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Background: Japanese EFL learners often fail to identify and categorise the different degrees of certainty associated with CERTAIN, PROBABLE, and POSSIBLE items. This computer‐mediated study evaluated the relative effects of animated versus static illustrations on stimulating the spatial concept of distance for the acquisition of this knowledge. Objectives: This study aimed to: (1) discover whether the spatial concept of distance captured by three‐dimensional (3D) images in animated or static illustrations help learners understand spatial relationships more clearly, and (2) whether a static illustration is sufficient for learning the different degrees of certainty. Method: Animated and static visualisation groups used 3D images of animated versus static illustrations that capture the spatial concept of distance, and a contrasting group did not use illustrations. The former applied the spatial concept of distance to learn the degrees of certainty, using animated or static illustrations. A spatial concept‐oriented approach that visualises concepts of distance enabled participants to understand the degrees of certainty. The contrasting approach involved rote learning of a list of target expressions for the different degrees of certainty in English. Results and Conclusions: Both the animated and static versions of the spatial concept‐oriented approaches were equally effective. The difference between the two versions did not significantly impact the overall performance of the groups. Takeaways: Regardless of the type of effect, the spatial concept of distance captured in words and illustrations helped the participants (1) process the different degrees of certainty cognitively in terms of distances and (2) retain them in long‐term memory. Lay Description: What is already known about this topic: Understanding our experiences in terms of metaphors based on spatially visualised concepts of the physical world leads to mapping the embodied concepts onto non‐embodied concepts and retaining these in long‐lasting memory.3D descriptions direct people's attention to the spatially visualised concepts, which influences people to internalise them with ease.The lack of consensus (in previous studies) on the effect of animated versus static versions of the metaphor awareness‐raising approach with either 2D or 3D images has some relevance to the cognitive theory of multimedia learning. What this paper adds: Computer‐generated 3D images were used to help participants in the metaphor‐based groups understand spatial relationships related to the degrees of certainty among certain, probable, and possible items.This study evaluated the relative effects of animated versus static illustrations on stimulating the spatial concept of distance for the acquisition of this knowledge.The animated and static version of the metaphor‐based approach groups outperformed those in the non‐metaphor‐based and control groups. Implications for practice and/or policy: It is necessary to consider all possible confounding variables and control for their effects when designing future animation versus static studies.Further analysis of the spatial concept‐oriented metaphor‐based approach from the perspectives of the cognitive theory of multimedia learning combined with cognitive linguistic theory would be beneficial for fellow researchers and teachers to gain insight into the nuances of the approach and expand its application in the EFL context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Morita therapy is one of the leading alternative psychotherapeutic approaches that has emerged from Japan and has adapted with notable success to the mores and demands of the Western medical establishment. Although still on the margin, Morita therapy has the potential to offer a viable option for those who seek therapeutic assistance for various neuroses and psychosomatic illnesses that culminate in psychiatric symptoms such as generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive‐compulsive disorder, or posttraumatic stress disorder. Diverging considerably from conventional Western psychiatric approaches, Morita therapy has its own modes of conceiving mental illness and offers distinct curative methods that are in some ways akin to the techniques of meaning‐centred psychotherapies, but in many other ways are rather different. In this paper, the meaning‐formation and the building of a constant sense of purpose in Morita therapy is explored, with a special focus on how these relate to creating a stable psychological framework for the client. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Only a few Japanese psychologists have been interested in the history of psychology. The historiography-or the methodology of historical description-for the history of psychology has been ignored. Moreover, chairs for professors, academic journals, academic meetings, and an archive of the history of psychology remain to be established. In this paper, the history of the 'history of psychology' in Japan is explored. This academic sub-discipline has emerged only during the past few decades and a theory driven historiography covering the history of psychology was initiated in Japan only at the end of the 20th century. Activities on the history of Japanese psychology can be divided into three phases: (a) the traditional history (translations and introduction of foreign knowledge and celebration of history); (b) the transition phase (the movement towards social criticism and archival research from intra-discipline); and (c) the history based on the historiography. Lastly, recent trends in the history of psychology in Japan are examined and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the Allied occupation of Japan after the Second World War, the Civil Information and Educational Section ( CIE) Libraries played an important role in providing new foreign books and journals in the field of psychology. This paper first gives an overview of the history of psychology in Japan around the time of the Second World War. Subsequently, important excerpts from an oral history with Japanese psychologists are presented. Finally, based on information from this oral history, a survey of the books on psychology in the CIE Yokohama Library was conducted. Results of the survey indicate that CIE Libraries offered foreign books on topics in applied psychology, such as clinical psychology. The opportunities provided by this library had a profound impact on psychological study and practice in Japan. As many materials from this period are missing, including all books and journals from the CIE Hibiya Library, further research should include oral history from psychologists who visited these libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]