Regional differences in Japanese emotions toward reconstruction activities after the 2011 Great East Japan earthquake: Effects of geographical distance, current and historical damage

This study clarified some psychological mechanisms related to uncooperative decisions by considering the trends of regional differences in emotions related to reconstruction activities. We administered an internet-based questionnaire survey of 779 Japanese people from eight regions reflecting various geographical distances and levels of damage from the disaster in 2011 or previous disasters. Exploratory factor analysis results showed that eight emotional evaluations for supporters and dissenters of reconstruction activities were grouped into two common structures: positive and negative. Analysis of variance results showed that among supporters, there were no regional differences for high positive emotions or low negative emotions. For dissenters, current damage and historical damage were significantly associated with negative emotions and suppressed positive emotions. These results indicate that empathy resources such as damage from a past disaster are associated with people's emotional state or attitudes related to reconstruction activities.