Rate My Professor Kou Murayama

Prof. Dr. Kou Murayama is Professor for Educational Psychology at the Hector Research Institute of Education Sciences and Psychology, University of Tübingen, a position he assumed in 2020 as Alexander von Humboldt Professor. He earned his B.S. in Educational Psychology in 2000, M.A. in 2002, and Ph.D. in 2006 from the University of Tokyo. His distinguished career encompasses roles such as Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Reading since 2018, Distinguished International Professor at Tübingen's Hector Research Institute from 2017 to 2020, Associate Professor at Reading from 2015 to 2018, Lecturer at Reading from 2013 to 2015, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of California, Los Angeles from 2012 to 2013, Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellow and Postdoctoral Research Fellow at LMU Munich from 2009 to 2012, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Tokyo Institute of Technology from 2006 to 2009, and Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Rochester from 2006 to 2008. He holds an Honorary Professorship at Kochi University of Technology since 2016, continues a position at the University of Reading, leads the Motivation Science Lab, and serves as Co-Director of the LEAD Graduate School & Research Network.

Murayama's research program addresses fundamental questions about motivation in human functioning, with a core focus on intrinsic motivation, interest, curiosity, and their applications to educational processes. He integrates diverse methodologies, including longitudinal modeling, behavioral experiments, neuroimaging, ecological momentary assessments, meta-analyses, educational interventions, and computational/statistical simulations. Among his most influential publications are "Motivational, emotional, and behavioral correlates of fear of missing out" (2013, Computers in Human Behavior, 7,085 citations), "On the measurement of achievement goals: critique, illustration, and application" (2008, Journal of Educational Psychology, 2,059 citations), "Achievement emotions and academic performance: Longitudinal models of reciprocal effects" (2017, Child Development, 1,523 citations), and "A 3×2 achievement goal model" (2011, Journal of Educational Psychology, 1,523 citations). Notable recent works include "The Triple-A model of goal revision" (2025, Educational Psychologist) and studies on metacognitive monitoring. His accolades comprise the Alexander von Humboldt Professorship (2020), Jacobs Foundation Research Fellowship (2020-2022), F. J. McGuigan Early Career Investigator Prize from the American Psychological Foundation, and Leverhulme Trust Research Leadership Award. With over 31,500 citations on Google Scholar, Murayama's contributions have substantially advanced educational psychology, motivation science, cognition, metacognition, and psychometrics.