Science of Mind and Action, Resolving Various Confrontations
The 21st C. is known as the “Age of Mind.” In the midst of a landscape where internationalization and computerization are developing rapidly, human relationships--not only among individuals but also between nations and various groups of society and the necessity of understanding and helping each other has increased in importance even further. However, confrontations and conflicts have been taking place one after another that cannot be resolved via outmoded human notions. Today, when it is difficult for mankind to live in an appropriate way, and people's modes of existence are being fundamentally questioned, an urgent task is to foster individuals equipped with the ability to understand the mind and behavior scientifically. The Department of Psychology was established in 2003 against the background of such needs. In the Department, we strive to foster individuals equipped with robust problem solving skills and who aim at thoroughgoing self-realization based on human understanding through psychological approaches.
Adopting Cognitive Science, Toward a New Direction for Human Science
In addition to traditional psychology, through adoption of cognitive science, an interdisciplinary field encompassing neuroscience, linguistics, philosophy, etc., we clarify operations of the mind, and actively pursue the development of human ability and prevention of disorders and behavioral problems. By adopting cognitive science, we can perform interdisciplinary collaboration with other Departments in the Faculty of Letters, and handle both the traditional parts and new parts of psychology. We utilize a small group system, represented by seminars, and have furnished a curriculum by which students can naturally acquire ways of determining problems and methods of solution through Seminars and Research Methods, etc.
Courses to Pursue the Mechanisms and the Development of Mind
The curriculum in the Department of Psychology is characterized by two main course groups, the “cognitive group” (pursuing the cognitive mechanisms of mind) and the “developmental group” (pursuing the life long development of mind ). This covers a wide-ranging area of studies of psychology from basics to applications, aiming at creating wide-ranging viewpoints and acquisition of knowledge, such as Sports Psychology, Neuroscience, Linguistics, Philosophy of Science and Artificial Intelligence. While mastering data analysis techniques and processing methods, etc., students can learn various psychological approaches such as experimental methods for investigating memory, language, or perception, measurement of brain waves, observation of children in classrooms.