Undergraduate Psychology in Japan and the United States

Abstract

Three Japanese and two United States undergraduate psychology departments were compared using data from catalogs and surveys. Course listings and professors' theoretical orientations were similar, but American courses were more encompassing, participative, demanding, and oriented toward psychological careers. Japanese students entered the university better prepared, but Americans studied more and were expected to acquire more specific content. Japanese students put more emphasis on intercollegiate activity groups, experience they considered important to later job performance and life adjustment. Overall, differences were attributed to different phasing of educational demands, fewer professional opportunities in psychology in Japan, and generally different emphases in higher education.