The Richness of Kokoro and its Paradox: Change in Kokoro and their Ripple Effects in Psychotherapy

2018 Research Projects

Research Topic

Lead Researcher

Toshio Kawai, Professor, Kokoro Research Center, Kyoto University

Collaborating Researchers

Yasuhiro Tanaka, Associate Professor, Education, Kyoto University  

Yuka Suzuki, Assistant Professor, Education, Kyoto University 

Kotaro Umemura, Lecturer, Education, Kyoto University

Center Co-Researchers

Chihiro Hatanaka, Senior Lecturer, Kokoro Research Center , Kyoto University

Hisae Konakawa, Research Fellow, Kokoro Research Center, Kyoto University

The term, “the richness of kokoro” includes concepts of growth as positive change and also of recovery from negative condition of loss. It paradoxically seems to include both positive changes and negative compensatory changes. The richness created from negative factors is valuable for Japanese people, who tend to feel happy in calm, normal situations. The belief, which is familiar to Japanese people, that “no two things can be good at the same time” can mean that everything has a good side and bad side.
That extremely negative circumstances, such as those caused by natural disasters, do not typically drive Japanese people to engage in selfish and disorderly behaviors can be explained via the worldview underlying this belief.
This study investigates how kokoro changes by analyzing psychotherapy cases from a meta-viewpoint and by understanding change and recovery from negative conditions.
In this project, the evaluation perspective that arose from pilot studies will be improved upon and a meta-analysis conducted on the completed psychotherapy cases. In this way, intra-personal changes will be studied without compromising client confidentiality. It will investigate the ripple effects those changes have on one’s reality and on other people (i.e., coherence).

2018/11/06