Abstract: “Discourse” is primarily defined in two ways in current Psychology. The widespread definition is a descriptive model, which comes from structuralism and defines discourse as “a system of meanings, representations or statements to construct an object”. The other is a functional model, which is connected closely with post-structuralism and explains discourse as either “doing things” or actions or social practice. As an academic position, discourse analysis has laid aside many basic psychological constructs including “mind” and “identity” etc., deconstructed the criterion of “objectivity” in positive psychology, and changed the aim of psychological research. As research methods, discourse analyses cover a variety of studies including rhetoric research, metaphor research, and narrative research, etc

Key words: discourse, discourse analysis, social construction, research position, research method