A more accurate name for the social psychological services system should be the public psychological services system, which consists of three major modules: psychological health services, social mentality cultivation, and communal identity construction. Psychological health services refer to the use of psychological and medical theories and methods to prevent or reduce various psychological and behavioral problems, promote mental health, and improve the quality of life. These mainly include the popularization and education of psychological health, psychological counseling, psychological disease treatment, psychological crisis intervention, etc. The task of social mentality cultivation is to cultivate self-esteem, self-confidence, rationality, composure, and optimism among our people. And the goal of communal identity construction can be divided into two levels: Internally, we must fully shape a unified cultural identity of the Chinese nation, enhance cultural confidence, so as to pool the cultural psychological power for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation; externally, we must work hard to build a communal identity of human destiny, provide Chinese wisdom and China’s confidence in solving common problems facing human society, and gradually form China’s world-wide influence, charisma, and shaping force.
When the contents and objectives of the three major modules of the social psychological services system are clarified, the corresponding system of the disciplines is also faced with the process of reconstruction or creation. To train socially-needed professional talents for the building of the social psychological services system requires the establishment of three basic disciplines with Chinese characteristics, namely the discipline of health psychology, social psychology, and cultural psychology.
The establishment of an effective social psychological services system requires a variety of measures. First, in terms of top-level design, it is recommended that national and local health commissions should take the lead and that ministries such as the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, and other relevant local departments should participate in the launch of the strategic goals and overall planning of the social psychological services system.
Second, we must vigorously develop a group of relevant disciplines represented by health psychology, social psychology, and cultural psychology with Chinese characteristics, and cultivate research and practical talents related to social psychological services. In this respect, what should be particularly highlighted is research, practice, and talents cultivation in the areas of community psychology, policy psychology, big data and cyber-psychology.
Third, we must strengthen basic research and scientific popularization of social psychology. The Chinese Psychological Society, the Chinese Association of Social Psychology, and the Chinese Association for Mental Health can coordinate to build a specialized force, actively use big data technology and traditional survey and measurement techniques to form a national social mentality database and a national psychological health database, and then provide data support for the dynamic changes of social mentality and psychological health.
Fourth, we must expand horizontal resources and mobilize social forces to participate in the construction of the social psychological services system. A linkage mechanism should be established, with governments at all levels and relevant administrative departments being the lead, professional organizations such as Chinese Psychological Society being the support, and social psychological professionals being the participants. In this way, we hope to build a professional, multi-typed, multi-leveled, and sustainable social psychological services system that can meet China’s national conditions.
Key words
social psychological services system /
psychological health services system /
public psychological services system /
social mentality /
communal identity