Table 1.
Example set of stimuli presented in the persuasion task (translated from the original Japanese).
| [Norm agreement Decrease] |
| Using cell phones on the train is ok. |
| Prohibiting cellphone conversations but not those with people around you is unreasonable. |
| Both cellphone conversations and those with people around you are prohibited in theaters and libraries. |
| This is because loud voices are annoying in those situations. |
| Since normal conversations are not prohibited, cellphones use cannot be deemed annoying. |
| [Norm agreement Increase] |
| Reading magazines in convenience stores without buying them is bad. |
| Such behavior reduces the number of magazines purchased, which reduces the store’s revenue. |
| When stores have taken countermeasures, it increased magazine sales by 20%. |
| Reading without buying can also reduce the revenue of publishers and authors. |
| This behavior is considered stealing information from the magazine, and is as bad as shoplifting. |
| [Belief agreement Decrease] |
| Humans don’t have free will. |
| Everything in our universe including us is governed by the law of nature. |
| Our consciousness and actions are causally and inescapably determined from past states. |
| It is impossible to interfere with that chain of cause and effect. |
| Looking at things logically, the existence of free will must be denied. |
| [Belief agreement Increase] |
| Sugar is bad for your health. |
| Eating too much sugar causes dental decay. |
| Bacteria convert sugar to acid, which decays teeth. |
| Research in the UK has shown that the risk of dental decay is 1.5 times greater in people who eat a lot of sugar. |
| The Ministry of Health has reported that reducing sugar consumption effectively reduces this risk. |
| [Neutral] |
| Corsica in France |
| is an island belonging to France, located west of the Italian Peninsula in the Mediterranean. |
| Corsica is 8,680 km2, roughly the same size as Hyogo prefecture. |
| It is called Corsica in Italian, and Corse in French. |
| It is know as the place where the French emperor Napoleon was born. |
One complete message consisted of five statements that were presented as a block. The first statement expressed the desired conclusion, and the subsequent statements comprised the persuasive argument by providing evidence or claims that supported the first statement. Note that in Japan, the cultural norm is to refrain from using cell phones on the train.