Introduction to Indigenous Psychology PDF

**INTRODUCTION TO INDIGENOUS PSYCHOLOGY** **INTRODUCTION** Indigenous Psychology is the scientific study of the ethnicity, society and culture of people and the application to psychological practice of indigenous knowledge rooted in the people's ethnic heritage and consciousness. Understanding ea...

**INTRODUCTION TO INDIGENOUS PSYCHOLOGY** **INTRODUCTION** Indigenous Psychology is the scientific study of the ethnicity, society and culture of people and the application to psychological practice of indigenous knowledge rooted in the people's ethnic heritage and consciousness. Understanding each culture from its own frame of reference, including its own ecological, historical, philosophical, and religious or spiritual context; based on knowledge which emerges from the target culture rather than either directly or indirectly from another location; an underlying premise which suggests psychological principles cannot be assumed to be universally similar- this knowledge stems from scholars located in the specific culture, has meaning within the specific culture, and is for the individuals within that culture; advocates examining knowledge, skills, and beliefs individuals have about themselves and how they function in their cultural context, which is not restricted to the study of indigenous individuals or even the use of a particular method, rather indigenous psychology is in fact necessary for all cultural, indigenous, and ethnic groups, including economically developed countries **APPROACHES TO EXPLAIN CULTURAL DIFFERENCES** I. **UNIVERSALIST/ ETIC APPROACH** - Aims to discover abstract, **nomothetic** and general laws of human functioning. - An etic approach is a cross-cultural viewpoint and attempts to compare a psychological phenomenon across many different cultures in order to find out what may be universal behaviors and to look for rules of human behavior that can be applied to all cultures regardless of location or type. - The purpose is to compare and contrast cultural phenomenon across cultures to investigate whether phenomena are culturally-specific or universal II. **CONTEXUALIST / EMIC APPROACH** - Point out that many theories are ethnocentric, biased and culture -- bound. - An emic approach is a culturally-specific viewpoint and attempts to study one culture alone in order to understand a culturally-specific behavior. - A specific culture's uniqueness is explored and how behaviors and beliefs are seen is justified from a culturally-specific point of view. Researchers attempt to study behavior through the eyes of the people who live in that specific culture. The focus is on the norms, vales, motives and customs of the members of the culture as they interpret and understand it themselves, explained in their own **CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY** - Cultural psychologists explore the general relationship between thought processes, behaviors, and cultures. These psychologists investigate how cultural influences affect the mind, and how the mind helps create cultural influences. According to cultural psychologists, it is a cyclic process, in which the mind contributes to cultural behaviors, traditions, beliefs, and those influences affect the mind. Cultural psychology is the study of identity, child development, emotions, social behavior/interactions, friendships/romantic relationships, and family dynamics. Cultural psychologists believe that psychological disorders and behavioral tendencies originate, and are influenced by cultural factors. **CROSS -- CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY** - Cross-cultural psychology is a branch of psychology that also examines cultural influences that affect thought processes and behavior. However, this branch of psychology explores patterns between various cultures. Cross-cultural psychology was first introduced during the 1970s, but remains a force in modern psychology. - The main function of a cross-cultural psychologist is to determine how various cultures affect human behaviors. These psychologists examine universal and "unique" characteristics and traits, in an effort to identify patterns amongst cultural groups. The goal is to identify how culture impacts thought processes, behaviors, goals, social experiences, educational and career aspirations, self- esteem/self-confidence, and relationships. - Cross-cultural psychologists are most concerned with how culture impacts individual personalities and social behaviors. In a sense, cross-cultural psychology is a more in-depth analysis of cultural patterns and behaviors, than cultural psychology. The cross-cultural psychologist researches the patterns (i.e. similarities and differences) between the two cultures (i.e. personalities, behaviors, thought processes, beliefs, feelings, opinions, traditions, etc.) in an effort to better understand the human race. **ETHNOSPYCHOLOGY** - The principal objects of the study of ethnopsychology are tribes, peoples, and nations, as well as specific population groups that are ethnically related, such as groups of immigrants. - Ethnopsychological research attempts to establish the relation between the characteristics of the psyche of members of the communities being studied, on the one hand, and the type of economic activity engaged in under specific natural conditions and the character of nonmaterial culture (for example, traditions and religious beliefs), on the other. For the most part, such research takes the form of empirical studies and comparative descriptions. **VOLKERPSYCHOLOGY** - Völkerpsychologie is a method of psychology that was discovered in the nineteenth century by the famous psychologist, Wilhelm Wundt. Wundt is widely known for his work with experimental psychology. Up until this time in history, psychologists were using experiments as a source of researching information. Wilhelm thought that there must be a different method for research and came up with the idea of Völkerpsychologie. Experimentation was too limited for studying individual consciousness, especially with the application to mental processes, such as language. - Wundt's idea was that language was distinguished among the collective human processes and since it seemed to be crucial to the entire upper mental functions, those functions were concluded as exempt to experimental research. All of this led to the design of Völkerpsychologie, which Wundt created as a branch of psychology which would work best for the use of historical and comparative methods instead of experiments alone. **GLOBAL INDIGENOUS PSYCHOLOGY** - Indigenous Psychology is an intellectual movement across the globe, based on the following factors: 1. A reaction against the colonization/hegemony of Western psychology. 2. The need for non-Western cultures to solve their local problems through indigenous practices and applications. 3. The need for a non-Western culture to recognize itself in the constructs and practices of psychology. 4. The need to use indigenous philosophies and concepts to generate theories of global discourse. - Psychology, like any other language game, is a living conversation, for which translation is the key to the perpetuation and permutation of the discourse. As Western psychology is translated into other cultures, the more we make sure that the influence is going both ways, and the more we allow conflicting voices to inhabit the terms we use in psychology, the more likely it is that alternative ways of doing psychological science will emerge. **SIKOLOHIYANG PILIPINO** - Anchored on Filipino thought and experience as understood from a Filipino perspective - Its ultimate aim is to contribute to universal psychology - The principal emphasis is to foster national identity and consciousness, social involvement, and psychology of language and culture. - Its philosophical antecedents include: a. empirical philosophy, academic-scientific psychology, the ideas and teachings of Ricardo Pascual, logical analysis of language; b. rational philosophy, the clerical tradition, phenomenology, Thomistic philosophy and psychology; and c. liberalism, the Philippine propaganda movement, the writings of Philippine heroes Jacinto, Mabini and del Pilar, ethnic psychology.  - As principal methods of investigation, Sikolohiyang Pilipino encourages: - Cross-indigenous method - multi-method multi-language approach - appropriate field methods - total approach (triangulation method) **BRIEF HISTORY OF FILIPINO PSYCHOLOGY** - In the Philippines, Psychology as an academic discipline has been introduced during the early 1900s under the American Occupation. In 1970s, Virgilio G. Enriquez ignited the rise of Filipino Psychology as an indigenous viewpoint in Psychology by questioning the validity of using the western psychological concepts advocating for \"Sikolohiyang Pilipino\" that would be based in the experiences, ideas, and orientations of the Filipinos. After the sudden demise of Enriquez in 1994,the field of Filipino Psychology suffered from the danger of being discontinued since none of his followers appeared ready to fill in his shoes, but still, Filipino Psychology thrived and rose to popularity.  **INDIGENIZATION** - Aims to re-examine and develop several of the psychological theories that were proposed as though they were universally applicable. **TYPES OF INDIGENIZATION** +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | **Indigenization from Within** | **Indigenization from Without** | +===================================+===================================+ | - Indigenization from within | - Research studies applying | | Indigenous research utilizing | western theoretical models | | the local\'s own methods to | and methodologies to the | | elicit and study | local setting. | | culture-specific social | | | behaviors. | | | | | | - Cultural revalidation is a | | | better term since | | | \'indigenization\' is | | | erroneous | | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ **FOUR FILIATIONS OF SIKOLOHIYANG PILIPINO (Zeus A. Salazar)** - historical threads or \"filiations\" across Philippine historical time. The following were his findings: +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | **FOUR TRADITIONS** | | +===================================+===================================+ | 1.Academic-scientific psychology | - The Western tradition | | (Akademniko-Siyentipikal na | | | Sikolohiya) | - and the entry of Western | | | psychology (mainly American | | | tradition) at Philippine | | | universities | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | 2.Academic-philosophical | - The Western (mainly clerical) | | psychology(Akademiko-Pilasopiya | tradition | | na Sikolohiya) | | | | - Pursued by the University of | | | Santo Tomas and later other | | | schools of higher learning, | | | under the leadership of | | | individual monks and | | | preachers and the Jesuits | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | 3.Ethnic psychology(Taal na | - Major basis of Sikolohiyang | | Sikolohiya) | Pilipino for integrating | | | academic scientific a | | | Philosophy as universal | | | disciplines. | | | | | | - Includes the following: | | | | | | - Indigeous psychology - | | | common to the Filipinos, | | | culled from language, | | | culture, literature, | | | etc., psychological | | | systems worked out by | | | Filipinos w indigenous | | | elements as basis) | | | | | | - Psychalogy of | | | Fiijpinas-as observed by | | | foreigners or as felt a | | | expressed by Filipinos | | | | | | - The practice of | | | psychology by Fillpinos - | | | normal techniques | | | enculturation or | | | socialization,and proto | | | cinical practice. | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | 4.Psycho-medical system wilth | - Cohesive element and | | religion(Sikolohiyang | explanation | | Siko-Medikal) | | | | - Religion is the sole basis | | | and explanation of psychology | | | and medicine | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ **INTERNALITY -EXTERNALITY** (Zeus A.Salazar) - Salazar (1985b), through his analysis of indigenous history and culture of the Filipinos, points out the internality-externality component in the Filipino personality +-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+ | **INTERNAL** | **EXTERNAL** | | | +=================+=================+=================+=================+ | Dangal | *Honor from | Puri | *Honor which is | | | within -* | | physical* (i.e. | | | knowledge of | | bestowed | | | one\'s true | | | | | worth, | | through | | | character, | | compliments or | | | achievement and | | applauses) | | | success | | | | | | | *Virginity* | | | | | which is a | | | | | virtue expected | | | | | of | | | | | | | | | | unmarried | | | | | Filipino women | +-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+ | Ligaya | | Saya | | +-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+ | Timpi | | Pigil | | +-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+ | Damdam | | Dama | | +-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+-----------------+ **BASIC TENETS IN FILIPINO PSYCHOLOGY** +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | 1\. Core Value/Kapwa | - Defined as togetherness and | | | has two categories: | | | | | | 1. Ibang Tao (\"Outsider\") | | | | | | | | | | | | a. **Pakikitungo | | | (transaction/civility)** - | | | right behavior meant right | | | demeanor towards authorities | | | | | | b. **Pakikisalamuha (interaction | | | with)** - ability to adapt in | | | social situations | | | | | | c. **Pakikilahok | | | (joining/participating)** - | | | participation of the | | | community to help a person | | | | | | d. **Pakikibagay (in-conformity | | | with/in accord with)** - | | | being willing to throw one\'s | | | own individuality away in | | | favour of conforming towards | | | other people | | | | | | e. **Pakikisama (being along | | | with)** - being united with | | | the group | | | | | | | | | | | | 2. Hindi-Ibang Tao (\"One-of-us) | | | | | | | | | | | | a. **Pakikipagpalagayang-loob** | | | - | | | being in rapport, acceptance, | | | or understanding; act of | | | mutual trust | | | | | | b. **Pakikisangkot** (getting | | | involved) - act of joining | | | others | | | | | | c. **Pakikiisa** - being one | | | with other | +===================================+===================================+ | 2\. Pivotal Interpersonal Value | - **Pakikiramdam** - the shared | | | inner perception; a kind of | | | "emotional a-priori" a | | | request to feel or to be | | | sensitive to. | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | 3\. Colonial / Accommodative | - **Hiya** - propriety/dignity | | surface values | | | | - **Utang na loob** - | | | gratitude/solidarity | | | | | | - **Pakikisama** - | | | companionship/esteem; having | | | smooth interpersonal | | | | | | relationships | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | 4\. Confrontative surface value | **Bahala na** - determination; an | | | adaptive coping strategy when | | | faced with difficult situations | | | | | | **Sama/lakas ng loob** - | | | resentment/guts; being courageous | | | amidst problems | | | | | | **Pakikibaka** - resistance; | | | ability to undertake revolutions | | | and uprisings against a common | | | enemy | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | 5\. Linking socio-personal value | **Kagandahang-loob (shared | | | humanity)** - being able to help | | | others in dire need as a result | | | of the belief of united Filipino | | | humanity | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | 6\. Societal values | **Karangalan (dignity)** - what | | | other people see in a person and | | | how they use it to judge a | | | person\'s worth | | | | | | **Katarungan (justice)** - equity | | | in giving rewards to people | | | | | | **Kalayaan (freedom)** - takes | | | the form of individuality against | | | conformity. | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ **TATLONG ANYO NG SIKOLOHIYA** I. **Sikolohiya sa Pilipinas** - Lahat ng mga pagaaral, libro/textbook at sikolohiyang makikita sa Pilipinas, banyaga man o makapilipino - Ang pinakamalaki o kabuuang anyo ng sikolohiya sa kontekstong Pilipino. - \"bisita sa bahay\" II. **Sikolohiya ng mga Pilipino** - Lahat ng mga pagaaral, pananaliksik at mga konsepto sa sikolohiya na may kinalaman sa mga Pilipino. - Palasak na anyo sapagkat pangkaraniwan o madalas makita. - Theorizing about the psychological nature of the Filipinos, whether from a local or a foreign perspective. - \"tao sa bahay\" III. **Sikolohiyang Pilipino** - Nilalayong anyo ng sikolohiya sa Pilipinas - Sikolohiyang bunga ng karanasan, kaisipan at oryentasyong Pilipino. - \"may bahay\" **SIGNIFICANT PEOPLE/PERSONS/INDIVIDUALS** **[Virgilio Gaspar Enriquez]** - Created Panukat ng Ugali at Pagkatao (Measure of Character and Personality) - In 1975,he chaired the Unang Pambansang Kumperensya sa Sikolohiyang Pilipino wherein the ideas, concepts, and formulations of Sikolohiyang Pilipino were formally articulated. - Established the Philippine Psychology Research House (PPRH) or Philippine Psychology Research and Training House (PPRTH) - Believed that it is in the cultural aspect where we witness a disparity among Filipinos. - Known as **Doc E** - A social psychologist and the Father of Filipino psychology \"Ama ng Sikolohiyang Pilipino\". - He was born on November 24, 1942, at Santol, Balagtas formally Bigaa, Bulacan. - He was the youngest of 5 children to Arsenio Libiran Enriquez and Rosario Galvez Gaspar. - He died on August 31, 1994, San Francisco, California, United States - Founder of Pambansang Samahan ng Sikolohiyang Pilipino. **Zeus A.Salazar** - He expounded on affixation and hiya and showed the internal and external aspects of hiya; - He asserted that the more appropriate translation of hiya in English is \"sense of propriety\" - A friend and a critic of Virgilio Enriquez **Carmen Santiago** - A postgraduate student of psychology at U.P. who did a study on pagkalalaki. - It was in her articles that the **pakapa-kapa (\"groping\")** approach was first introduced **Bostrom (1968)** - The first psychologist to analyze the value **Bahala na** by comparing it with American fatalism **Thomas Andres** - He defined **"bahala na"** in his Dictionary of Filipino Culture and Values as \"the Filipino attitude that makes him accept sufferings and problems, leaving everything to God. - He further stated that the attitude of **\'Bahala na ang Diyos** (God will take care of us)\' is a fatalistic resignation or withdrawal from an engagement or crisis or a shirking from personal responsibility. - He also described **hiya** as \"an ingredient in why Filipinos overspend during fiestas in order to please their visitors, even to the extent of going into debt\" - In defining **Utang na Loob**, he defined it following Kaut\'s logic, as \'the principle of reciprocity incurred when an individual helps another **Lagmay** - He explained that **bahala na** is not **\"fatalism\"** but **\"determination and risk-taking\"** **INDIGENOUS FILIPINO VALUES AND FILIPINO PERSONALITY** **FILIPINO VALUES** - refer to the shared cultural beliefs of what is socially desirable in the way Filipinos deal with each other. These values were cultivated by our experiences as a nation through centuries. - Filipino values serve as Filipinos\' lenses on how they appreciate the issues around them. To appreciate Filipino culture, begin with their values. - Values are the community standards of what\'s valuable. They are the guiding principles of our lives. **BAHALA NA** - This trait means living everything to chance or **\"letting the circumstances take care of itself.\"** It implies fatalism under the pretext of trusting divine providence. It is a Filipino's way of avoiding rationalization or good reason. It is the same as saying, \"que sera sera (whatever will be).\" - The Filipino's \"Behala na\" attitude is everywhere and with everyone. It could apply on big and small circumstances. - This negative Filipino trait tends to be the cause of laziness by so many people. Their belief is that life finds a solution for itself. - Bostrom(1968) was the first psychologist to analyze this value by comparing it Thomas Andres published the Dictionary of Filipino Culture and Values, he still defines bahala na as \"the Filipino attitude that makes him accept sufferings and problems, leaving everything to God. \'Bahala na ang Diyos (God will take care of us)\'\... This attitude is a fatalistic resignation or withdrawal from an engagement or crisis or a shirking from personal responsibility\" - The Sikolohiyang Pilipino perspective interprets bahala na differently. Lagmay taking\". When Filipinos utter the expression \"Bahala na!\" they are not leaving their fate to God and remaining passive. Rather, they are telling themselves that they are ready to face the difficult situation before them, and will do their best to achieve their objectives. The expression is a way of pumping courage into their \"Bahala na!\" they have probably done their best to prepare for the forthcoming situation. **HIYA** - \"shame\" - the uncomfortable feeling that accompanies awareness of being in socially unacceptable position, or performing a socially unacceptable action. - Andres (1994) described hiya as an \"ingredient in why Filipinos overspend during fiestas in order to please their visitors, even to the extent of going into debt\" - Bonifacio (1976)-different meaning of hiya depending on its form: - **nakakahiya** (embarrassing) - **napahiya** (placed in an awkward position) - **ikinahiya** (be embarrassed with someone) - **mahiyain** (shy) - **kahihiyan** (sense of propriety  **UTANG NA LOOB** - \"debt of gratitude\" - the principle of reciprocity incurred when an individual helps another. The person helped then feels an obligation to repay the debt by sending gifts. - Hollnsteiner (1961) took this interpretation further by claiming that the recipient of the favor is forced\"to show his gratitude properly by returning the favor with interest\" - looking at utang na loob more closely in the context of Filipino culture, it actually maens \"gratitude/solidarity\" - \"Ang hindi lumingon sa pinanggalingan ay hindi makakarating saparoroonan. **PAKIKISAMA VS PAKIKIPAGKAPWA** **PAKIKISAMA** - Pakikisama was identified by Lynch (1961, 1973) as a Filipino value, giving it the English translation of maintaining \"smooth interpersonal relations\" by going along with the group or the majority decision, i.e., conformity. - ·Pakikisama refers to an interpersonal relationship where people are friendly with each other and is a typical personality trait of the Filipino people. **Value of Pakikisama** 1. In the context of youth, pakikisama has become the norm of friendship and camaraderie in youthful generations regardless of status. 2. Pakikisama in Filipino workers is seen in practices common in offices where officemates are united in certain ways which will track the tasks and responsibilities of everybody. 3. Pakikisama in the context of national development is the other side of friendship and camaraderie. - Pakikisama as a simple value can move a nation towards development both as a people and as a country. - Andres (1994) said that the Philippines is where it is today because it failed to harness the positive side of Pakikisama that should unify and reconcile Filipinos towards national values and goals.\"  **PAKIKIPAGKAPWA** - Enriquez (1978, 1994) started unfolding the concept of kapwa (shared identity), which is at the core of it is not maintaining smooth interpersonal relationships that Filipinos are most concerned with, but pakikipagkapwa which means treating the other person as kapwa or fellow human being. - Pakikipagkapwa means connecting myself with others, feeling myself in the other and having a sense of shared identity and a shared inner self. - Pakikipagkapwa, seeing ourselves as connected with others, leads us to better relations within our families, with schoolmates or fellow workers. It leads towards concern for our community, our country and for our environment, both social and natural. **2 Categories of Kapwa** 1. Ibang tao (outsider) 2. Hindi ibang tao (one of us) - Using the Sikolohiyang Pilipino perspective, Enriquez (1992) re-conceptualized the Filipino behaviour patterns and value structure where he designated hiya(\"propriety/ dignity\"), utang na loob (\"gratitude/solidarity\") and pakikisama (\"companionship/esteem\") as colonial/accommodative surface values;and bahala na (\"determination\"), sama/lakas ng loob (\"resentment/guts\") and pakikibaka (\"resistance\") as confrontative surface values. He emphasized kapwa (\"shared identity\") as core value; pakikiramdam (\"shared inner perception\") as pivotal interpersonal value; and kagandahang-loob as karangalan (\"dignity\"),katarungan (\"justice\"), and kalayaan (\"freedom\").  **INDIRECT COMMUNICATION** - Part of our socialization is being sensitive to non-verbal cues, having concern for the feelings of others, being truthful but not at the expense of hurting others\' feelings. This has made the sharpening of pakikiramdam (shared inner perception) a particularly desirable skill in many situations involving Filipino social interaction. Pakikiramdam is a request to feel or to be sensitive to. It is a shared feeling, a kind of \"emotional a priori\". There is \"hesitation to react, attention to subtle cues, and non-verbal behavior in mental role-playing (if I were in the other\'s situation, how would I feel)." - The indirect pattern of communication of Filipinos has thus resulted in indirectness or euphemisms in verbal exchange, expressive body language, voice intonations that say more than the words themselves, and other similar behaviors. **INTERNALITY vs EXTERNALITY** - the internality-externality component in the Filipino personality. - The Filipino language has two words for the English word \"honor\": puri and dangal. - **Puri** refers to honor which is physical, such as that bestowed through compliments or applauses for a good performance, thus external. It can also refer to virginity which is a virtue expected of unmarried Filipino women. - **Dangal** is honor from within - knowledge of one\'s true worth, character, achievement and success. It can be acknowledged through an award or a tribute (parangal, which is actually pa-dangal) but even without such gestures from outside, it is within you. - An example of internality and externality includes: - Saya and ligaya (happiness) - Pigil and timpi (control) - Dama and damdam (feel) **THE GREAT CULTURAL DIVIDE** - One side of the cultural divide are Filipinos who have maintained a more mass-oriented worldview, culture, and a way of life. - The other side of the cultural divide are the Filipinos who have adhered to a more elitist viewpoint. - \"Not only do the poor eat different food, if they eat at all, but they also have their own tastes in leisure and entertainment. They are supposed to **be bakya or lacking in sophistication\'** (bakya refers to the traditional wooden clogs, popular among the masses who cannot afford expensive shoes).In fact, they have their own culture and speak their own language. While the elite speak English and occasionally throw in some French for comfort, the Filipino masses speak Filipino and a regional language" (Enriquez, 1992, p.22). WHAT IS KAPWA? - \"Kapwa: is a Tagalog term widely used when addressing another with the intention of establishing a connection. It reflects a viewpoint that beholds the essential humanity recognizable in everyone, therefore linking (including) people rather than separating (excluding) them from each other. \[Virgilio\]Enriquez felt that this orientation was an expression of "humanness at its highest level." Why? Kapwa, beyond all outer trappings, looks for what people have in common: not whether someone is rich or poor, not whether somebody is young or old, man, woman or child, but rather for the fundamental characteristics in people, that is, as human beings. According to this type of thinking, people always remain just people (tao lang) despite titles, prestigious positions or wealth. It's their behavior and their ethics that count.\" -Katrin de Guia, \"KAPWA the Self in the Other\" ANG PAGKATAONG FILIPINO, A THEORY OF FILIPINO PERSONHOOD - In 1989, Virgilio Enriquez, a PhD holder in social psychology from the University of Illinois, proposed a personality theory based on the IKSP of Filipinos. Using Western scientific lingo, he established a framework for understanding the ways of the Filipino culture-bearers. Pagkataong Filipino emerged the first academic theory that formulated a value-system of Asian personality. While its framework emulates Western models of personality-theory, its concepts do not. The emerging value-structure is, therefore, unique from other psychological models. - This most blatant difference between the Filipino personality theory and its Western counterparts is the distinction between "personhood" (pagkatao) and "personality". - Enriquez, who coined the term "personhood", chose the English suffix "hood" to underpin his psychological reasoning. When this " \~hood" is added to a root-word, it draws attention to the state, quality, or condition of this person (or thing). For example, by entering into "manhood", a boy acquires the qualities of a man. The concepts formed with "\~hood" are closure seeking. They convey essences that are shared by many. Thus, "\~hood" concepts are deeper, wider, more generic, more complex than those suffixed with an "\~ity". The "\~ity" words point to a personalized or individual domains (i.e. the repeated act of being generous turns into "generosity"). Such "\~ity" words mark distinctions\-- characteristics that separate one person (or thing) from an Other. For example, "motherhood" is common to many women, while "maternity" singles out one pregnant woman from a group of others who are not. Pagkatao\-- "personhood"\-- then, asserts the shared humanity of a people while "personality" is confined to the individual viewpoint of an outsider observing an Other. KAPWA PSYCHOLOGY: 3 CORE VALUES OF SIKOLOHIYANG PILIPINO - Sikolohiyang Pilipino or Indigenous Filipino Psychology is also known as Kapwa Psychology. Kapwa Psychology draws from folk practices as much as from modern theory. It perceives no essential contradiction between indigenous folk beliefs and modern psychological concepts and scientific norms. It includes in its study the IKSP of healing from the babaylan and arbolaryos (native shamans and healers), as well as the religio-political approaches of Filipino mystics and folk heroes and other ancestral ways of knowing. Kapwa Psychology implies a call for social action. Scholars and students are encouraged to go to the villages to learn from the people and in turn serve them with the gained knowledge. 1. PAKIKIPAGKAPWA (SHARED IDENTITY) - The core of Filipino personhood is kapwa. This notion of a "shared self" extends the I to include the other. It bridges the deepest individual recesses of a person with anyone outside him or herself, even total strangers. " People are just people in spite of their age, clothes, diplomas, color or affiliations" saysthe Visayan artist Perry Argel. - Kapwa is the "unity of the one-of-us-and-the-other," according to the late Virgilio Enriquez, who declared the concept as a Filipino core value. He upheld that kapwa implied moral and normative aspects that obliged a person to treat one another as fellow human being and therefore as equal---a position "definitely inconsistent with exploitative human interactions." But he also foresaw that this Filipino core value was threatened by spreading Western influences, when he wrote: "...once AKO starts thinking of himself as separate from KAPWA, the Filipino 'self' gets to be individuated as in the Western sense and, in effect, denies the status of KAPWA to the other." (Enriquez 1989) 2. PAKIKIRAMDAM (SENSITIVITY OR SHARED INNER PERCEPTION) - Pakiramdam is described as an all-important "shared inner perception" that compliments the "shared identity" of kapwa. It is an emotional a priori that goes with the Filipino personhood. Pakiramdam operates behind all Filipino values. This steering emotion triggers the spontaneous voluntary actions that come with the sharing of the self. It is the keen deep inner feeling that initiates all deeds. Because of kapwa, Filipino feeling, or pakiramdam, is a participatory process, where emotions are experienced mutually. Enriquez called this shared perception --the "heightened awareness and sensitivity" of Filipinos. His student Rita Mataragnon saw in pakiramdam the "emotional a-priori" of Filipino people. She noted that both, the emphatic "feeling for another," or the talent of "sizing up each other" were active emotional processes that involved great attention to subtle cues. Filipino are good in sensing cues (magalingmakiramdam), she upheld. - Heightened sensitivity is the survival tool in a society where much social interaction is carried on without words. Here, only carefully feeling out others helps in navigating the ambiguities one encounters---like knowing when to join a group or how to blend in with people. Pakiramdam provides the tacit leads how to act appropriately in such situations and may well be regarded as the cognitive style of Filipinos---a unique social skill that is intrinsic to the Filipinos personhood. 3. BAHALA NA (TACIT TRUST) - The way Filipinos use the expression, "Bahala Na" had long been misinterpreted by foreigners as demonstrating the fatalism of a happy-go-lucky people. But Bahala has sacred undertones. Its ancient Filipino inscription divides the term into "ba'' for woman and "la" for man. "Ha" means breath or wind---in a larger sense, spirit or God. Bahala then is the word that pre-Christian Filipinos used for the deity. - Sikolohiyang Filipino salvaged "Bahala Na!" from this fatalistic reputation into a value. "Devil may care!" was transformed into "determination in the face of uncertainty" --a value that stimulates resourcefulness and the creativity to survive: - "Bahala-na stimulates action, not action; it is not invoked to avoid or forget problems; it implies perseverance and hard work; it instills the courage to see oneself through hard times," noted the late Alfredo Lagmay. "It drives a person on even beyond his/her own frailties and limitations, to find a creative way out." - Lagmay attributed the dynamics of courage and determination to this notion of "Bahala-na!" which calls for risk taking in the face of possible failure. Its origin lies in a social structure that challenges people to exercise their ability in coping with constant change. This flexibility developed as a response to living along the earth's "fire-belt" where erupting volcanoes, tidal waves, and tropical storms---an ever-restless environment--- has taught its inhabitants to be resourceful and creative in order to survive. - "Bahala-na!" then, signifies an improvisatory skill. It is a strength that helps - Filipino to access the "deep source in man" where solutions to anything can be had. But the security offered by "Bahala Na!" is quite different from the static security of the sigurista, a person who always makes sure that everything is under control. Lagmay traced the dividing line between a people who love to follow rules and others who prefer to walk out on limb: "We plan everything to the minutest detail and act according to the blue-print of fixed specifications. This is what the administration wants. It is in contrast to the attitude of someone, who does not know what life will bring, one who will not try to predict the future. For someone like this, the needed information will arrive at its own time and only when necessary." As it challenges "the intolerance of ambiguity in psychology," said Lagmay, such an attitude is intrinsically subversive. ALFREDO LAGMAY: BATHALA NA! DANCING WITH THE COSMOS​ - The way Filipinos use the expression, "Bahala Na!" is being interpreted by some social scientists to demonstrate our fatalism and being happy-go-lucky. But "Bahala" which means "care" and "responsibility" actually has sacred undertones. The ancient inscription separates the term into "ba" (babae) for "woman" and "la" (lalake) for "man." "Ha" (hangin) means "breath" or "wind" or, in a larger sense, "spirit" and "God." "Ba-ha-la" was then interchangeable for "Ba-tha-la" which means "God" for the ancient Filipinos. - Dr. Lagmay salvaged "Bahala Na!" from its fatalistic reputation into a Filipino value. From "devil may care," it became "determination in the face of uncertainty." - "Bahala-na stimulates action, not inaction; it is not used in order to avoid or forget problems; It implies perseverance and hard work; it gives a person courage to see himself through hard times; it stimulates creativity," noted the eminent psychologist and National Scientist. - In blurting this expression, we are actually accepting the presence of Nature in our dealings; that we must also acknowledge Nature and not just conquer it to achieve our means. Like water, we can change our paths but leave our mark just the same. - "Bahala Na!" is also a way of drawing inner strength even while we remain cool. Such momentary detachment helps reduce situational stress. It makes one accept one's feebleness or folly while pushing towards finding a creative solution for the problem. It frees us from following rigid rules all the time. - Lagmay even compared "Bahala na" to inviting someone to dance with you, whether it is Nature or God: "Life is full of complicated situations and opportunities while you do what you feel like doing. It is like dancing. Your movements are determined by the movements or steps of your partner. The same happens when two people are talking--- none can determine where the details of their discussion will lead to," he said. - Freedom to dance or play is what "Bahala na" means to a culture bearing artist. Freedom to play is not irresponsibility. It is the freedom to create, to invent, to innovate and follow one\'s daloy (inspiration) rather than getting caught in a consumerist maze. -