HistoryHistory
The Department of Psychology was established under the School of Science in 1949 as then the first and only psychology department in Taiwan. 
Its predecessor was “Psychology Research Lab” founded in 1928 by the Japanese in the Taihoku Imperial University, with 3 members of faculty and 4 students. As the Imperial University transformed into National Taiwan University in 1945, this laboratory was placed under the auspices of the Department of Philosophy.In 1949, the Department began with 4 founding faculty members and 10 students. It is now expanded into 75 full- and part-time faculty members, 180 graduate students and 281 undergraduate students in 2013.
In 1959, the Department moved out of the Department of Philosophy to the School of Literature. It moved into a newly erected hall close to the center of the main campus hosting the Departments of Psychology and Geology, as well as the Dean’s Office for the School of Science. The Department had an expansion on the east wing of this building in 1969. In the 1980s, the Department moved into two new buildings, North and South Halls, situated at the east side of the main campus. The Department published the first psychology journal in this country—Acta Psychologica Taiwanica- in 1958. This journal was later renamed as the Chinese Journal of Psychology to serve as the official journal of the Chinese Psychological Association. This is the first psychological organization in this country, and the Department was instrumental in its establishment. The Department launched the Student Mental Health Center of National Taiwan University in 1964. The M.S. program was inaugurated in 1961 and the Ph.D. program in 1971. The Department conferred its first Ph.D. degree to Jong-tsun Huang, who later became a professor of this department and served a term as the Minister of Education in the early 21st century. Dr. Kuo-Shu Yang, once a graduate and professor of this department and now Professor Emeritus, was elected as a fellow of Sinica Academia in 1998.
In the past decade, the Department has been awarded three Projects of Promoting Research Excellence by the Ministry of Education and National Science Council. Since its establishment in more than half a century ago, the Department has evolved into the most prominent psychology department in this country.