Pursuing ideal mentalities: key features and contemporary contributions of traditional Chinese psychology

Abstract Traditional Chinese psychology is deeply rooted in spiritual traditions such as Buddhism, Confucianism, and Daoism, which have contributed numerous concepts and practices to modern psychology. This article highlights an important feature and methodological contribution of traditional Chinese psychology: the pursuit of ideal mentalities, which refers to nonexistent but desirable mentalities. In Chinese spiritual traditions, ideal mentalities are widely discussed and regarded as ultimate pursuits. These traditions offer systematic training methods for cultivating these mentalities and influence aspects beyond psychology, such as political stances. In comparison, mainstream Western spiritual or philosophical traditions (e.g., ancient Greek philosophy, Christian thought, modern philosophy) generally place less emphasis on the pursuit of ideal mentalities. While most of modern psychological research has focused on existing mentalities, recent empirical studies based on training rooted in Chinese spiritual traditions have directly cultivated ideal mentalities. These studies have further led to the establishment of the ideal psychology with specific methodological principles and viewpoints. In conclusion, the pursuit of ideal mentalities is an important feature of traditional Chinese psychology and has begun to play a unique role in promoting the development of modern psychology.