Teaching Introductory Psychology as Civics in Japanese High Schools

Abstract

  This paper examined issues in teaching introductory psychology in Japanese high schools. Psychology is taught as a component of the civics curriculum in high schools, not as a subject. In the U.S. and the U.K, high school psychology is a popular elective subject based on scientific psychology, making the goals of psychology education in these countries different from those in Japan. The psychological content in civics had remained unchanged for nearly 60 years, focusing on adolescent psychology and psychoanalysis as part of the European history of philosophy. Next, academic societies' efforts to solve these problems are discussed. In the new National Standard starting in 2022, content from psychology, such as individual differences, emotion, cognition, and development, has been introduced in the civics curriculum as "Ethics." Furthermore, content related to psychology is also addressed in other subjects, and the necessity of cross-subject learning is discussed. Finally, teachers' and students' needs for psychological education and future issues that psychologists and academic societies should resolve are considered.