Original Papers

Historical origins of modern psychology in Japan: A viewpoint from Baiten Hori

NISHIKAWA, Yasuo (Dept. of Psychology, Hokkaido University, 060-0810, Japan)

In the field of psychology in Japan, many predecessors went abroad to the USA during the Meiji or Taisyo era; most of them earned a Ph.D. under G. Stanley Hall, directly or indirectly, at Johns Hopkins University or Clark University. After returning to Japan, many of these graduates helped to establish the study of Japanese academic Psychology at various national or private universities in Japan. However, most of these new psychologists ultimately disappeared from standard textbooks of the history of psychology in Japan, and few records now exist in the Japanese history of psychology, except those that list names, personal records, or some publications. In this paper, I cast a light on Prof. Baiten Hori (who earned a degree at Clark U., then returned home to Japan to a professorship of psychology at Keio University) and clarify the state of academic psychology in Japan at that time.

key words: historical origins of modern psychology in Japan, predecessors who earned Ph.D. degrees in the USA, G.Stanley Hall at Johns Hopkins University and Clark University, archives, Baiten Hori.

Historiography of the history of psychology: Using the collection of the books in the Archives for the History of American Psychology, Akron University

MIZOGUCHI, Hazime (Lab. of Life Science, Rissho University, 360-0194, Japan)

I studied the historiography and methodology of the history of psychology using the book collection from archives encompassing the history of American psychology at Akron University. Since the 1960s, some US psychologists recognized the importance of studying the history of psychology as well as the field of psychology itself to rediscover great past ideas and reestablish the field's truly fundamental issues. Psychologists should be aware of the social, intellectual and political context of their current research. Additionally, with this understanding, we can better describe how Japanese modern psychology was developed.

Key words: history of psychology, historiography, Akron University's archives.

New psychology curriculum arises from a dispute during pre-WWII Japan

SATO, Tatsuya (Dept. of Social Psychology, Fukushima University, 960-1296, Japan)

I examined and discussed the background, progress, and conclusion of a dispute about revising the1939 high school psychology curriculum in Japan. Psychologists appointed to a committee by the Ministry of Education proposed to revise this curriculum, which was then systematized according to the principles of Gestalt psychology. These principles were used because psychologists who had felt the future of psychology reached an impasse found Gestault psychology as an egress from such an impasse, as well as auxiliary for further developments in psychology. Additionally, emphasizing Gestalt theory on totality seemed in accordance with the policies of an imperialistic nation aimed at totalitarianism before WWII. However, many psychology professors deprecated the proposal, and as a result of this dispute, the proposal was discarded. Subsequently, a new, revised proposal was drafted and implemented.

Key words: history of psychology, Japan, Gestalt psychology, psychology curriculum.

Short Reports

Articles studied by Japanese psychologists and published in foreign psychological journals from 1890 to 1945

TAKASUNA, Miki (Psychology Lab, Yamano College of Aesthetics, 192-0396, Japan)

Ninety-four articles listed in the present paper were written by Japanese psychologists and published in foreign psychological journals before 1945. Most of the articles were found through author survey indexes in two journals: the Psychological Index (1895-1935), Psychological Abstracts (1927-1945), and twelve proceedings of the International Congress of Psychology (1890-1940). Forty-seven authors in the list were thought to be Japanese, although seven of these could not presently be identified. Nearly 80% of the articles were published in the United States.

Key words: Japanese psychologist, psychological journals, pre-WWII and during the WWII era, history of psychology, bibliographical survey.

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