From the President - December 2023

When the BPS received an invitation to the 87th annual convention of the Japanese Psychological Association, I was delighted to accept. After much preparation, including learning something about the history of Japanese psychology (which is almost as long as ours), I was ready.

I was told that the hotel and conference centre were on an artificial island constructed solely for that purpose. The whole city was immaculately clean, like the other Japanese cities I saw, and this one was very modern, having been completely rebuilt after the famous earthquake. On the first day of the conference, my guide, Professor Noboyuki Sakai, showed me around the huge venue. I was told they had over a thousand poster submissions, and I found later that over 4,000 delegates had attended the conference, although its organisation was such that it never felt crowded. 

On the first day, I participated in a panel discussion of international psychology’s response to COVID-19 and other issues. It was chaired by Professor Yuko Yotsomuto, from the University of Tokyo, and featured Thelma Bryant, President of the APA; Nattasuda Taiphant, representing the Thailand Psychological Association; Waikaremoana Waitoki, from the University of Waikato in New Zealand; myself as President of the BPS; Paula Rowntree representing the Australian Psychological Society; and Professor Tsunayuki Abe, President of the Japanese Psychological Association.

Each of us gave a short 10-minute presentation about recent developments and concerns in our country in the post-COVID-19 era. Thelma Bryant spoke about the challenges of diversity and inclusivity in the US, the need for and value of apologies, and the ways that the APA was working to address these issues. Nattasuda Taiphant discussed how mental health needs had escalated in Thailand since COVID-19, and described the work needed to obtain government backing for the various initiatives which were being established. I described our various 

COVID-19 initiatives, particularly how we had aimed to provide the support needed for our professionals as they made the difficult adjustment to distance working; and also outlined our current initiatives in diversity and inclusivity. Paula Rowntree discussed the Australian COVID-19 experience, and how the increasing concerns about mental health were being addressed in various ways, largely similar to ours. Waikaremoana Waitoki represented the Maori component of the New Zealand Psychological Association and emphasised the need for decolonisation and awareness of the ways that traditional historical presentations negate the alternative viewpoints of indigenous peoples. Professor Abe described how psychology had developed in Japan from the early part of the 20th century, how well-being and emotional aspects of life had always been a major concern in Japanese psychology, and how their concerns about mental health were being addressed. 

I was particularly impressed by the dynamism of approaches in Oceania – the general name they use for the Pacific regions including Australia and New Zealand. There is much more emphasis on content, communication and exploration of approaches, which makes a refreshing change from the Western obsession with regulation. But a recurrent theme was common to all: the need for us all to learn how to communicate psychology clearly to politicians and decision-makers, and the challenges that this involves.

Each of us gave a personal keynote address as well. My own talk was about how Western psychology has changed over the past 50 years, from narrow perspectives dominated by rigid behaviourist assumptions to the broad-ranging and far more human discipline that it is today. It emerged that several of the Japanese academics present were already in possession of one or more of my books, either in English or Japanese, sometimes from as long as 30 years ago!

The only other English-language presentations at the conference were also from the panel members. This included a remarkable presentation from Paula Rowntree about applying psychology, taking into account modern trends for divided and short-term attention by adopting an entirely new approach to lectures. The conventional idea that students should pay continuous sustained attention is abandoned, and there are instead a variety of environmental contexts – cushions, desks, even snacks – available to all members of an audience at any time. Evaluations of this approach are positive so far: it will be interesting to see how they pan out in the long term.

Professor Abe’s contribution to the panel discussion illustrated the long history of Japanese psychology. Among other things, he mentioned how his University, Tohoku University in Sendai, had the complete library of Wilhelm Wundt, the founder of the very first psychological laboratory in Leipzig. Apparently, they had outbid both Yale and Harvard for this after the great man’s death, paying out what was then the equivalent of about a million US dollars.

This was intriguing news to me, so when I had a couple of days free after the conference I took the bullet train to Sendai to see that library for myself. Amazing! It took up nearly two dozen huge movable bookcases, and wandering through the shelves I saw not only collections of papers he had found interesting but also pretty well all of the classics of the day which related in any way to science or the social sciences. They were in both English and German, from Frazer’s Golden Bough to Darwin’s Origin of Species. I already knew that Wundt had been a polymath, but here was the real evidence.

Other people might have spent a precious free day in Japan in ways other than looking at a load of old books, but I was fascinated. The next day I flew home.

Dr Nicky Hayes is President of the British Psychological Society.