Seiji Takaku

Seiji Takaku is Associate Professor of Psychology and is the Director of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Soka University of America (SUA). He was previously Assistant Professor of Psychology at Minnesota State University, Mankato from 2000 - 2002. He received his B.A. from University of California, Los Angeles, his M.A. from California State University, Long Beach, and his Ph.D. from Claremont Graduate University.

Research
Takaku's research interests include Apology and forgiveness, Cross-cultural studies on interpersonal & intergroup conflict resolutions, and Motivation theories in psychology and Weiner's theory of attribution in particular.

His publications include:
 * "Reducing road rage: A test of the dissonance-attribution model of interpersonal forgiveness," Journal of Applied Social Psychology, in press
 * "A cross-cultural examination of people’s perceptions of apology, responsibility, and justice: From the U.S.S. Greenville accident to the E-P3 airplane accident," Tohoku Psychologica Folia., in press
 * "What can Eastern philosophies teach us about psychology of human conflict?," Daibyaku-Renge, Seikyo Shimbun Press, 2005
 * "Appeasement and Forgiveness in Conflict Resolution," a talk presented at the 28th International Congress of Psychology, Beijing, China, August 2004
 * "Immigration and ethnic conflict in comparative perspective," The Psychology of Ethnic and Cultural Conflict, Westport, CA: Greenwood., 2004
 * Perception and interpretation of terrorism, justice, and peace: Three cultures and two sides of one coin," Psychology of Ethnic and Cultural Conflict, Westport, CA: Greenwood., 2004
 * "An examination of account selection model: Acceptance/rejection of responsibility, strategicness vs. authenticity, and culture," Tohoku Psychologica Folia, 2003
 * "A cross-cultural examination of the effects of apology and perspective taking on forgiveness," Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 2001
 * "The effects of apology and perspective taking on interpersonal forgiveness: Introducing a dissonance-attribution model of interpersonal forgiveness," Journal of Social Psychology, 2001
 * "Culture and status influences on account-giving: Comparison between the U.S.A. and Japan," Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 2000

Honors and Awards

 * Highlights of Teaching Award from the College of Social and Behavioral Science at Minnesota State University, Mankato, 2001
 * Recipient of the Arthur H. Brayfiled Most Meritorious Dissertation of the Year Award from Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA., 2000
 * Nominated for the most outstanding master’s thesis of the year, California State University, Long Beach, 1997
 * Magna Cum Laude from UCLA, 1993