About the School

The School of Psychology at Beijing Sport University (BSU) was originated from the Division of Physical Education Theory at the Beijing Institute of Physical Education (renamed to BSU in 1993). The undergraduate courses of sport psychology were offered by the division in 1958, and the undergraduate major of applied psychology (sports psychology) was established in 2003. In 2008, sports psychology became one of the  Key Academic Disciplines in Beijing . In 2010, BSU was authorized to offer a master's degree in psychology as a first-level academic discipline by the Ministry of Education of China. In 2017, BSU established the School of Psychology to further strengthen academic discipline development, improve teaching and research quality, meet the needs of the reform and development of sports and education of China, and respond to the country's major strategic needs. The School currently has 319 undergraduate students and 87 postgraduate students studying for a master’s or doctoral degree. Each year, the School enrolls 80 freshmen, with the largest number of students majoring in psychology among all sport universities in China.

Faculty Staff

The School has three teaching and research divisions: Division of Sport Psychology, Division of Cognitive and Biological Psychology, and Division of Developmental and Educational Psychology. There are 23 full-time teachers, including six professors, four associate professors and thirteen lecturers. A former member of China’s national table tennis team, Professor ZHANG Liwei holds a dual doctoral degree and is one of the most renowned experts on sport psychology in China.  Sport Psychology (first published in 2007), edited by Professors ZHANG Liwei and MAO Zhixiong, is listed as a textbook for the  11th Five-year National Higher Education Plan . Professor ZHANG Liwei was awarded the honorary titles of  Famous Teacher at Higher Learning Institutions in Beijing (2009) and  Excellent Teacher in Beijing (2009). Associate Professor WANG Yingchun was awarded the 2015  Young Teacher Award of the Fok Ying Tung Education Foundation . The Division of Sport Psychology was awarded the  Excellent Teaching Team of Sport Psychology Courses in Beijing in 2003 and the  National-level Excellent Teaching Team of Sport Psychology Courses in 2010.

Labs and Facilities

There are six laboratories at the School of Psychology to carry out different types of teaching and research activities: Basic Psychological Laboratory, Psychological Assessment Laboratory, Motor Learning Laboratory, Cognitive Sport Psychology Laboratory, Mental Skills Training Laboratory, and Stress-in-Sport Laboratory (a shared location). The Basic Psychological Laboratory is equipped with 32 dual-display computers, all having softwares for psychological experiments, evaluation and data analysis. This allows experiment teaching for 60 students simultaneously. Moreover, each laboratory is equipped with research equipment and instruments for its specialty—eye tracking devices, electroencephalography devices, Vienna Test System, biofeedback devices, sand tray for therapy, etc. The laboratories can meet the research needs in sport psychology, health psychology, and cognitive psychology, being a good platform for students' learning and research activities.

Features of Academic Development

As a  Key Interdisciplinary in Beijing (2008), there are three research directions of psychology at the School:

Sport psychology is a strong specialty of BSU. It delves into the psychological factors that affect athletic performance, such as stress in sports, athletes' self-control, burnout in sports, and psychological control during major sporting events. The research findings have enriched the theory of competitive sport psychology. In the meantime, it also plays a role in supporting the  Olympic Glory Program and safeguarding athletes' competitive mentality. The six academic backbones have long been committed to key technology projects for the Olympic Games. They’ve made substantive contributions to Chinese athletes winning the first-ever Olympic gold medal in archery and freestyle skiing aerials and the first-ever Olympic medal in rhythmic gymnastics, as well as winning six gold medals at Beijing, London and Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games in trampoline and shooting. The School’s psychological technology service team has been commended by the General Administration of Sport of China for many times.

In response to the strategy of developing China into a leading sporting nation and the nationwide fitness campaign, another research direction is health psychology, focusing on the relations between physical exercise and physical and mental health, and the promotion of exercise behavior. In this direction, an interdisciplinary team at our school working on  National Science and Technology Support Projects  has been in the forefront of facilitating the localization of theory and practicing exercise psychology. Its research findings have contributed to initiating the project of  National Scientific Fitness Demonstration Communities to improve people’s health.

Cognitive psychology is the key cultivation direction of psychology here at BSU. It explores the characteristics of cognitive processes in competitive situations, such as visual processing of movements and tactical decision-making, to provide a basis for understanding the cognitive process under stress situations and stress training. The backbone scholars have been working on projects funded by the  National Natural Science Foundation of China , and many papers have been included in SCI and SSCI. In the meantime, research in this field is also involved in  China’s Manned Space Program , exploring the cognitive function and emotion regulation in a confined environment or space for a long time.

The three research directions above have formed the foundation with balanced emphasis on basic theory and application. We have long been working on projects supported by funds from national, provincial/ministerial governments, as well as international sport agencies. Some research projects take a leading position domestically or have reached international level.

Academic Activities

The School of Psychology is the affiliated unit of the sports psychology branch of the Chinese Psychological Society. It has successfully undertook  ISSP 13th World Congress of Sport Psychology (2013), hosted by International Society of Sport Psychology (ISSP), three sessions of the  China Olympic-Paralympic Psychological Training Forum (2008, 2012 and 2016) and two sessions of the  International Psychology Forum for Young Scholars (2018/2019), among other academic activities. The School has played an important role in promoting the theoretical development of sport psychology in China and its combination with competitive sport and mass fitness practice, and expanding the academic influence of BSU and Chinese sport psychological research.

International Talent Cultivation

The School has strengthened the internationalization of talent cultivation and establishes joint training cooperation with internationally renowned institutions such as the University of Alberta in Canada, the University of Auckland in New Zealand, the University of Limerick in Ireland and Springfield College in the U.S. Every year, outstanding students are selected  to study abroad for one year being funded  by the School or the government.

Address: 48 Xinxi Road, Haidian District, Beijing

School of Psychology, Beijing Sport University

Postcode: 100084   Tel: +86-10-62982748

VIEW MORE: https://psy.bsu.edu.cn/