Poster Presentation 6th World Congress on Positive Psychology 2019

Preliminary Study Of Ideas Of Peace Among Japanese Individuals    (#632)

Tomoko Kitani 1 , Yuka Kamite 2
  1. Elisabeth University of Music, NAKA-KU, HIROSHIMA, Japan
  2. Hiroshima university, Hiroshima

In recent years, peace has received increasing attention in the study of psychology.Previous studies have defined peace using the two elements harmony and violence. The idea of peace implies multiple levels, from the micro level (individual peace) to the macro level (general peace).In Japan, there has been little research on peace. This study examined ideas of peace among Japanese individuals. The participants were 51 college students, and they answered a questionnaire asking “What kind of state do you imagine peace is?”The following two features were observed. For the Japanese respondents, the concept of peace is closely related to the words happiness and satisfaction. Peace combines three elements—harmony, violence, and satisfaction. The Japanese participants recognized multiple levels of peace. It was characteristic that those different levels varied in the ideas of peace among the respondents. For example, macro-level peace (general peace) was thought of in relation to violence, and micro-level peace (individual peace) was thought of in relation to harmony and satisfaction. This study had two main limitations: there were few participants, and it was conducted in a limited area. Future study should increase the number of participants and the size of the study area.