hanshin area of Japan killing more than 6, 000 people and leaving more than 300, 000 people homeless. Intensive participant observation was carried out in three emergency shelters (a university gymnasium and two elementary schools) for three months beginning just after the earthquake. Three collectives-refugees, volunteers, and the people who ordinarily work at each site-emergently organized into unified collectivities at each shelter. The organizing process was characterized by exclusive initiative of refugees in the first shelter, by close collaboration between refugees and workers in the second, and by strong initiative of volunteers along with some volunteers' efforts to communicate with both refugees and workers in the third shelter. The research highlights the importance of including the refugees' perspectives in the organizing process.