In research on the attribution of responsibility, increasing attention is being paid to the fact that responsibility judgments are social negotiations, not just the cognitions of isolated individuals. In this negotiating process, accow~cs, including excuses and justifications, may diminish or even eliminate responsibility for wrongdoing. This paper presents a perspective on responsibility attribution and reviews recent literature on accounts. It emphasizes the way in which aspects of social roles-specifically, the solidarity or closeness of the parties and their hierarchical or equal status-may affect the choice and effectiveness of accounts. A second theme is the way in which the impact of various accounts may vary across cultures: In this case, the United States vs. Japan. We pay special attention to differences between roles and between cultures in use of three accounts: denial (e.g. "I didn't do it"); consensus (e.g. "everyone does it"); and apology. The paper draws on pilot research carried out in the U.S. and Japan. Results showed that solidarity, hierarchy, and culture each affected the use of accounts, but sometimes in complex ways. We conclude by offering speculations and suggestions for future cross-cultural research into the social psychology of attributing responsibility and offering acwunts.Dans les recherches sur I'attribution de responsabilitt, une attention accrue est portte sur le fait que les jugements de responsabilitt sont des nkgociations sociales et non seulement les cognitions d'individus isolts. Dans ce processus de ntgociation, les explications, incluant les excuses et justifications, peuvent diminuer ou meme Climiner la responsabilitt pour de mauvaises actions. Cette ttude prtsente une perspective sur l'attribution de responsabilitt et recense les ecrits rtcents sur les explications. Elle met I'accent sur la faGon suivant laquelle certains aspects des rdes sociaux-et plus spkcifiquement, la solidaritt ou le rapprochement des parties, ainsi que leur statut hikrarchique ou kgalitakepeuvent affecter le choix et I'efficacite des explications. Un second theme est la faeon suivant laquelle I'impact de diverses explications peut varier en fonction des cultures: dans le cas prtsent, les Etats-Unis ou le Japon. Une attention spkciale est portee aux difftrences entre les r6les et entre les cultures dans Requests for reprints should be sent to V.

The representation of social groups in advertising has been a major concern in academia. However, research focusing on older people has been scant and mainly conducted in Western countries. In Japan, the country that has been most affected by demographic change, this research area has received little attention. Through a content analysis of a systematic sample of 2,972 television advertisements broadcast on the five major commercial television stations in Japan in 1997 and 2007, this paper tries to fill this research gap, examining changes in the representation of older people in Japanese television advertising. When comparing 2007 to 1997, we found that older people appeared more often, were increasingly alone and in major roles, and were portrayed in more favourable ways, which suggests that their status changed. These changes appear to be related to the fact that older people have become more important within Japanese society. However, some aspects have remained unchanged; older people continue to be under-represented, which does not reflect demographic reality, and are used in advertisements for foods and beverages, confirming findings from previous studies. Our findings indicate that the representation of older people in Japanese television advertising has changed but remains unrealistic.

This content analysis of 306 Japanese television advertisements featuring older people (50+) analyzed differences in representation based on gender. The results revealed that both genders were underrepresented in comparison to demographic reality. This disparity was even more pronounced for older females, who appeared in less than half as many commercials as did older males. Older females were depicted at home, while their male counterparts were shown in the workplace. Moreover, some product categories were associated with a particular gender: cosmetics/toiletries with females and foods/beverages with males. Many of these findings are in accordance with previous studies from other parts of the world. Adding evidence from Japan lends support to the hypothesis of global gender stereotypes.

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