Venturing into the New Field of Kansei Psychology

2017/02/01

A major characteristic of the Department of Psychology in the Faculty of Letters at Keio University is its emphasis on experimental psychology. This is an approach that involves formulating hypotheses and verifying them through various experiments. In particular, my research field, Kansei Psychology, is an area where experimentation is of even greater importance.

Simply put, psychology is the field that studies the workings of the mind. To do this, we must first observe behavior, from which we infer the workings of the mind, and then consider these workings in terms of brain function. What is important here is verification based on evidence. For this reason, each laboratory in the Department of Psychology conducts numerous experiments and quantifies the results to verify its hypotheses.

My field of expertise, "Kansei Psychology," is a new field not yet listed in psychology dictionaries. It seeks to elucidate, through scientific methods such as psychology and neuroscience, how we humans perceive things and how these subjective feelings are formed. We investigate the workings of the mind that form the basis of our humanity—such as subjectivity, the experience of value, beauty, attractiveness, and love—using psychological experiments, functional MRI, electroencephalography (EEG), and electrical stimulation methods. Beauty and love are usually considered themes for literature and aesthetics. However, in Kansei Psychology, we approach everyday human subjectivity without being constrained by the traditional framework of psychology.

For example, in our laboratory, we conduct research on the attractiveness perceived in people's facial features. We have a tendency to try to gauge a person's inner self and abilities from their appearance. While some aspects of the mind and abilities are reflected in one's appearance, much of it is based on assumptions, which can lead to prejudice and discrimination. Attractiveness research also addresses the question of why people pursue their own beauty. We also conduct joint research with fields such as dermatology and cosmetic surgery. Enhancing one's appearance through cosmetic procedures and other means is an attempt to bring one's external appearance closer to one's inner self. In other words, it can be said that there is a recognition that one's appearance and mind are disconnected, and the attempt is to bridge this gap to balance the body and mind. The result of contemplating what beauty means to oneself is what drives behavior related to cosmetic enhancement. As this example shows, Kansei Psychology can also be described as a field that studies how people try to find their ideal selves within society.

The existence of a department primarily focused on the natural science approach of experimental psychology within the Faculty of Letters is symbolic of what makes Keio University unique. The Department of Psychology actively collaborates with various natural science research fields at Keio University, such as the Faculty of Science and Technology and the School of Medicine, and engages in extensive joint research. Although I am not a Keio University alumnus myself, I believe this open and collaborative atmosphere is a distinctive feature of Keio's academic culture. Another characteristic is the large number of faculty members who are highly conscious of their roles not only as educators but also as researchers. Researchers from various fields engage in free and open discussions, and there are frequent opportunities for students to participate as well.

In many ways, data is becoming increasingly important in modern society. Big data and deep learning are bringing a new wave of change to the humanities, social sciences, and academia. The amount of data generated by humans is estimated to exceed a thousand times the current volume by 2030, and it is believed that managing such a vast amount of information will be a challenge. We are entering an era where we will be forced to select which information is worth preserving. In this sense, the importance of a discipline based on verification and data, such as experimental psychology, will only continue to grow. In fact, our graduates are choosing career paths that involve empirically examining the relationship between society and people, whether by joining corporate planning or R&D departments or by continuing their research in graduate school.

The importance of psychology, a discipline that deals with the problems of individuals in society, will become increasingly crucial in our ever-more-complex modern world. It could be said that an academic style that emphasizes how to think about things empirically, not just within the pages of books—like that of the Department of Psychology at Keio University—embodies the "now" of psychology.