Japanese

Graduate School Faculty of Arts and Letters Tohoku University

Profiles

Associate Professor ARAI Takashi

Affiliations :

  • Graduate School Faculty of Arts and Letters
  • Division of Department of Integrated Human Sciences
  • Psychology and Linguistics Course
  • Department of Psychology

The dark side of human hearts as a key to the essence of humanity

Are humans good or evil? Some of us won’t hesitate to sacrifice themselves for the sake of others, but there are also those that hurt others to satisfy their own ambitions. We must thus admit that not all humans are good, and that evil does exist. My intention is to explore the essence of humanity by looking into this dark side of human hearts.
Our social reality harbors a multitude of problems related to this inner darkness, including violence or aggressive behavior. Investigating the motivations and emotions that lay behind such behavior has pragmatic importance, as it can help us deal with various social issues.
You might consider yourself above violent or aggressive behavior, but think again, please: Are you absolutely sure that under extreme circumstances or in an abnormal situation you wouldn’t succumb to your dark side? This research is valuable precisely because no one is safe from temptation.

  • Research, History
  • Books, papers, etc.
  • Courses
    Social Psychology (General Lecture): social, group, and family psychology
    Social Psychology (Special Lecture): forensic and criminal psychology
    Social Psychology (Advanced Seminar)
    Personal History
    Mar 2011 Completed the graduate program in psychology at the Graduate School of Comprehensive Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba

    Career:
    Apr 2011 Full-time Non-regular Staff, Crime Prevention Section, Department of Criminology and Behavioral Sciences, National Research Institute of Police Science
    Nov 2011 Research Assistant Professor, Faculty of Human Sciences, University of Tsukuba
    2012 Lecturer, Faculty of Psychology, Otemon Gakuin University
    2017 Associate Professor, Faculty of Psychology, Otemon Gakuin University
    2018 Appointed to current position
    Degree
    Ph.D. (Psychology)
    Field
    Social Psychology; Criminal Psychology
    Research Subject
    Promotion of crime prevention behaviors; effective distribution of crime information; mechanisms of violence; dating violence and stalking; anger management
    Keywords
    Fear of crime; crime prevention; aggression and violence; anger
  • Books
    『犯罪と市民の心理学―犯罪リスクに社会はどうかかわるか―』（co-author）、北大路書房、2011
    『犯罪心理学辞典』（co-author）、丸善出版、2016
    Academic Papers
    「犯罪情報が幼児を持つ母親の犯罪不安に及ぼす影響」（with Fuji Kei and Yoshida Fujio）、『心理学研究』81、2010、397-405
    「犯罪不安と一般的信頼との関連―犯罪被害に対する楽観視との比較を通して―」、『犯罪心理学研究』50（1）、2013、15-25
    「犯罪及び防犯に関する情報探索の規定因―インターネット上の情報探索―」（with Fuji Kei and Yoshida Fujio）、『心理学研究』84（2）、2013、83-93
    「脅威アピールでの被害の記述と受け手の脆弱性が犯罪予防行動に与える影響」（with Shimada Takahito）、『心理学研究』88（3）、2017、230-240
    「サイコパシー特性と非道徳的行動の関係に対するサポートの調整効果」（with Yanagida Munetaka and Fuji Kei）、『心理学研究』89（1）、2018、1-11
    Awards
    Jul 2009 Best Paper Award for Young Researchers 2007, The Nikkoso Research Foundation for Safe Society
    Oct 2011 Uchiyama Prize for Original Research in Psychology 2011
    Jun 2016 The Best Presentation Award (with Yanagida Munetaka and Fuji Kei), The Japanese Psychological Association’s 79th Annual Convention

Research

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