Kwang-Kuo Hwang – författare

It was once assumed that the bedrock concepts of psychology held true for all the world’s peoples. More recently, post-modern approaches to research have expanded on these Western models, building a psychology that takes into account the sociopolitical, historical, religious, ecological, and other indigenous factors that make every culture, as well as every person as agents of their own actions.

Indigenous and Cultural Psychology surveys psychological and behavioral phenomena in native context in various developing and developed countries, with particular focus on Asia. An international team of 28 experts clarifies culture-specific concepts (such as paternalism and the Japanese concept of amae), models integrative methods of study, and dispels typical misconceptions about the field and its goals. The results reflect culturally sound frames of reference while remaining rigorous, systematic, and verifiable. These approaches provide a basis for the discovery of true psychological universals.

Among the topics featured:

- Scientific and philosophical bases of indigenous psychology

- Comparisons of indigenous, cultural, and cross-cultural psychologies

- Socialization, parent-child relationship, and family

- The private and public self: concepts from East Asia, Europe, and the Americas

- Interpersonal relationships: concepts from East Asia, Europe,, and the U.S.

- Factors promoting educational achievement and organizational effectiveness in Asia

- The growth and indigenization of psychology in developing and developed countries

- Are any values, attitudes, beliefs and traits universal? Cross-national comparisons

- The potential for indigenous psychology to lead to a global psychology

With this book, the editors have captured a growing field at a crucial stage in its evolution. Indigenous and Cultural Psychology benefits students and researchers on twolevels, offering groundbreaking findings on understudied concepts, and signaling future directions in universal knowledge.

Mainstream psychology emanated from  European-American and Judeo-Christian philosophical and scientific traditions.  The application of this viewpoint, which embeds colonial and imperialist concepts is less relevant to Asian and other indigenous cultures. Although it has been accepted by non-Western scholars in an attempt to emulate Western scientific practice, the mainstream viewpoint is in a process of transformation to accommodate geographically relevant perspectives.  In this light, Foundations of Chinese Psychology, bridges the gap between western and eastern traditions and elaborates on theories based on local phenomena, findings, and experiences by research methods that are contextually appropriate. 

 Using a guiding principle of cultural psychology – ‘one mind, many mentalities’, this book advocates the balancing of a global psychology concept without sacrificing that of a specific locality and people.  It analyzes the basics of Confucionism and compares them to Western ethical thinking, arriving at a series of theories concerning social exchange, face, achievement motivation, organizational behaviors, and conflict resolution.

Beyond the specifics of a particular culture, this book exemplifies the act of constructing autonomous social science that may be emulated in other non-Western settings.  It also serves as an excellent guide for cross-cultural research as well as a caveat on the limitations of presumptive individualism and exclusionary perspectives.  

This volume celebrates the visions of a more equitable global psychology as inspired by the late Professor K. S. Yang, one of the founders of the indigenous psychology movement.  This unprecedented international debate among leaders in the field is essential for anyone who wishes to understand the movement from within—the thinking and the vision of those who are the driving forces behind the movement. This book should appeal to scholars and students of psychology, sociology, anthropology, ethnology, philosophy of science, and postcolonial studies.