Dean's Message
Prof. Hideki OKABAYASHI,
Dean, Graduate School of Psychology
Integrating scientific knowledge with practical usefulness is the challenge of psychology.
“There is nothing as practical as a good theory” by Kurt Lewin.
Kurt Lewin, a distinguished psychologist in the 1940s said, “There is nothing as practical as a good theory.” Today, people tend to think that theory and practice are totally different, and that scientific knowledge is not needed because it is less useful in real-life situations. However, our faculty members and students intentionally contribute to modern society based on scientific knowledge. It is not only through the practice of caring clients that they can contribute to our society. Rather, good theories based on scientific knowledge accumulated over our long-term history allow us to understand how people behave under various social or cultural situations and over successive periods. The immediate usefulness of practice can lose its power as time goes on. It is the insight obtained through scientific thinking that can produce useful knowledge with universal value in the long-run. In the Graduate School of Psychology, students can satisfy the eligibility requirements to receive qualification as “Certified Public Psychologist” and/or “Certified Clinical Psychologist.” Nevertheless, our objective is not only to gain practical knowledge or occupational qualifications, but also to understand human behaviors based on psychological theories. Furthermore, we try to build new theories from our research activities, which may have a wider application than skills acquired by personal experiences. Studying in the graduate school is a circulative process between pursuing a scientific knowledge and applying it to the real world. We welcome students with intellectual curiosity from all over the world who wish to work with us towards addressing the problems arising in today’s world.
Overview
We offer master’s and doctoral courses for students to become practitioners and researchers in the field of psychology. In our two-year master’s course, students conduct their research for master’s thesis in one of the various areas of psychology. Also, students can participate in practicums at several fields such as schools and hospitals to satisfy certified requirements to receive qualification as “Certified Public Psychologist” and/or “Certified Clinical Psychologist.” In our three-year doctoral course, students conduct advanced research and write a doctoral thesis to become a professional researcher.
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Faculties
International students or researchers around the world are able to get contact with our faculty members by email in Japanese or English if you have interest in the same research fields. This will be a great spring-board for the future collaboration!
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