Big data and psychology in China

Abstract

Western psychology has essentially become an independent discipline, relying on empirical laboratory research. However, the era of big data will dramatically influence the research paradigm of scientific psychology. The characteristics of big data methods coincide with Chinese folk epistemology, which provides Chinese psychology the opportunity to weaken the influence of Westernization and restructure our own psychological systems. We proposed an interactive system of TIAN, DI, and REN as a new Chinese psychological system. Based on this system, Chinese psychology can now study a wide range of subjects, from the cultural and spiritual mental representations to the influence of social situations, and further the individuals psycho-physical experiences of cognition, emotion, reasoning, morality, and behavior. Following this path, Chinese psychology can become, as termed by Auguste Comte, the “the last science”. Under this new system, Chinese psychology will build a new paradigm and go beyond the dialectical dilemmas in traditional psychology, such as sample vs. population, individuals vs. patterns, situations vs. experiments, and data vs. behaviors.