Discipline construction:

Aiming at the national, social and school’s major needs for the discipline construction of psychology, we have made preliminary achievements in improving the discipline organization framework and determining discipline orientation. We were awarded master's degree program in 2016 and professional master’s degree program in 2020. We passed the assessment of master's degree program and the State Council's disciplinary evaluation in 2020, and ranked 29th (top 30%) on the ranking issued by Shanghai Ranking Consultancy. At present we have established four research orientations: "psychology of disaster and emergency", "health psychology and counseling psychology", "developmental psychology and occupational psychological guidance", "psychometrics and big data mining".

Research Orientations for Postgraduate Program

①Disaster and Emergency Psychology

The orientation of disaster and emergency psychology is the first featured research orientation established in China, which focuses on the theoretical system of post-disaster mental health education, the goals, principles and methods of post-disaster psychological education, and strengthens the theoretical research on the localization ofpsychological assistance for disasters and emergencies, as well as the localization of post-disaster psychological rehabilitation. It is based on the national project 863, humanities and social science projects from the Ministry of Education, projects of science and technology support plan of Sichuan Province, eight monographs (including monographs funded by the National Publishing Fund), and a national open video course "Disaster Education Psychology". The research team has conducted and concluded the key project of Sichuan Science and Technology Support Plan——"Research on Key Technologies on Early Warning of Psychological Crisis", a general project of humanities and social sciences from the Ministry of Education——"Traffic Disaster Emergency and Psychological Intervention Research", and the key R&D project of Sichuan Science and Technology Department——"Research and Demonstration Application of Early Warning of Psychological Crisis and Intervention System in Complex Environment". Meanwhile, the team is actively conducting research on psychological assistance for the national strategic Sichuan-Tibet railway.

The requirements for students selecting this orientation: mastering the basic theory, research paradigms, and psychological assessment and intervention techniques of disaster psychology; understanding the characteristics of post-disaster psychological response of different groups; being able to identify the common post-disaster psychological disorders; mastering the methods for post-disaster psychological education, psychological assistance, and crisis intervention; being able to carry out disaster-prevention education and post-disaster psychological assistance.

②Health Psychology and Counseling Psychology

The orientation of health psychology and counseling psychology combines mental health education with ideological and political education, sets up the theoretical framework of mental health education for college students in the new era, and establishes and improves the psychological crisis intervention system in colleges and universities. It has always been the focus and distinctive feature of our degree program. Based on the National Social Science Foundation, the provincial philosophy and social science planning projects and the provincial key education reform projects, we have accomplished numerous research achievements, including the second prize of national higher education teaching achievements and the first prize of teaching achievements in Sichuan Province twice. One of our monographs won the third prize (government award) for excellent achievements in philosophy and social sciences in Sichuan Province.

This orientation requires students to master professional knowledge, including health psychology, identification and diagnosis of psychological disorders, schools and techniques of psychological counseling, ethics and supervision of psychological counseling, group psychological counseling, psychological service for community, etc. The orientation focuses on the disciplinary theories and practical issues, strengthens problem-solving awareness, and guides students to find ways to solve problems in practice. In addition, it teaches students the general skills for counseling services as well as prevention and intervention of psychological crisis.

③Developmental Psychology and Psychological Coaching for Career Development

This research orientation focuses on the psychological characteristics and mental health education of young people, the localization of EAP model, and the sunshine mentality cultivation and potential promotion of different professional groups. This orientation is supported by a number of national-level curriculum platforms, such as the national high-quality courses, the national high-quality resource sharing courses, MOOCs courses offered by Chinese universities, including the national high-quality course "Youth Psychology",the national high-quality resource sharing course "Youth Psychology", the national high-quality online open course "Contemporary Youth Psychology Series (1) (2) (3)", "Approaching Psychology", "Exploring Psychology", and other "golden courses", forming a curriculum cluster of more than 30 mental health education courses. Entrusted by the Department of Human Resources and Social Security of Sichuan Province, we published the monograph entitled "Mental Health Education and Psychological Adjustment for Professional and Technical Personnel", which filled the gap in mental health education for professional and technical personnel. In addition, we have presided over a number of horizontal projects for the localization of EAP in some state-owned enterprises.

This research orientation requires students to firmly grasp the concepts and theories about adolescent social development, such as social cognition, attachment, gender roles, prosocial behavior, and aggression theory, etc., and be able to apply psychological research methods to the solution of theoretical and practical problems about adolescent social development. Besides, the students are also required to systematically understand the overall theoretical framework of career development psychology, the origin, present situation and future development trend of the discipline of career development psychology, and understand the latest research achievements in the field of career development psychology. The students of this orientation should be able to analyze and summarize the research ideas, methods and achievements of the research hotspots in the field of career development psychology.

④Psychometrics and Big Data Mining

This research orientation is based on the first domestic experimental platform for psychological health education, the national demonstration center for college mental health education and counseling, the big data integration and analysis system for mental health education, and the mental health virtual simulation experimental platform. We independently developed a music psychological training system, a virtual reality psychological training system, and a psychological archive system, etc. By now we have built 13 psychological laboratories, carried out 3-level experimental evaluation projects, and initiated the research and development of the big data mining and management platform for students’ mental health. We have also presided over a new liberal arts research and reform practice project supported by the Ministry of Education——the "Artificial Intelligence Education Platform for Mental Health".

This research orientation requires students to understand the history and developmental trend of data mining, form a scientific view of dialectical materialism, accurately understand and master the basic terms in data mining technology, and fully understand the basic concepts of data mining, grasp the application of data mining in psychological research, grasp the basic principles and applications of common data mining techniques such as feature extraction, classification, association analysis, clustering analysis, artificial neural network and so on. At the same time, it is necessary to master the concept of psychological modeling and the main methods of psychological modeling, understand the concepts and development of artificial intelligence as well as the research fields of artificial intelligence related to psychology. It is also required to understand the application of deep learning and artificial intelligence in psychological modeling and conduct relevant research designs.