The Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) was reconstructed in 1951. Its predecessor was the Institute of Psychology, Academia Sinica founded in 1929. The Institute of Psychology strives to understand the essence of the human mind by exploring the biological base and the environmental influence of mind and behavior. We also aim at becoming an internationally-renowned research centre that promotes national scientific innovation and social economic development. In the 12th five-year plan period，the Institute will further develop scientific research platform based on both the Key Laboratory of Mental Health of CAS and the Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science of the Institute. The priority directions of research include “early identification and intervention for mental disorders” and “social prediction and decision making”; we also focus on frontier areas of “disaster and trauma psychology”, “cyberpsychology and virtual behavior”, and “develop, education, and creativity cultivation”. 

The mission of Key Laboratory of Mental Health, CAS is to investigate the underlying mechanisms of interaction between health, psychological, cognitive, behavioral, and genetic factors, using an extended bio-psycho-social-engineering model and adopting a variety of methodologies at different levels ranging from the molecular to the cognitive and neural and the macroscopic behavioral level. Our aims are (1) to investigate the population distribution and variation of psychological health conditions in Chinese people; (2) to build databases and analytical platforms for the study of psychological problems; (3) to provide scientific support for the prevention, early identification, and treatment of psychological disorders; (4) to establish new methods and techniques of  psychological health promotion; and (5) to provide theoretical and technical support for the formulation of State policy for public psychological health service. We strive to take up a leading role in conducting innovative basic and applied research in the field of psychology and health in Mainland China.

The mission of Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, IPCAS is to explore the occurring and development of human mind and behaviors, to describe, explain, forecast, and regulate the individual and group behaviors, to prove people’s well-being and social harmony, and becoming the leading research center in the field of Behavioral Science in Mainland China. Research mainly focus on: (1) fundamental mental processes and neural substrates of human behaviors, including sensation and perception, language processing of Chinese, interaction of cognition and emotion; (2) mental development, education and creativity training, including development of creativity, scientific concepts, and social behaviors; (3) decision making and early warning of social events, including interactive effects of personality and social context on human behaviors; (4) human-machine-environment (real or virtual) interaction, including characteristics and mechanisms of human behaviors in real or virtual (i.e. Internet) environment, computational modeling and simulation, and human-centered intelligent system design.

Research facilities and resources in the institute include facility system for Cognitive and Experimental Psychology Study, Physiological Psychology Study, Behavioral Study, and Behavioral Genetics Study. The Institute is also affiliated with a Magnetic Resonance Imaging Network (covering national wide, including mainland China and Hong Kong area, more than 70 facilities), and Service System of China Info Center for Psychological Science. The psychology library of the Institute is the largest one in China, holding more than 50,000 books, and more than 50 psychology related databases. The Institute Computer Network Information Center provides an excellent platform to facilitate information exchange and improve research management.

There are three academic journals of psychology published by the Institute. PsyCh Journal, China's first international psychology journal, published jointly with Wiley-Blackwell, is the flagship journal of the Institute, and features cutting-edge research articles, reports, and reviews spanning the entire spectrum of scientific psychology and its applications, both within and outside of China. The Acta Psychologica Sinica (published by the Institute, jointly with the Chinese Psychological Society), publishes original empirical studies and theoretical papers including cognitive and experimental psychology, developmental and educational psychology, physiological and medical psychology, management social psychology, psychological measure, psychological history and method et al., and The Advances in Psychological Science, published by the Institute, introduces the latest research progresses in various domains of psychology both nationally and internationally. These two journals are the top-level psychological journals in China.

The Institute is constantly and actively pursuing overseas scientific exchange and international research cooperation. The Institute has established friendly long-term and regular exchange programs with many international renowned universities and institutes, such as, University of Michigan (USA), University of Minnesota (USA), Rutgers University (USA), National Institute of Drug Abuse (USA); Nijmegen University (Netherlands); VU University Amsterdam (Netherlands);  University of Adelaide (Australia); Munich University(Germany); Saarland University (Germany); University of Stockholm (Sweden); and Miami University (USA), etc..