This paper reviews psychological studies on children in infancy, early and middle childhood, which were conducted over the previous year in Japan. The review covers research papers published in The Japanese Journal of Educational Psychology, The Japanese Journal of Developmental Psychology, The Japanese Journal of Psychology, and Japanese Psychological Research from July 2017 to June 2018. The review also covers research presentations from The 60th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Association of Educational Psychology. The studies are organized into four topics focusing on the social context (s) of child development: (a) studies related to the family context, (b) studies related to the school context, (c) studies related to "atypical" contexts, and (d) studies of child development that focus on none of the above contexts. Finally, directions for future research are discussed based on the findings of the review.

  This paper reviewed developmental studies on adolescence, adulthood, and old age. The target studies were journal articles published in Japan between July 2017 and June 2018, and poster presentations delivered at The 60th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Association of Educational Psychology. In the review, the studies were classified from the viewpoint of career development. Finally, the implications of the findings are discussed.

  The purpose of this paper was to review present research in the areas of teaching, learning, and cognition based on papers published in The Japanese Journal of Educational Psychology during the period July 2017 to June 2018 and presented at The 60th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Association of Educational Psychology in September 2018. One of the perspectives of this paper focused on "proactive, interactive, and deep learning," and the findings were organized into research on proactive learning, interactive learning, deep learning, and class design integrating three learning types. Research findings on teacher learning were also reviewed, as elucidating the mechanism of how teachers improve their teaching skills is important when implementing the goals in new courses of study in Japan. In the discussion, the following two points are stressed: (1) despite its importance, few studies on teacher learning have been conducted, so further research in this area is needed; and (2) it is important to cultivate foundations to conduct applied field research by, for example, creating opportunities to involve educational practices.

  The purpose of this article is to review educational and social psychology studies conducted during the past year in Japan. In the first half, poster presentations on educational and social psychology delivered at The 60th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Association of Educational Psychology are reviewed. After classifying them, five major themes are identified: (a) teacher, (b) adjustment, (c) social skills and sociality, (d) interpersonal relationships, and (e) teaching. Although the top four themes have not experienced a significant change during the past three years, the number of presentations focusing on teaching have increased over the past two years. In the latter half, studies in educational and social psychology published from July 2017 to June 2018 are reviewed. These research contents covered five major identifiable themes: (a) teacher and school organization, (b) learning and motivation, (c) classroom and adjustment, (d) interpersonal relationships, and (e) sociability. Next, the studies are reviewed for each theme, and finally, future issues are presented.

  Personality traits are more like a "polyhedron" than a simple "number line." They involve multiphase and diversity. In the present study, articles that appeared in The Japanese Journal of Educational Psychology during the period from July 2017 to June 2018, the presentations and symposiums of The 60th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Association of Educational Psychology, as well as other research studies on personality psychology, were selected and examined. All of the studies were classified into the following three categories and critiqued: (1) research focusing on multiphase of personality traits; (2) research focusing on the diversity of scale items; and (3) research focusing on the internal structure of the individual. Furthermore, it is discussed whether personality traits have a negative pole.

  This article reviews the latest research trends and challenges in the field of clinical psychology in Japan. First, 39 poster presentations and 16 symposiums that were conducted at The 60th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Association of Educational Psychology are reviewed. Then, the trends and issues are discussed from 77 research papers that were published in The Japanese Journal of Educational Psychology along with other related academic journals between July 2017 to June 2018. Based on these discussions, recent research trends in clinical psychology in Japan are summarized from the viewpoints of research themes, the subjects of the research, and research methodologies. Finally, future research challenges are discussed.

  This paper reports on the evidence-level classification (draft) of Japanese educational psychological research in special needs education. Since 2007, 585 research papers published in academic journals have been classified as being evidence-level based on their research design. Although the largest number of studies have been published on the topics of "Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)" and "Developmental Disorder (DD)," the topics of "auditory disorders," "language disorders," and "ADHD" were more advanced from the viewpoint of evidence level. As many studies on "ASD" and "DD" were based on a single case design, it is therefore important to increase the evidence-level by systematically reviewing these studies. Furthermore, many studies on "regular classes" have been published since 2007, and evidence-level was also relatively high. On the other hand, there have been few papers on "classes for special needs children." Taken as whole, it is suggested that educational psychological research provides valuable evidence for special needs education.

  This paper provides an overview of school psychology research published in Japan from July 2017 to June 2018. With the aim of studying the possibility that school psychology can contribute to child and teacher support and student guidance, we (1) reviewed the history of the relationship between teachers and school counselors in student guidance, (2) summarized the papers presented at The 60th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Association of Educational Psychology (Keio University), and (3) classified the topics of research published in the field of school psychology.

  It was found that various psychoeducational education programs are being developed. However, the time and opportunities to implement such programs are limited due to the busyness of the schools and teachers. Additional studies focusing on the process and meaning of support for children provided by school teachers are needed. Finally, the necessity of focusing on a teacher's practical thinking in student guidance is discussed.

  In this article, we first reviewed the research methods used in 29 articles published in The Japanese Journal of Educational Psychology during the past year and derived the typical case of research published in the journal. Based on this, we reviewed the measurements and evaluations carried out in these studies and discovered that recommendations made in the papers of the "measurement, evaluation, and research methods" section of The Annual Report of Educational Psychology in Japan did not necessarily apply to them. In addition, we reviewed the measurement, evaluation, and research methods used in the research presented in the "measurement, evaluation, and research methods" section of The 60th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Association of Educational Psychology and revealed the differences of features from the research published in The Japanese Journal of Educational Psychology. Finally, the author's own recommendations are offered based on these results as pertains to the plan for incorporating recommendations on measurement, evaluation, and research methods into the research practice of educational psychology in Japan.

  As constructs measured by achievement tests shift from basic knowledge and skills to higher-order thinking skills, the use of constructed-response (CR) items has increased. This tendency is salient in the United States where selected-response (SR) items have been widely used, but a similar movement can also be found in Japan. The development and administration of a test would become complicated if a test consists of both SR and CR items (i.e., mixed-format). It seems necessary to enhance the theory and practice of educational measurement to handle the new challenges. In this paper, three issues concerned with the use of CR items are discussed: (1) the effect of item format on the measurement, (2) the equating of mixed-format tests, and (3) an examination of the consequences of test use. In each discussion, implications for validity and validation are emphasized. In the last section, some additional considerations are provided.

  Science and technology have been developing remarkably. Therefore, it is urgent to provide science education to develop children's qualities and abilities. This study examined the role of science education from a psychological perspective. The curriculum guidelines that were officially announced in March 2017 and the report submitted by the Central Council for Education before establishing the guidelines consisted of different psychological perspectives. This article focuses on one such perspective — the clarification of "what learners become capable of doing" and using it as a framework for reviewing psychology studies. Concretely, studies designed to examine the challenges experienced by learners during the learning processes and studies aiming to suggest teaching methods for overcoming difficulties and verifying these effects were the focus. Moreover, these studies are examined from the perspective of three major components of qualities and abilities that were expected to be developed: knowledge and skills, scientific exploration ability, and scientific exploration attitudes. Future issues in science education and psychological studies are also discussed based on the findings of the study.

  It is important for counselors and educators to recognize, understand, and treat pathological narcissism in their students. Although mainstream studies about narcissism focus on clinical theories, recent empirical research provides new findings and perspectives. In this article, both types of studies are reviewed. While clinical studies, mainly based on psychodynamic theories, explain the organization of narcissistic personality, empirical research examines and simplifies those explanations and suggests alternative perspectives. Based on such review, the confliction and integration of a fragmented self-system and dyadic processes of social relation and emotion regulation are discussed.

  The skills of writing clear and persuasive arguments are essential not only in school education (e.g., writing an essay or report) but also in various social situations (e.g., writing an opinion brief, request, or proposal). Therefore, the writing of lessons on argumentation in school should be planned and practiced with a focus on future uses with a broad perspective. This article mainly discusses important considerations about writing arguments lessons in school from three standing points – "WHO to persuade: audience awareness," "WHAT to present: reason assumption," and "HOW to persuade: argumentative schema and construction strategy." Each standing point is organized according to the following three sections: (1) overviewing previous studies related to each standing point, (2) clarifying the problems needing to be solved in writing lessons on argumentation in school, and (3) presenting instructional methods to solve the problems. On the basis of previous discussions, the future development of argumentative writing research and instructional methods of writing arguments are discussed.

  At Japanese schools, career guidance has been criticized due to teachers placing too much emphasis on passing the entrance exam or getting a job offer. After career education started in 2004, because many teachers misunderstand ‘career' means occupation, another problem has been pointed out that teachers place too much emphasis on only finding one's dream job without providing any instruction in means or methods to students. As a result, Japanese schools or teachers place low priority in assisting students in career development. In this study, we explain what type of assistance should be introduced for student career development and also argue how teachers can assist students in achieving ‘social and vocational independence,' which is the goal of Japanese career education. Four educational psychologists carried out research in career decision making, time perspective, self-efficacy, and gender, respectively. In the final section, based on a discussion of the four researchers, suggestions are proposed for career guidance and career education in the future.