Asian Social Psychology and
Asian Epistemologies: Potentials
for Global Psychology?
Professor James H. Liu
Centre for Applied Cross Cultural
Research
School of Psychology
Victoria University of Wellington
Disjuncture between Global society
and Global psychology
• Manufacturing in Global society is completely
interconnected. There is hardly a single industry
(except defense) that does not have a significant
component of manufacturing output from Asia.
Now even service is being outsourced. Massive
amounts of sovereign wealth are held in Asia:
China buys 1/3 of the current American
government’s accounts deficit.
• In contrast, if China, India, Indonesia, and the
Philippines were to disappear from Global
Psychology, PsycInfo would not notice. A
bibliometric study by Adair, Coelho, & Luna
(2002) found Japan contributes 1.9% of global
publications in psychology, whereas the others
probably total to less than 2%.
Global Manufacturing: Smithian
Division of Labour + Global Markets
• In manufacturing, the global division of labour allows
Asian countries to first become cheap manufacturers,
and then as they acquire technical expertise they are
able to produce global brands.
• Psychology, by contrast, is more like a feudal guild
system, where one-on-one mentoring is necessary to
acquire the expertise to become a Master oneself.
Like a global cottage industry– perhaps to be
expected in an industry without physical products.
• The hope of American psychology is to be a spoke of
the hub of cognitive neuroscience. It would be the
fulfillment of a century old dream for psychology to
become a physical, experimental science like Physics
How can Asian Social Psychology come
of Age as a “Third Force”?
• American social psychology is the global study of the
universal individual.
• European social psychology is the study of the
individual in the context of society (e.g., groups, social
categories, social representations).
• Asian social psychology has potential to become the
study of culture, the phenomenological layer of social
constructions that mediate between raw experience and a
person’s reactions.
• Asian philosophy and epistemology is holistic, so the
analytical separation of Volkerpsychologie (Folk
Psychology) from Experimental Science advocated by
Wundt is not accepted
• To become successful, Asian social psychology must
illustrate its “positive distinctiveness” facilitated by the
rise of Asian economies. It must be useful to Asian
societies and gain international reknown.
Asian Association of Social
Psychology (AASP)
• Established in 1995 with its first biennial meeting in
Hong Kong as the brainchild of Kwok Leung, Yoshi
Kashima, Susumu Yamaguchi, and Uichol Kim
• Initially attended by only about 60 people, with a
single stream of papers
• Japanese, South Koreans, and different groups of
Chinese were the main nationalities
• Subsequent meetings in Kyoto, Taipei, Melbourne,
Manila, Wellington (NZ), Kota Kinabalu (Malaysia),
and Delhi (Dec 7-10 2009)
• 2011, July 27-31 Kunming China
• Recent meetings attended by 700+ people
About the Asian Assn of Social Psyc
• The main goals of AASP are (1) to explore, address,
and advance the unique contribution that could be
made by Asian psychologists in investigating issues
that are relevant and of interest to them; (2) to
expand the boundary, substance and direction of
social psychology beyond its initial Euro-American
base; (3) to move away from the narrow focus on
intra-individual process, and move towards an
integration of various areas of psychology as well as
sister disciplines; (4) to promote research on Asian
traditions, philosophies, and ideas that have
psychological contents and/or implications; (5) to
encourage links between Asian and Western facts and
principles of social psychology; and (6) to provide
Asian-Pacific scholars with a scientific forum for
discussion, evaluation, and publication of their
research” (Kim, 1998, p. iv).
About the Asian Journal of Social
Psychology (AJSP)
• Established in 1998
• Published jointly by the Asian
Association of Social Psychology, the
Japanese Group Dynamics Association
and Blackwell
• JCI/SSCI from 2004
• Impact Factor from 0.5-1.0 (entry level
journal that publishes single study
papers)
Editorial Policy (1)
• AJSP welcomes submissions from any part of the world,
but positively encourages submissions from Asian
countries and/or Asian authors and Asian samples
• “In a nutshell, AJSP is able to promote research that
addresses cultural issues, and the Journal seems to have
developed a reputation as a ‘cultural’ journal… No
obvious theoretical framework comes to mind when one
thinks of Asian social psychology. Except for the
indigenous psychologists, most Asian social
psychologists work on topics that are popular in the West.
For Asian indigenous psychologies, there has not been
any single theoretical framework that has wide-ranging
influence beyond its country of origin.” (Leung, 2007, p.
11).
Editorial Policy (2)
• AJSP welcomes papers from any theoretical or
methodological, or epistemological tradition
• “What is special about Asian social psychology is
that it is free of the dualist ontology that is often
implicit in Western intellectual tradition. It may take
a while for Western social psychologists to extricate
themselves from the dualist thinking that permeates
the division between natural science and cultural
science metatheories of psychology. In the
meantime, the practice of Asian social psychology
may be able to construct a social psychology that
takes culture seriously, unencumbered by the weight
of Western cultural tradition.” (Kashima, 2005, p.
36).
Overcoming “Methodolatry”
• Idolatry is worshipping a false idol.
• Methodolatry=treating methodology as an
absolute value (as a God) rather than as a
tool to serve the investigator’s purpose.
• Science developed in Western societies
beginning in the 17th century as a product of
the Protestant Reformation and as a reaction
to the hegemony of the Catholic Church.
Rationality and the Scientific Method
became New Gods of the enlightenment,
and especially in the French Revolution.
They were erected as replacements for the
formerly all powerful God of religion.
Natural Science and Dualism as
Western Cultural Products
• Great Western philosophers like Descartes (mind-body
problem) and Kant pushed the ability of rational analysis
to the limits to emerge with a dualistic conception of the
human condition and its theories of knowledge.
• Descartes argued that the human body followed
mechanistic laws of physics like any other, and that the
mind (or soul) was non-material and therefore was free
to follow the dictates of religion.
• Kant distinguished between noumenon (thing in itself),
truth only known by God, and phenomenon (unreliable
evidence perceived by sensible intuition). According to
Kant, human beings cannot know things-in-themselves
(noumenon), and hence it is impossible for us to have
knowledge on metaphysics because this would end in
antinomies (contradictions).
• Both theories argue for a clear dichotomy between
empirical, verifiable knowledge and subjective beliefs
Two Psychologies?
• In the Natural Science Model of the British and French
empiricists, the human being is modelled as a general
information processor endowed by biology with
tendencies to behave in a lawful manner like other
physical objects.
• In the Folk Psychology Model of German idealists like
Johann Herder, a volk is a community whose shared
language and historical traditions shape the mental
processes of its members and provide essential resources
for their development. “Thus, nations change according
to place, time, and their inner character; each carries
within itself the measure of its perfection,
incommemsurable with others.”
Wundt’s Volkerpsychologie
• Wilhelm Wundt, who many claim as the Father of
Experimental Psychology, had a bastard child
known as Volkerpsychologie
• In his view, two different orders of reality required
two psychologies, one to explicate elementary
physiological laws, and the other to investigate
higher psychological functions like language and
reasoning.
• Wundt argued that higher psychological functioning
extended beyond individual human consciousness
and hence could not be studied by experimental
methods. Have to be studied by descriptive
methods, like ethnography, folklore, & linguistics.
A Higher level Synthesis
• Why is Volkerpsychologie necessary according to
Wundt? “Its problem relates to those mental products
which are created by a community of human life and are,
therefore, inexplicable in terms of merely individual
consciousness, since they presuppose the reciprocal
action of many…”
• It is “the science of the origins of peoples.”
• Mainstream psychology only accepted his experimental
methods, not his Volkerpsychologie
Mou Tsung-san (Zongshan)’s Monist
Intellectual Intuition
• Mou argues that Eastern traditions such as Buddhism,
Confucianism, and Taoism allow for the possibility of
“intuitive illumination”. He proposes a transcendental
dialectic where the cognitive mind, while unable to
produce acceptable proof of the metaphysical ultimate,
nevertheless can help to reveal its logical structure by
projecting it as the exact opposite of the cognitive
mind, bound in time and space.
• Mou’s transcendental dialectics do not deal with
empirically verifiable knowledge, so they are similar in
form to Kierkegaard’s position that “Subjectivity is
Truth”. However, they nonetheless describe a rational
process that hence departs radically from Kierkegaard's
irrational approach and hence avoids dualism.
Culture’s Implicit Effects
• Kashima’s (2005) argues that contemporary Western social
scientists have maintained an unnecessarily sharp division
between natural and human phenomena as part of their
particular cultural program, with some carrying on with a
natural science paradigm in an enlightenment vein and
others reacting against this as an affront to human agency
and dignity.
• As Tillich (1951) observes, value must have an ontological
basis. The value of scientific observations formalizing
sensible intuition compared to the phenomenology and
hermaneutics of intellectual illumination cannot be reduced
to any formula involving emotive responses or subjective
utilities, and cannot be deduced or induced by any form of
logical or empirical proof.
• Value is a property of individuals and the cultures they
belong to, not a universal. Seeking to prove one
methodology is better than another is methodolatry.
3 Steps to Significance for Asian
social psychology
1) Acknowledge the reality of Western imposed
standards for publication and offer an attractive
alternative.
2) Construct a social psychology that is compatible
with local mentalities and institutional practices
but is capable of communicating to global
communities of social scientists.
3) Build awareness of the historical adoption of
institutional structures in Asia, identify those
that are functional and refine them, identify
those that are dysfunctional, and target these for
change. Asian social psychology as a
psychology of holistic interconnectedness.
Indigenous Compatibility (Yang,
1999, 2000)
• Empirical study has to be conducted in a manner such that
the researcher’s concepts, theory, methods, tools, and results
adequately represent, reflect, or reveal the natural elements,
structure, mechanism, or process of the studied phenomenon
embedded in its context.
– Don’t uncritically or habitually apply Western psychological
concepts, theories, methods, and tools to your research before
thoroughly understanding and immersing yourself in the
phenomenon being studied
– Don’t overlook Western psychologists’ important experiences in
developing their own indigenous psychologies, which may be
usefully transferred to the development of non-Western indigenous
psychologies
– Don’t think in terms of English or any other foreign language during
the various stages of the research process in order to prevent
distortion or inhibition of the indigenous aspects of contemplation
involved in doing research
Do’s of Indigenous Compatibility
(Yang continued)
• Do tolerate ambiguous or vague states and suspend decisions
as long as possible in dealing with theoretical,
methodological, and empirical problems until something
indigenous emerges in your mind during the research process
• Do be a typical native in the cultural sense when functioning
as a researcher
• Do take the studied psychological or behavioral phenomenon
and its sociocultural context into careful consideration
• Do give priority to culturally unique psychological and
behavioral phenomena or characteristics of people in your
society, especially during the early stages of the development
of an indigenous psychology in a non-Western society
• Do base your research on an intellectual tradition of your
own culture
Asian Journal of Psychological and
Social Issues (2011)
• An alternative outlet for psychological
research on social issues with both local and
global implications, using the short reports
model as Psychological Science for one of
its sections, combined with a practice
section that will be judged according to the
criteria of usefulness to practice and
importance of voicing the issue among endusers, including community groups and
other NGOs, government, or business.
Summary of Major Implications of
Asian Epistemologies
1) Seek Indigenous Compatibility
1) Including the purpose of research: for India
Metaphysical Psychology? for China, a Psychology of
ethical relations?
2) Demand Practical Value
1) What contribution to societal well-being does this
research bring?
3) Don’t Practice Methodolatry
4) Do Practice Methodological Pluralism
1) Qualitative Research to answer the question of WHAT–
what is phenomenonological layer? What are the key
concepts at work?
2) Quantitative Research to answer the question of HOW
MUCH and HOW PREVALENT
Two Asian Indigenous Psychology
Projects
• Bhawuk (India): Pure Philosophy from India to create
a Meta-physically oriented Psychology
• “More than materialistic-deterministic aspects of
human existence, IP (Indian Psychology) takes a more
inclusive spiritual-growth perspective on human
existence. In this sense no clear distinction is made
between psychology, philosophy and spirituality, as
conjointly they constitute a comprehensive and
practical knowledge or wisdom about human life.”
(Psychology & Developing Societies)
Indian Philosophy/Psychology of
Self (Atman)
• Rather than beginning with Erickson or Freud, Indian scholars
like Paranjpe (1998) begin with Vedic traditions like the
Upanishads, among whose basic tenets is that “truth should be
realized, rather than simply known intellectually” (Bhawuk, in
press).
• According to Bharati, 1985, as cited in Bhawuk, 2008b, “The
self has been studied as "an ontological entity" in Indian
philosophy for time immemorial, and "far more intensively and
extensively than any of the other societies"
• The basic methodology is the practice of meditation, and the
goal of meditative practices is to uncover the nature of the true
self (atman), unencumbered by even such a fundamental
phenomenological unity as time, and basic categories like Self
and Other, or Good and Evil
Psychology of Self as Practice of Self-Realization
• Bhawuk proposes a methodology for translating Indian
scriptures into psychological models of theory and practice by
Literary Exegesis and personal practice:
• “In the second canto of the Bhagavad-Gita a process of how
desire and anger cause one’s downfall is presented. The sixtysecond verse delineates this process by stating that when a
person thinks about sense objects, he or she develops an
attachment to it. Attachment leads to desire, and from desire
anger is manifested. The sixty-third verse further develops
this causal link by stating that anger leads to confusion
(sammoha) or clouding of discretion about what is right or
wrong, confusion to bewilderment, to loss of memory or what
one has learned in the past, to destruction of buddhi (i.e.,
intellect or wisdom) to the downfall of the person or his or her
destruction”
I Know
I think (therefore I am)
∞
∞
SELF
Brahma
True Self (merging in Brahma)
Detachment
Social Self (ever expanding)
Attachment
Figure 3: Indian Concept of Self: Expanding Social and True Self
Behavioral
Decision
Point
Greed
Thought or
Cognition
Self
Attachment
(Cognition + Affect)
Desire
YE
S
Goals
NO
Anger
Behavioral
Decision
Point
Figure 4: Desire as the Locus of Cognition, Emotion, and Behavior
SELF
ELEMENTS OF
MATERIAL
WORLD
COGNITION
(THOUGHT)
COGNITION + AFFECT
(ATTACHMENT)
DESIRE
ACHIEVEMENT OF DESIRE
(POSITIVE AFFECT)
INSATIABLE DESIRE
CYCLE
(ULTIMATELY
UNHAPPINESS)
NON-ACHIEVEMENT OF
DESIRE
(NEGATIVE AFFECT)
UNHAPPINESS
MANAN-CINTAN
(SELF-REFLECTION)
PRACTICE
OF KARMAYOGA
BEYOND COGNITION & EMOTION
(STHITAPRJNA)
FIGURE 5: A GENERAL MODEL OF PSYCHOLOGICAL PROCESSES & DESIRE
And if you want scientific
proof…
• Advocates of transcendental meditation were quite
happy for Western scientists to measure them
during meditation and find that their oxygen
consumption and heart rate decreased, skin
resistance increased, and electroencephalographs
showed changes in frequencies suggesting low
stress (Bhawuk, 2008a; see Rao & Paranjpe, 2008
for a more detailed review).
• But indigenous psychologies are both description
and prescription, and as such, do not require
validation by empiricist norms. Nice, but not the
modus vivendi
Historical Affordances for Authority:
China and the West (Liu & Liu, 2003)
• Liberal
Democratic
Law
• Paternalism
Guanxi
Benevolent Paternalism as both
description and ideal
Chinese relationalism: KK Hwang 1987
Western versus Chinese
Authoritarianism
• Western RWA (Right Wing Authoritarianism)
= Conventionalism, Authoritarian
Submission, & Authoritarian (Displaced)
Aggression
• Chinese Authoritarianism = all of the above
PLUS an ethical sense of duty/obligation and
respect for superiors (e.g., filial piety)
• Authoritarian Efficiency, a belief and respect
for the efficacy of top-down leadership
• AND a backhanded avoidance of authorities
to create a liveable and human rather than
fascist authoritarian space
Benevolent Authority versus
Authoritarianism?
• How the Past Weighs on the Present: China is
a top down society where civil society is
relatively weak, and it takes centralized
government to get things done.
• Social psychology, with its focus on
individual attitudes, is not well-equipped to
capture political dynamics of top-down
societies
– Authoritarian Efficiency
– Benevolent Authority
– Backdoor Avoidance of Authority
– Thanks to Liu Li, Yang Yiyin (& Linda Skitka)
Conclusion 2: Benevolent Authority
Lives!
• Chinese psychology of social identity may
contribute to a global psychology of
understanding how to educate and inculcate
moral values to powerful leaders, and make
them accountable interpersonally.
• Liberal models of statecraft shy away from
power, and leave too much room for
Machiavellianism by idealizing individual
equality. They have an insufficient theory of
the power of benevolent authority.
Conclusion: Towards a Global future
with a Chinese contribution
• The Chinese and East Asian model of
development combines traditional forms of
hierarchical relationalism with a modern &
nationalistic bureaucratic structure.
• The model has proven successful in Japan,
Taiwan, S. Korea, Singapore, and now China
• The aforementioned four dragons have begun
sometimes painful transitions from the
bureaucratic authoritarian roots of their
massive growth periods towards more Western
styles of governance.
• Seek not to reify authority, but come to terms
with it at various historical moments.
Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying
and Love Authority as part of Global
Consciousness
• Western democracy appears absolutely incapable of
addressing carbon emissions and climate change. Its citizens
resist making sacrifices, whereas Authoritarian regimes can
command the kind of top-down change necessary for
survival.