This small grant will provide for pilot testing, preparation of instruments, and consultations among principal investigators for renewal and extension of the investigators' prior NSF-supported study on rule systems in Japanese and American schools. The aim of the new research is to expand and refine the study of socialization into rule systems in Japan and the United States by focusing on children's development of a sense of obligation. This planning grant will constitute the initial stages of a major project. The anticipated design calls for exploration of developmental and cultural differences in the sense of obligation to either follow the established rules and norms or adhere to one's own internalized values. This grant will also provide support for an undergraduate student, under the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Program, to work on the development stages of a potential large-scale, cross-cultural study. This research promises to continue the investigators' previous successful line of research on legal socialization and classroom motivation. How rule systems develop and function and produce different patterns of conduct and accomplishment in Japanese and American youths has profound implications for understanding not only law-abiding behavior in citizens but also achievement and academic motivation in youth.
