Peng Kaiping: I wish you a happy life.

Because of COVID-19, "isolation" suddenly became a familiar vocabulary and behavior pattern-long or short, more or less, active or passive. We have all reduced social interaction to a certain extent and entered different degrees of isolation.

"Such a large-scale social isolation will indeed have a huge impact on our work, life, emotions, study and other aspects. We humans have a habit of what we often do, what we do regularly, and what we arrange according to time, so that we can live with peace of mind, comfort and happiness. But when the law is broken, it is easy to produce various emotions: anxiety, fear, uncertainty ... how to alleviate our anxiety? How to maintain our social relations in the case of social isolation? In fact, we have five natural skills, we don't need to learn, we don't need to imitate, and we don't need any money ... "

Before the Spring Festival, in an exclusive interview with The Beijing News and its clients, Peng Kaiping smiled and introduced his unique skill "Five Exercises" to thousands of readers and audiences.

Yan Shi: Smile at the mirror, friends and nature every day, and our mood will be improved.

Teach by example: It is particularly important to keep the habit of communication. For example, couples spend half an hour talking about trivial things and sharing beautiful experiences every day.

Physical exercise: people should move. Don't always lie there. If it is not easy to go out, we can do yoga, exercise at home, and even do some small housework, change clothes and take a bath, which will change our mood.

Heart-to-heart: When you are in a bad mood, open your heart and find someone to talk to. Psychological counseling is actually a heart-to-heart conversation, and it is not necessary to find an expert. Friends and relatives can also share it.

Eye-catching: use epiphany and meditation to discover beautiful details around you, such as advantages that relatives have not found before. ...

Psychological anti-epidemic

At present, this kind teacher Peng has various resounding titles: the pioneer of positive psychology in China, the president of Tsinghua University Academy of Social Sciences, and the head of psychology department. For two consecutive years, he represented China in the commemorative meeting of the United Nations "International Happiness Day", and the international citation rate of scientific research achievements has been among the best in the domestic psychological circles for many years. ...

I thought it was difficult for such an academic celebrity to make an appointment, but I didn't expect to make an appointment at once. And within a week, considering that it is difficult to get into the campus under the control of the epidemic, I also arranged the interview place in an off-campus office of the Positive Psychology Research Center in Tsinghua University.

"Just talk casually." He took off his headphones at the online meeting and said with a smile.

The topic starts with the psychological hotline set up by the Department of Psychology of Tsinghua University for this epidemic.

At the beginning of Gengzi, the epidemic came unexpectedly. First-line medical staff in white protective clothing have become the focus of public attention. In fact, where we didn't notice-in the clouds, on the telephone line, there are also a group of people trying to build another line of defense against the epidemic.

65438+2020125 October, on the first day of New Year's Day, the Department of Psychology of Tsinghua University Academy of Social Sciences and Beijing Happiness Public Welfare Foundation jointly launched the public welfare project of "Fighting the epidemic and providing psychological assistance"-a 24-hour free emergency psychological assistance hotline was opened on February 2, a hotline for medical staff was opened on February 9, and a hotline for overseas Chinese and international students was opened on April 7. Volunteers for the hotline were selected from tens of thousands of people. They should not only have the background of professional psychology, but also master the methods of positive psychology. Personality needs strong empathy and good motivation, and the department has also conducted professional training for volunteers.

The hotline was opened 120 days, and the emergency psychological assistance stage ended, and more lasting normalized public welfare psychological services were launched in an all-round way: in addition to telephone (4000 100525), there were online one-on-one psychological counseling and online group psychological counseling; Invited a number of China psychological experts to provide professional training such as clinical psychological consultation, psychological hotline technology and cross-cultural psychological consultation. ...

At the busiest time, the hotline opened 13 seats (including an English hotline). By the end of 2020, it had received more than 4000 calls 192 times of crisis intervention/kloc-0, with zero errors, zero complaints and zero accidents.

On the phone, the key words focused on "anxiety", worrying about oneself and parents. The longest aid lasted for 9 hours, and several people relayed it layer by layer. Finally, the general supervisor went into battle and finally gave up the idea of jumping off a building. "They made a phone call and set foot on the first step of survival. Normal people may not agree that this is a chat, but for those who are struggling in the darkness of life, the psychological assistance hotline is a lamp. " Therefore, letting more people in need know about this hotline and this method has become the most concerned issue in Peng Kaiping.

Although their psychological assistance hotline boarded the the State Council client and was recommended by the State Health Planning Commission, the Chinese government network, the Beijing Municipal Government, the International Department of the Ministry of Education, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, the Chinese Psychological Association and other official institutions and authorities, Peng Kaiping said: "There are still too few people who know."

The psychological rehabilitation of patients needs a process, and the families of the deceased need psychological counseling. Affected by the epidemic, depression caused by staying indoors for a long time is also accumulating. Some people pay too much attention to negative information, while others don't want to exercise. If the symptoms are particularly serious, they may vent their negative emotions on the people around them. ...

After all, the hotline can only help passively. How can we help more people adjust themselves and avoid panic? In this long-term and large-scale psychological war against epidemic, the Department of Psychology of Tsinghua University convened 23 psychologists, 186 supervisors, 3,453 volunteers and 2,836 teaching assistants, and launched the largest psychological intervention in China. In addition to the hotline, various platforms have been used to educate the public on psychological science, and more than 200 million people have benefited from the training. Published the online version of the handbook on coping with epidemic situation, with a reading volume of 33.8 million times; Tsinghua University even set up an interdisciplinary "psychological rehabilitation commando" ...

At the end of 2020, a new book, Happy Life, was published. In the preface, Peng Kaiping wrote: "This special campaign in 2020 may also remind us that happiness is the devotion of blessings and thoughts to others, and happiness is the guardian of peace and health. We should cherish the hard-won peaceful life, embrace each other, work together and live happily and actively. Even in the face of pressure and difficulties, we must live a feeling of being elated. "

Accident: A Psychologist Rescued by A Dream of Red Mansions

From 65438 to 0979, Peng Kaiping was admitted to Peking University from Yueyang, Hunan. He will become a top psychologist in the future, but in his freshman year, he was a "scum" with poor grades in all subjects, and spent most of his time reading miscellaneous books in the library. He only got more than 60 points in the first general psychology exam.

How can you be a "scum" if you can be admitted to Peking University? The reason is simple-what he was thinking at that time was how not to study psychology.

1976 Tangshan earthquake has aroused people's general concern about earthquake disasters throughout the country. Peng Kaiping, who was still in junior high school at that time, was very interested in earthquakes. He even invented an earthquake detector himself-an electrode ring was placed on a flat plate with a wine bottle in the middle. When the plate vibrates, the bottle will fall off and hit the electrode ring, which is connected to the alarm. As a result, the alarm went off the night after the installation, and the neighbors were alarmed. Everyone went out for a long time, but nothing happened. Later, it was discovered that it was a mouse that knocked over the bottle.

"My high school is science. At that time, I dreamed of becoming a geophysicist who studied earthquakes. The college entrance examination volunteered to fill in the physics and geophysics of Peking University. " However, Peng Kaiping, who received the acceptance letter, unexpectedly found herself assigned to the Department of Psychology-she ticked the blank of "Willing to obey the national distribution", and as a result, she wanted to study psychology? I only knew when I called the enrollment teacher of Peking University that the psychology department had just been established and the students were transferred from various departments.

From that moment on, Peng Kaiping made up his mind to correct his attitude and study hard. Soon, he was at the top of his class. He is the youngest and has made the fastest progress. Later, Peking University asked him to stay and teach, precisely because he took a fancy to his learning potential. 1983 After graduation, Peng Kaiping stayed in school as an assistant to Professor Chen Zhonggeng, studying personality and clinical psychology. 1985 started teaching, and the first course taught at Peking University was Psychological Test. Later, he served as the head teacher, counselor and secretary of the Department of Psychology in Peking University, and later became the assistant of the Department of Psychology.

Today, as the president of Tsinghua University Academy of Social Sciences, Peng Kaiping welcomes new students and sends old students out every year. For the confusion of young students, he gave a professional explanation: "No one's life is smooth sailing, and many troubles are caused by you thinking too much and doing too little, which is not necessarily worth worrying about. Even if you do accidentally make an unsatisfactory choice, the road of life is still long, and you can adjust your direction and rush to new goals. " "In the face of major choices in life, I think the two most important points are: clear selection criteria and positive actions."

Choice: the choice at the corner of life

Peng Kaiping once had the opportunity to work in the central government. Facing the "opportunity", the teacher Professor Chen Chonggeng said a meaningful sentence: "Young man, you must seriously think about what kind of career you are most suitable for, especially don't let the future you regret the decision you have made now." Professor Chen helped to carefully analyze his personality, academic background and the status and influence of psychology in China. "Finally, we agreed that as one of the first graduates of Peking University's psychology department who stayed in the 1980s, I can make special contributions to myself, Peking University and China's psychology."

Sure enough, Peng Kaiping later chose to study psychological tests and became one of the earliest scholars in this field in China. His book Psychological Test was published in 1988, which was the first psychological test textbook in China at that time.

1997 in may, Peng Kaiping received a doctorate in social psychology from the university of Michigan. His tutor, Professor Richard Nisbet, a famous psychologist, asked him to discuss his future plans-whether to continue to do psychological research in colleges or universities or to be an executive in a multinational company? "What is your' call of the heart'?"

The word "the call of the soul" shocked Peng Kaiping and made him unforgettable. He is determined to do what he is excited and excited about and what others can't do.

That year, Peng Kaiping received 15 teaching employment notices from universities, including Cornell University, University of Illinois and other famous schools. The Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago even generously offered him an annual salary of $654.38 million, which was a very high salary at that time. However, Professor Tian Changlin, the president of the University of California, Berkeley, touched Peng Kaiping with a sentence: "You should be a historic person, do something historic, do something that others can't do ... You have the opportunity to become the first China psychologist since the establishment of Berkeley 130." Professor Tian Changlin, who made these remarks, is the first Chinese president in Berkeley's history.

In this way, Peng Kaiping chose Berkeley, which set a precedent for later China scholars to teach in the psychology department of Berkeley.

China needs positive psychology.

He has been a tenured professor of psychology and East Asian studies in Berkeley, director of social and personality psychology at the University of California, and a member of the Scientific Leadership Committee of the American Psychological Association. In 2008, Peng Kaiping, who always felt that his ideal had not been realized, returned to Beijing to help Tsinghua University rebuild the Department of Psychology.

There are many jokes that Peking University and Tsinghua "love each other and kill each other" in the society. As a graduate of Peking University, why was he invited to Tsinghua as the first head of psychology department after reconstruction?

In fact, Tsinghua University established the Department of Psychology as early as the 1920s. Wang Guowei, the four great tutors of Tsinghua National University, was the first scholar to introduce psychology to China. His famous "Thorns on Earth" also came from the "three stages of epiphany" of psychological theory. The psychology departments of Peking University and Tsinghua are in the same strain. 1952 faculty adjustment, Tsinghua Department of Psychology merged into Peking University. He stayed at Peking University and even worked as an assistant to Mr. Zhou Xiangeng, the founder of experimental and applied psychology in China and the last head of psychology department in Tsinghua before the adjustment of departments. In the face of several invitations to the United States led by Tsinghua and the last wish of the father of Mr. Zhou Xiangeng's son, Peng Kaiping embarked on the journey of "helping" to return to China, hoping that Peng Kaiping would help Tsinghua to restore his psychology department.

Peng Kaiping, who entered Tsinghua, came with two strange new words-positive psychology and happiness technology. These are the two directions he chose: one is to make use of Tsinghua University's engineering advantages to do science and technology psychology, and the other is to do positive psychology. Positive psychology is a brand-new field, which was first proposed by 1997. "2 1 century, the biggest challenge facing mankind is not pollution, war, famine and plague. The reason for the largest number of human casualties is low happiness. " Positive psychology puts forward to pay attention to and study the positive power inside people.

Living in this era, we should be happy, rich in material resources and developed in information ... However, too many people often feel anxious, irritable, depressed and difficult to concentrate. Why? Because of the earth-shaking changes in economy, society and culture, our psychological construction has not kept up. "We are all working overtime and on the road. We want to make a fortune. We constantly participate in and compare ourselves ... these are the driving forces of action, but the psychological damage is also huge. Therefore, we often see people on the internet and in life get angry because of a little thing, the quality of sleep declines, the number of patients with depression increases, and anxiety is everywhere ... This post-modernization trap is a problem faced by the whole world, and many developed countries have experienced it. The key is how to deal with and solve it? " Peng Kaiping believes that China's psychology has obvious biological, economic and pathological tendencies in the past stage, which should be changed, and more attention should be paid to and research should be made on how to improve people's positive tendencies and psychological potential. This is not only the demand of the society, but also the paradigm shift of the discipline.

He proposed that positive psychology should take root, sprout and flourish in China, and it needs to be life-oriented, scientific and technological, China-oriented and popular.

Science and technology includes science and technology, seeking truth from science and technology. The Happiness Science and Technology Laboratory (H+Lab), jointly established by the Department of Psychology of Tsinghua University and Tiqi Holdings, is the first happiness science and technology research laboratory in the world and a scientific and technological entrepreneurship project of the Department of Psychology of Tsinghua University. From brain-computer interface to artificial intelligence, from sleep technology to active education, are you anxious? In the future, saliva can be used to measure ... the brand image of the laboratory is three three-dimensional H, representing happiness, health and harmony.

He tried to correspond the ideas, viewpoints and thoughts of positive psychology with China's traditional wisdom, such as translating "positive nature" into "conscience", calling the practical method of positive psychology "unity of knowledge and action" and translating "flow of mind" into "flow of happiness". ...

He is firmly at the forefront of the popularization of positive psychology. His Weibo is updated frequently, and there are many small videos in it. Every topic is a social hot spot and a pain point in life-the draft family education law is submitted for deliberation. He talked about "four negative psychological effects of parents hitting their children"; We spend a lot of time on social media every day. He talks about "data emotional contagion" and tells you "don't let online information control your emotions"; Not long ago, his public welfare video "Tsinghua psychology professor reveals five routines of PUA" even went to Weibo for hot search. ...

At the end of last year, his new book Happy Life taught anxious people how to save unhappiness, taught young people how to become popular people, and warned parents not to "kidnap" their children with praise ... In the final analysis, it taught you how to get happiness from daily chores.

Their "Happy Gardener" project entered the campus to promote positive psychology. "I think positive psychology may be a carrier that can help psychology get out of the ivory tower and go to the public."

"Obviously, I advocate chicken soup for the soul."

Happiness is not just a concept. "I think it's empty because I don't understand."

Chicken soup for the soul, Ah Q spirit, blind optimism ... Positive psychology seems to have become accustomed to this misunderstanding. "The optimism we advocate is not equal to the spirit of Ah Q. It is not a spiritual victory over the negative things in the past, but a positive belief in the future, an action force that believes that tomorrow will be better, and an active guidance based on a clear understanding of our reality."

While dispelling doubts, Peng Kaiping smiled and washed chicken soup for the soul: "Our language is often too realistic, too dark and too critical. What we said before, such as cynicism, cynicism and cynicism, was particularly wise, but it was actually poison. Chicken soup for the soul is a commendatory term in other countries, but a derogatory term in China. Chicken soup is always nourishing. I obviously advocate chicken soup for the soul-the key depends on whether it is real chicken soup or chicken essence, whether it is true or not. We are not opposed to chicken soup, but hypocrisy. "

The World Society of Positive Psychology was founded less than 10 years ago, and the China Conference on Positive Psychology was held only three years later than the World Conference on Positive Psychology. Tsinghua University is one of the six centers of positive psychology in the world named by the University of California. Last year, the Chinese Psychological Society set up a professional committee on positive psychology.

He has a lot of golden sentences and has been entangled for a long time. I choose this sentence as the end of this article: "Happiness is often misunderstood as simple happiness and instant emotions, but true happiness requires rationality, wisdom and struggle.

Source Beijing Daily

Author Zhao Ting

Process editor Li