桐谷 佳惠

We proposed a simple self-disclosure game to facilitate communication between strangers and examined its effectiveness. The game involved a quiz format with five or six players. Each player was quizzed on a pre-arranged theme about themselves, and the other players took turns guessing the answers. We tested four different conditions based on two factors, "individual match" or "team match" and "simple rule" or "complex rule," to determine which conditions were the most effective. All experiments were carried out online, and participants were asked to conceal their faces, which is not an ideal situation for icebreaker games. As a result, the participants enjoyed the game in all conditions, easily communicating or collaborating with others to find the answers. The basic game rules were effective, and the team system and the complexity did not have a significant impact on the game's effectiveness. We found the game an effective icebreaker because it allowed participants to easily start and continue conversations without awkward silences.

<p>As a method of makeup, Japanese women prefer similar colors to their skin. This study aims to clarify this statement, using the perceptual illusion of makeup, and to establish whether the statement is biased by women's exposure to the method. A preliminary survey showed that only the Japanese female participants were aware of the similar-color method, and preferred similar colors to their complexions. The primary experiment tested the evaluation, by Japanese and Chinese in their 20s, male and female participants, of a yellowish face, with various shades of lipstick, as "beautiful," "natural," a "ruddy complexion" or "acceptable." All participant groups agreed that orange to red-pink lipsticks, result in a ruddy complexion. These colors were appreciated, by Japanese and Chinese men and Chinese women, as beautiful, natural and acceptable. However, Japanese women rated orangish lipstick the highest, in these three measures. Therefore, the judgement of makeup is a behavior that is determined and learned, based on past experience.</p>

Amodal completion has various functional effects, including an apparent slimming effect achieved by clothes. Local and global completion factors have been examined in previous studies, which also apply to the apparent slimming effect. Exposed parts of the body constitute the local factor at the junction area, while the shape or cut of the clothes is concerned with the whole configuration. This study investigated which is more important, the local or whole factors, for amodal completion in relation to the apparent slimming effect using drawings as stimuli. In Experiment 1, we examined the effects of the length and cut of a skirt. The length of the skirt corresponds to the local factor of the body, that is, the legs, because the exposed parts of the legs depend on skirt length (assuming a person of consistent height). We found that skirts' cut influenced their effect more than their length did. Experiments 2 and 3 revealed that the vertical form of clothes affects slimming by hiding thicker parts of the body and highlighting thinner parts. A supplemental experiment using geometrical figures suggested that the apparent slimming effect of clothes might occur only in the human body configuration.

<p>Point makeup perceptually affects overall facial color; for example, it takes on the tinge of the eye shadow color. This study preliminarily confirmed the assimilation effect by lipstick colors and the relationship between perceptual and esthetic measures. Four typical lipstick colors, red, pink, orange, and violet, were utilized. An averaged face varied based on two factors, lightness (lighter and darker) and hue (reddish and yellowish), was examined. Twenty-four females assessed the faces in terms of perceptual hue (redness for the reddish faces and yellowness for the yellowish faces), perceptual lightness, dullness, and looking-goodness via paired comparisons. Consequently, an assimilation effect of lipstick's hue on perceptual complexion was confirmed. However, a perceptual change in lightness could not be explained by assimilation or contrast; the redness of lipsticks enhanced the perceptual lightness of complexion. Dullness negatively correlated not only with perceptual lightness but also with perceptual redness of faces and physical redness of lipsticks. Looking-goodness clearly correlated with perceptual redness of faces and each lipstick color had its own effect.</p>