\documentclass[10pt]{article}

\usepackage{fullpage}
\usepackage{setspace}
\usepackage{parskip}
\usepackage{titlesec}
\usepackage[section]{placeins}
\usepackage{xcolor}
\usepackage{breakcites}
\usepackage{lineno}
\usepackage{hyphenat}





\PassOptionsToPackage{hyphens}{url}
\usepackage[colorlinks = true,
            linkcolor = blue,
            urlcolor  = blue,
            citecolor = blue,
            anchorcolor = blue]{hyperref}
\usepackage{etoolbox}
\makeatletter
\patchcmd\@combinedblfloats{\box\@outputbox}{\unvbox\@outputbox}{}{%
  \errmessage{\noexpand\@combinedblfloats could not be patched}%
}%
\makeatother


\usepackage[round]{natbib}
\let\cite\citep




\renewenvironment{abstract}
  {{\bfseries\noindent{\abstractname}\par\nobreak}\footnotesize}
  {\bigskip}

\titlespacing{\section}{0pt}{*3}{*1}
\titlespacing{\subsection}{0pt}{*2}{*0.5}
\titlespacing{\subsubsection}{0pt}{*1.5}{0pt}


\usepackage{authblk}


\usepackage{graphicx}
\usepackage[space]{grffile}
\usepackage{latexsym}
\usepackage{textcomp}
\usepackage{longtable}
\usepackage{tabulary}
\usepackage{booktabs,array,multirow}
\usepackage{amsfonts,amsmath,amssymb}
\providecommand\citet{\cite}
\providecommand\citep{\cite}
\providecommand\citealt{\cite}
% You can conditionalize code for latexml or normal latex using this.
\newif\iflatexml\latexmlfalse
\providecommand{\tightlist}{\setlength{\itemsep}{0pt}\setlength{\parskip}{0pt}}%

\AtBeginDocument{\DeclareGraphicsExtensions{.pdf,.PDF,.eps,.EPS,.png,.PNG,.tif,.TIF,.jpg,.JPG,.jpeg,.JPEG}}

\usepackage[utf8]{inputenc}
\usepackage[english]{babel}










\begin{document}

\title{Science of a Local Cultural Phenomenon}



\author[1]{Hiroshi Nittono }%
\author[2]{Backstories}%
\affil[1]{Cognitive Psychophysiology Laboratory, Graduate School of Integrated Arts and Sciences, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima, 739-8521, Japan}%
\affil[2]{Backstories}%


\vspace{-1em}



  
  \date{June 17, 2024}


\begingroup
\let\center\flushleft
\let\endcenter\endflushleft
\maketitle
\endgroup








\sloppy


\emph{This article was originally published on}
\href{https://thewinnower.com/discussions/11-science-of-a-local-cultural-phenomenon}{\emph{The
Winnower}} \emph{and is the backstory behind~Nittono, H., Fukushima, M.,
Yano, A., \& Moriya, H. (2012). The power of kawaii: Viewing cute images
promotes a careful behavior and narrows attentional focus, PLoS ONE,
7(9), e46362.
doi:\href{https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0046362}{10.1371/journal.pone.0046362}}

In this paper, I reported three experiments to demonstrate that people
who viewed pictures of kittens and puppies, as compared to those who
viewed pictures of adult animals, perform better on subsequent tasks
that require dexterity and carefulness and tend to focus on the finer
details of an object {[}1{]}. To be honest, I am not a pet lover. In
more than forty years of life, my family and I have never had any
kittens and puppies of our own. I have been a researcher in
psychophysiology for twenty years, measuring activities in the brain and
the autonomic nervous system in connection with various psychological
phenomena. I had never dreamt of doing this kind of ``pop'' research up
until a few years ago when a third-year student of mine asked me if she
could study human reactions to~\emph{kawaii}~items as the theme of her
diploma thesis.

\emph{Kawaii}~is one of the most popular words in contemporary Japan.
Roughly speaking, it means ``cute,'' ``lovely,'' ``pretty,''
``adorable,'' etc. This word is frequently uttered to express the
speaker's favorable evaluation toward an object or person. Because it is
used too often, sociologists and journalists have discussed for decades
that~\emph{kawaii}~is a key concept to understand the characteristics of
modern Japanese people and culture. Nevertheless, many believed that it
was out of the scope of science. ``It is difficult,'' I said, ``but if
you really want to do so, try it.'' While she recorded
psychophysiological responses to human and animal baby pictures {[}2{]},
I carefully read through many articles regarding~\emph{kawaii}, from
``The Pillow Book,'' an essay written by a Japanese court lady around
the year 1000, to the most recent fashion magazines. As a psychologist,
I was curious why people love~\emph{kawaii}~so much and thought that
there should be a psychological factor that reinforces the behavior of
admiring and possessing~\emph{kawaii}~items. At that point I was
confident that, when done well, this line of research would attract much
public attention, at least inside Japan.

Shortly after we started this investigation, an interesting psychology
paper was published in the US. The authors argued that viewing pictures
of baby animals promotes behavioral carefulness {[}3{]}. Because the
results initially sounded odd but intriguing, I tried to replicate and
extend the findings in a Japanese sample with support of three other
students of mine. This is how and why I started the experiments reported
in the paper in question.

As many other projects were going on in parallel, it took about two
years to complete three experiments. The paper was first submitted
to~\emph{Psychological Science}, which is one of the most highly reputed
journals that publish many exciting psychology papers. However, it was
rejected immediately without being sent out to reviewers, because the
paper made ``a useful but incremental contribution to the literature''
rather than reporting ``groundbreaking findings.'' Needless to say, I
had been aware that the study lacked true originality and was, in
essence, a replication. On the other hand, I was pretty sure that this
topic would attract public attention, so we decided to submit it to an
open access journal,~\emph{PLoS ONE}. Before resubmission, however, I
added a twist. Originally, the paper was titled ``The power of
cuteness,'' which was more comprehensible for an international audience.
However, I deliberately changed it to "The power of~\emph{kawaii,}" with
the Japanese public in mind. I also inserted a short paragraph at the
beginning of the paper to introduce what~\emph{kawaii}~is and what it
means in Japanese culture.

After the second revision, it was published in September 2012.
Fortunately, the editor and reviewers never asked me to change the title
to a ``plainer'' one. Therefore, it became the first peer-reviewed
scientific paper with the word~\emph{kawaii}~in the title among more
than 23 million citations in PubMed. Before publication, for the first
time in my life I asked a public information officer from my university
to put out a media release.

The research was positively received. On the day of publication and the
following several days, I was interviewed by a dozen of Japanese
newspapers, radio hosts, and TV personalities. Furthermore, over seventy
international news and blogs featured our findings, which surpassed my
predictions. There were remarkable differences in the focus of interest
between Japanese and international news media. While Japanese media
mainly focused on the idea of scientific research on~\emph{kawaii},
other media passed over this aspect and just focused on the finding that
viewing pictures of kittens and puppies may benefit work performance.

What enabled this research study to generate so much attention? It was
partly due to luck, of course. With hindsight, however, there seem to be
several factors that increased the likelihood of an article gaining
wider attention in society. First, the study originated from a
layperson's question. Second, the topic was well-framed in a local
cultural background. Third, the finding itself was relevant to a wider,
international audience for different reasons than those that pertained
to the original culture. Fourth, it was published in a popular open
access journal that is easily accessible by everyone via the Internet.
Last but not least, what I learned from this experience is that, in
order to publish a paper that is influential amongst the general public,
it is important to conduct not only a groundbreaking study but also a
study that replicates previous findings and extends them in a proper
direction that many people are interested in learning more about.

\subsubsection*{REFERENCES}\label{references}

1. Nittono, H., Fukushima, M., Yano, A., \& Moriya, H. (2012). The power
of~\emph{kawaii}: Viewing cute images promotes a careful behavior and
narrows attentional focus, PLoS ONE, 7 (9),
e46362.~\href{http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0046362}{doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0046362}

2. Nittono, H., \& Tanaka, K. (2010). Psychophysiological responses
to~\emph{kawaii}~(cute) visual images
{[}abstract{]}.~\emph{International Journal of Psychophysiology}, 77,
268-269.~\href{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2010.06.107}{doi:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2010.06.107}

3. Sherman, G. D., Haidt, J., \& Coan, J. A. (2009). Viewing cute images
increases behavioral carefulness.~\emph{Emotion}, 9,
282-286.~\href{http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0014904}{doi:
10.1037/a0014904}

\selectlanguage{english}
\FloatBarrier
\end{document}

