September 17, 2002

Temple University, Japan Campus (TUJ) is pleased to introduce an exciting addition to its Undergraduate Program: a major in psychological studies. TUJ’s new psychological studies major will be offered for the first time in the spring semester starting January 2003.

A major in psychological studies from TUJ is viewed as a big plus for applicants to graduate programs and to entry-level positions in personnel management and in the counseling field in Japan. This new undergraduate major from TUJ also is seen as an excellent means of preparing students to meet or exceed the imminent changes to the Japanese government’s licensing requirements for psychology-related professions.

As with other TUJ courses, TUJ’s new major is an offshoot of studies offered at the Temple University main campus in Philadelphia. The Psychology Department of the College of Liberal Arts at the main campus is recognized as one of the best in the United States and boasts an international reputation for excellence in research. Its accumulated and innovative resources form the basis for the new psychological studies major at TUJ.

The new major requires one general methods course and a choice of two applied courses and emphasizes cross-cultural understanding and the history of special issues in psychology in Japan. It also includes a significant training and practicum component viewed from the Japanese perspective as essential, academically and experientially. Students will gain hands-on experience in counseling and have an opportunity to work one-on-one with a professor in the field.

TUJ’s psychological studies major spans a variety of courses. They include psychology as a social science, psychology as a natural science, cognition-memory, language and thought, developmental psychology, social psychology, psychopathology, theories of personality, systems of psychotherapy, a practicum, topics in psychology, and statistical methods and concepts, among others.