AbstractThe wordamaeis generally used in the Japanese language with a variety of emotions depending on different interpersonal interactions. (1) When an adult identifies with an infant or a child and directs appropriate emotional availability, the affect of dependence and attachment that the adult recognizes in the child is calledamae(the prototype of the word). (2) When an adult has little empathy with the dependency or attachment shown by the child, the adult negatively perceives that the child is “amaeru‐ing.” Experiencing such discommunications, the child begins to test adults to see if they have empathy with him or her. In other words, he or she begins to formulate certain psychological functions linked withamaesuch as reading other people's expressions—hitomishiri(stranger anxiety) orenryo(hesitation or reserve). (3) When the child is good at actively manipulating the emotions of adults and creates such a state of affect as to satisfy his or her dependence or attachment, he or she is said to be anamaeru‐ing child. (4) When the child, although he or she is actually dependent on or loved by adults, denies the fact and behaves innocently or defiantly, the child is said to be in a state ofamae.The usage of the wordamaedescribed above can be observed in exactly the same manner in interactions betwe