The History of Japanese Psychology - Global Perspectives, 1875-1950

Through a focus on the contributions of pioneers such as Motora Yujiro (1858-1912) and Matsumoto Matataro (1865-1943), this book explores the origins of Japanese psychology, charting cross-cultural connections, commonalities, and the transition from religious-moralistic to secular-scientific definitions of human nature.

Emerging at the intersection of philosophy, pedagogy, physiology, and physics, psychology in the late 19th and early 20th centuries confronted the pressures of industrialization and became allied with attempts to integrate individual subjectivities into larger institutions and organizations. Such social management was accomplished through Japan's establishment of a schooling system that incorporated psychological research, making educational practices both products of and the driving force behind changing notions of selfhood. In response to new forms of labor and loyalty, applied psychology led to or became implicated in personality tests, personnel selection, therapy, counseling, military science, colonial policies, and "national spirit." The birth of Japanese psychology, however, was more than a mere adaptation to the challenges of modernity: it heralded a transformation of the very mental processes it claimed to be exploring.

With detailed appendices, tables and charts to provide readers with a meticulous and thorough exploration of the subject and adopting a truly comparative perspective, The History of Japanese Psychology is a unique study that will be valuable to students and scholars of Japanese intellectual history and the history of psychology.

List of contents

Preface
Notes to the Reader
Prologue: A Physics for the Soul
1. Places, Periods, and Peoples: Problematizing Psyche
2. Historical Context: Japanese Cosmology and Psychology as Secularized Theology
3. From Soul to Psyche: A Change of Mind in Late Nineteenth-Century Japan
4. Early Institutionalization: How Higher Education and Disciplined the Psyche
5. Motora Yujiro and Matsumoto Matataro: The Founders of Japanese Psychology
6. Intellectual Reactions: Spiritualizing the Psyche and Psychologizing Society
7. Organizational Institutionalization: Professionalization, Applications, and Measuring the Mind
8. Disciplinary Maturation: Specializations, Theories, and Psychotherapy
9. Nationalist-Imperialist Psychology: State, Schooling, and Military Applications
10. Reconstruction and Expansion: Postimperial Japan as a Psychologized Society
Epilogue: In Retrospect: Trajectories, Alternative Routes, and the Contributions of Japanese Women Psychologists
Appendices
Tables and Charts
Bibliography
Index

About the author

Brian J. McVeigh

Brian J. McVeigh has published a number of books with Bloomsbury. He received his PhD in anthropology from Princeton University, researches how humans adapt, both through history and therapeutically, and has published extensively on counseling, the history of Japanese psychology, the origins of religions, the Bible, ancient Egypt, spirit possession, art and popular culture, linguistics, nationalism, and changing definitions of self, time, and space. He lived and worked in China and Japan for many years and taught at the University of Arizona. He is in private practice as a licensed mental health counselor (LMHC) and is Senior Researcher and Advisor at the Julian Jaynes Society. His current projects include Ghosts and Gods of Ancient Rome: What They Say about Human Mentality, Julian Jaynes for Beginners, and a work of fiction, The Abyss Speaks.

Summary

Through a focus on the contributions of pioneers such as Motora Yujiro (1858–1912) and Matsumoto Matataro (1865–1943), this book explores the origins of Japanese psychology, charting cross-cultural connections, commonalities, and the transition from religious–moralistic to secular–scientific definitions of human nature.

Emerging at the intersection of philosophy, pedagogy, physiology, and physics, psychology in the late 19th and early 20th centuries confronted the pressures of industrialization and became allied with attempts to integrate individual subjectivities into larger institutions and organizations. Such social management was accomplished through Japan’s establishment of a schooling system that incorporated psychological research, making educational practices both products of and the driving force behind changing notions of selfhood. In response to new forms of labor and loyalty, applied psychology led to or became implicated in personality tests, personnel selection, therapy, counseling, military science, colonial policies, and “national spirit.” The birth of Japanese psychology, however, was more than a mere adaptation to the challenges of modernity: it heralded a transformation of the very mental processes it claimed to be exploring.

With detailed appendices, tables and charts to provide readers with a meticulous and thorough exploration of the subject and adopting a truly comparative perspective, The History of Japanese Psychology is a unique study that will be valuable to students and scholars of Japanese intellectual history and the history of psychology.

Foreword

Explores the origins of Japanese psychology through the contributions of pioneering individuals, charting cross-cultural connections, commonalities, and the changing definition of human nature.

Additional text

McVeigh’s History of Japanese Psychology is nothing short of a landmark achievement in the history of psychology. He is both detailed and comprehensive in providing a rich understanding the historical, cultural, and social forces that colluded to bring about the “interiorization” of the person, and thus the emergence of a modern Psychology in Japan. Spanning over 1,000 years of history, he illustrates not only an evolution of concepts dealing with subjectivity, but how the consumer of psychological knowledge, on a more practical level, is also affected.

Product details

• Authors: Brian J. McVeigh, Brian J. (University At Albany Mcveigh, MCVEIGH BRIAN J
• Assisted by: Christopher Gerteis (Editor)
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 30.06.2018
• No. of pages: 336
• Dimensions: 244 mm x 171 mm x 16 mm
• Weight: 560 g
• Series: SOAS Studies in Modern and Contemporary Japan; Soas Studies in Modern and Con; Soas Studies in Modern and Con; SOAS Studies in Modern and Contemporary Japan
• Subject: Humanities, art, music > Psychology