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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]

Although feelings and emotions are a major topic in psychology now, the research history in this area in Japan does not seem to be widely known. The current paper provides an overview of the history of the psychology of feelings and emotions in Japan up to 1970. Before Japan opened its door to the outside world (– 1850s), there were researchers who specialized in Confucianism. In the late 19th century, some Western philosophical psychologists were introduced. In approximately 1903, experimental methods were introduced to Japan, but very few experimental studies were published. In this period, G. S. Hall strongly influenced research directions. At approximately the time of World War Il, although Japanese psychology was influenced by Gestalt psychology, the popularity of Gestalt psychology altered the methods of experimental studies on emotions. After World War Il, American psychology showed a strong impact on Japanese psychology; in particular, the Yale school played a major role in encouraging studies on feelings and emotions in Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we aim to describe the developing process of early Japanese psychology. This is the story of the institutionalization of psychology in Japan. We deal with the first period of Japanese psychology and trace the process of shaping the discipline of psychology in Japan. We also focus on the life and studies of Motora, who was the first psychology professor in Japan, and those of his students. In 1903, Yuzero Motora opened the first formal laboratory of psychology at Tokyo Imperial University, and in 1904, the first 2-year course in psychology was commenced. Both the laboratory and the two-year course could produce psychology students who studied“new” or experimental psychology. But not all the experimentation resulted in success. We also examine Fukurai's clairvoyance and thoughtgraphy experiments. Although Fukurai was one of the promising students of Motora, he gradually changed interest to parapsychology. Fukurai's adherence to these psychic phenomenon and his isolation from academic society resulted in the removal of clinical psychology from the psychology discipline in Japan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses five topics. They are as follows:1. A brief chronological record of the Japanese Psychological Association (JPA) and its annual meetings highlighting the following events: (a) its official establishment on the April 7, 1927, and the long and arduous preparations that preceded this event; (b) the 66th annual meeting of the JPA held in September 2002 in Hiroshima City; and (c) the 75th anniversary celebrations held simultaneously from the September 25–27, 2002.2. The background of modern Japanese psychology at its inception and the origin of the Japanese term“shinrigaku.”3. The introduction of modern scientific psychology to Japan, its early proponents and their mentors.4. The spread of modern Japanese psychology through the work of scholars in imperial and private universities. The influence of Dr G. S. Hall on Japanese scholars, such as Dr Yokoyama of Keio-gijiku, who attended Clark University for their PhD.5. The organizational background of the JPA and the growth in its membership through the participation of additional imperial and private universities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The field of comparative psychology (also called animal psychology) in Japan, as it developed from 1900 to 1945, is reviewed. After evaluating more than 100 research papers (including short abstracts), six researchers were selected as examples of typical Japanese comparative psychologists in approximately the first half of the 20th century. The chosen researchers, K. Masuda, R. Kuroda, S. Kanda, J. G. Yoshioka, S. Takagi, and T. Takemasa, for the most part focused their research in the areas of learning and perception or basic behavioral traits, commonly known as tropism. They studied a wide variety of subjects, from invertebrates to primates, until the end of World War II, when so-called neo-behaviorism prevailed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There were three Japanese medical physiologists who studied in Ivan Petrovich Pavlov's laboratory during 1904–1933. They were Hidetsurumaru Ishikawa, Yasutaro Satake, and Takashi Hayashi. The first article concerning Pavlov's theory was written by Ishikawa in 1916. At the same time, a psychologist, Genji Kuroda, also wrote an essay on Pavlov's theory. They were motivated to write the articles by a false report of Pavlov's death in 1916. Satake carried out experimental work using dogs, but he did not cite Pavlov's scientific works. Hayashi worked hard according to Pavlov's research methods. A psychologist, Yasho Kotake, first published a paper based on Pavlov's theory inJapanese Journal of Psychologyin 1943. However, these experiments did not seem to be research in the psychological field because his research program was very different to traditional Japanese psychological research. Although the introduction of behaviorism into Japan occurred in the 1910s, the reception of Pavlov's theory was delayed. The process of the reception of Pavlov's theory in Japan was different to that in the USA. It seems that the difference is due to the attitudes of psychologists to introspection and the influence of German psychology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]