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• Philippine Journal of Psychology

Jnnu:uy - June 1979. VoL 12, No.1. pp. ~IS

TOWARDS CROSS-CULTURAL
KNOWLEDGE THROUGH
CROSS-INDIGENOUS METHODS AND
PERSPECTNE*

Virgilio G. Enriquez
Department of Psychology
University of the Philippines

In pursuit of universal knowledge, social scientists have taken to cross-cul-


tural methods in their research work. However, what is presently recognized as
cross-cultural approach is merely the application of Western models in different
settings. Although it broadens psychology's data base, it does not in any way lead
the researcher nearer to his goal If ever cross-cultural, universalknowledge is to be
had, it must come out of the cross-indigenous method and perspective. The paper
discusses the nature of cross-indigenous approach and evaluates its merits.

Psychology as a scientific discipline has been data base of Western psychology is now much
partial to universal findings, o~ at least makes broader.
modest claims to "generalizability". The history It should be stressed however that a broader
of psychology as it has evolved in the West and data base is far from adequate In assuring a uni-

• the Western tradition can be interpreted as


moving towards this goal. In a sense, univer-
sality is the motive behind the series of sys-
versal psychology unless alternative perspectives
from non-western psychologies are put to usc.

tematically replicated experiments from rats to REWRITING. THE HISTORY OF


humans; from the laboratory to the field. The IPSYCHOWGY
psychologists are no longer contented with
sophomore white students from American uni- Psychology as a field of knowledge in the
versities; they are now equally interested In Western tradition has been treated historically
Blacks and other groups. In fact, they have by psychologists' themselves (e.g., Boring, 1929;
gone beyond the convenience of captive uni- Watson,1968). One may look at the field as a
versity classes in the many countries of the science and date it back to 1879 or as has been a
world and just like their colleagues in anthro- habit in the West, trace its history as a human
pology would now occasionally risk the incon- concern to the Greeks. Psychologists would find
venience of "mud huts and mosquitoes." While Aristotle's De Anima a reasonab.e document
this development might not always be wel- for a start should they want to trace their
comed sociopolitically, i.e., more and more roots. It must be noted however that historians
countries say no to cross-cultural researchers of psychology consciously or unconsciously
(see Brislin, 1977),itis probably a turning point drop the word "Western" when they write
in the growth of Western psychology for the about the history of Western psychology. On
the other hand, Asian psychology (e.g., Murphy,
1968) is always properly designated as such,
*The author acknoledges with thanks the com- "Asian." This state of affairs can continue and
ments made by Robert Serpell, Juris Draguns and Vic- admittedly with reason especially if the
toria Bunye on the earlier version of this paper. Paper
read at the First Regional Conference on Cross-
audience consists of western scholars and
Cultural Psychology held at the University of Hong- readers, exclusively.

• kong, Hongkong, on March 19-23,1979. Reference to national psychologies is not

9
new at all. Psychologists also talk about phemy in the altar of science.
Korean psychology, French psychology, Issues along this line are not limited to the
Chinese psychology and Indian psychology, for '.Third World countries in relation to the West.
example. What should be made clear however It is also found in' the West as can be gleaned
is that they usually mean psychology in Com- from Graumann's (1972) report as past presi-
munist China or India or France (in the Western dent of the German Society of Psychology on
tradition) and not Chinese psychology or the state of German psychology. He noted
Indian psychology in the Chinese or Indian O'Connell's (1970) perception of " ...a rela-
tradition. It is no surprise then should Western- tively uncritical dependence on American
ers feel at home writing about "psychology of, psychology" as "thriving in Germany today."
by, and for" natives of a Third World country Graumann found this hard to deny because "at
without being immersed in the native culture least 50% (or even more likely 80%) of ill psy-
or at least having learned the local language chologists in the world live in the U.S.A. and
(e.g., Sechrest and Guthrie, 1974). They must a universal psychology as contrasted from the
be referring to Western psychology of, by, and psychology based on generalizations from stu-
for the Third World. All these could very well dies done in industrialized countries. While the
. be a: product of a well-meaning interest in a arguments are forceful and the sentiments real,
former colonial country or a commitment to a "cross-cultural psychology" will continue to
the discipline of psychology but the fact re- be only a promise for as along as the indigenous
mains that the history of psychology has to be psychologies are untapped because of language
rewritten so as to reflect the different bodies of and culture barriers. Ofnecessity, one must chal-
psychological knowledge, formal or informal, lenge the unstated bias in O'Connell's concern
found in the different cultures of the world. If for the German dependence on American
this is not done, what one has, is at best a his- psychology and Graumann's measure for re-
tory of western psychology with the word
"Western" unsaid or unwritten.
acting to this concern. By "psychologist" they
apparently mean someone who has an academic
degree in psychology. A strict adherence to the

ON THE UNSTATED BIAS OF THE union-card criterion to being a psychologist
"DEPENDENCY AND UNI-NATIONAL would of course exclude not only a sizable
DOMINANCE" VIEW IN PSYCHOLOGY number of eminent thinkers in the Western tra-
dition, or people who happen to . .get their'
- A growing number of social scientists have .degrees in history or anthropology in the spe-
long been wary of the inappropriateness or even cialized West, but also the unwritten but no
patent inapplicability of Western models in the less real psychologies of peoples who may not
Third World setting. The problem can be dif- even have a tradition of publishing journal
ficult or baffling because most of the people articles in psychology to speak of. The validi-
who express this kind of concern are precisely ty of unwritten psychologies does not depend
the Third World social scientists trained in the on the extent and manner of their articulation.
West or the Western tradition. Reservations Graumann's statistics on publications also
range from a call to local adaptation or modifi- imply a regard if not reverence for the printed
cation of Westernmodels to outright charges of or written word. In this'mode of thinking, one
intellectual dependence and academic. im- immediately looks away from cultures with
perialism. However, there are some who ac- unwritten languages and almost unconsciously
knowledge the issues or problems but shrug look up to the university-trained psychologist.
them off on the grounds that there are no other Carl Jung's reminder is appropriate in this con- I
suitable models and concepts to use anyway. In text: "If you want to learn psychology, avoid
addition, there are those who see nothing at the university."
issue at all because they are convinced that any The issues implicit. in the foregoing has
departure from the Western approach is. bias- been illustrated through a narrative on Philip-

10
,
• pine and Western psychologiesin contact. For a
background to the cross-indigenous method as a
resource and approach to cross-cultural research
Third World cultures in their own terms as a
natural process and 2) "indigenization" as seen
by people who habitually perceive the Third
one may refer to a previous discussion of psy- World countries as recipients and targets of
chology in the Philippines, indigenous psycho- culture flow. At this point, it should be clear
logy and the Third World (Enriquez, 1977). why Serpell's (1977) use of the notion of cul-
tural validation is preferable not or..ly because
.... INDIGENIZATION FROM WITHIN AS
it moves us away from the political undertones
BASIC TO THE CROSS-INDIGENOUS
of "indigenization" but more so because it
METHOD
leads us to even more fundamental human
The development and utilization of indi- issues. In the area of cross-cultural psychology
genous viewpoints can no doubt be approached Serpell poses the issue as revolving around
in a number of ways. More importantly, it oc- appropriate ways of describing and explain-
curs at many levels and cuts across many discip- ing the behaviour of human beings" (emphasis
lines. What appears to be an isolated develop- added). It can be argued that his use of the
ment in a particular discipline in a particular word "appropriate" advisedly takes the issue
country usually proves to be a part of an over- out of the exclusive arena of psychological and
all pattern. This observation obtains with scientific disputations back to where it belongs:
greater impact in Third World countries where I.e., the philosophy of values.
disciplinallines are not really as sacred as they Figure 2 suggests a model towards uni-
are in the West. versal ps,ychology through a cross-indigenous
An example of a possible approach to indi- perspective. In this model, the different
genization from within is outlined in Figure cultures of the world are tapped as sources of
1. To be sure, there are many ways by cultural knowledge. The resulting pool may

• which indigenization from within can occur.


It may also be implemented as a policy (or as
then be called "cross-cultural" knowledge.
More aptly, it is cross-indigenous knowledge,
to distinguish it from the kind of "cross-
a strategy, depending upon native commitment
to the idea) in a variety of ways. What seems to cultural" knowledge derived from an applica-
be workable in one Third World culture is not tion of the psychology of industrialized coun-
necessarily as effective or workable in another. tries to data gathered from the Third World
The approach described in the present paper is (See Figure 3). Social scientists now find
the one used in a project on the development of more time and reason (cross-cultural research
concepts and methods in Philippine psychology is one) to visit the Third World. Castillo
(Enriquez, 1975). It is easy to see that a number (1968) identified several types of visiting reo
of approaches can be developed. Identification searchers (sometimes fondly referred to by
of key concepts followed by semantic and banter-happy Filipinos as "buisiting"* research-
lexical elaboration need not be an element of
indigenization from within in every discipline ·"Buisiting" comes from the Tagalog word buisit
or country. What is essential are the source and (nuisance) with the English morpheme ".ing." (Com-
pare the examples culled by Forman 1973 on IangUtIg()
direction of culture flow. Figure 1 schema-
mixing in a Filipino radio program in Hawaii). Con-
tically shows the contrast between an example trary to the belief of some "linguists", "buts!t" has
of indigenization from within and without. The nothing to do with "bull shit," however this Inter-
perspectives of the two approaches can even be pretation might yet come down as another example of
working at cross-purposes. In fact, the term "linguistic borrowing" in the Philippines, accepted
simply because a lot of people thought it to be so, e.g.,
indigenization from within might even be
the Tagalog "Kamusta ka" as coming from the Spani~h
semantically anomalous. It is used in this paper "Como esta usted?" In fact, the linguist Chan-Yap
only as a convenient tool in the task of showing (1973) reports that "buisit" wan derived from
the difference between 1) the development of Hoolden Chinese.

11
,
ers) from the "data-exporter" to the "penny-
collaborator" and "professional overseas re-
are notorious for eating up more time, paper
and ink than necessary. However, Jkislin and
Holwill's (1977) warning against what they call

searcher."
Brislin and Holwill's (1977) move towards "false etics" goes beyond seniantics. The same
increased cross-cultural understanding in their holds true with Triandis (1972) caution on
study of the insider's view of reactions to the "pseudo-etics," Unfortunately, "going emic"
writings of visiting scholars is not only sugges- on somebody else's "emic" is painfully dif-
tive in "the task of mediating between cul- ficult. It is no different from playing the role of
tures" but also provocative as a step towards a informant without being a culture bearer. For
cross-indigenous perspective. A tactical problem which.reason, one can look at an "imposed
and advantage in Brislin and Holwill's study lies etic" as the strong version while the "etic-
in the fact that the investigators themselves are dimensions-plus-emic-deftniticns approach" as
not culture bearers. It is not altogether easy to the weak version of the pseudo-etic method.
crack the ernie barrier. This is probably the The etic-emic construct covers a lot of
reason why Harris (1976) confused relativism ground both across disciplines (which Brislin
with sollipsism through reasoning by associa- 1975 sees as an advantage) and across levels and
tion in his article which purportedly -discusses extent of explanation (which Serpell 1977 sees
the history and significance of the emic/etic as possibly leading to "over-elastic explana-
tion") as well as across components or con-
ceptually related or associated dimensions; We
CULTURE I CULTURE 2 have the indigenous/exogenous; insider/out-
as source as source sider; particularistic/universalistic; culture-as-.

~ /
target/culture-as-source; and context-bound/
context-free. To this can be added the salient
issues involved in distinguishing the locally

/
CROSS~CULTURAL

KNOWLEDGE 1\.. codified topic to the locally unlexicalized topic


and the related issue of translatable-untranslat-
able. We also have within the component
dimensions further refinements such as insider's

CULTURE 3 CULTURE n view/outsider's view; insider-as-informant/in-
as source sider-as-collaborator with the attendant issues
as source
of objectivity, distance and the informant-as-
mis-Inforrnant (Bilmes, 1973) vs. the infor-
mant as co-author (admittedly, these are two
Figure 2: Towards a universal psychology thru
extremes). Furthermore, we have ~ges in oral
a cross-indigenous perspective
discourse (a reality which looms large in
language use) which actually refers to the com-
Note: The direction of arrows indicate "indi-
mon-exotic and the transparent-opaque (as can
genization from within"
be seen in the comment "if we don't under-
stand something it's emic."). I doubt if plough-
distinction. He is successful in further muddling ing thru Pike's (1967) work would help much-
the emic-etic distinction by associating the - in delimiting the extension of the construct.
concepts with issues between idealism and After all, nobody can legislate language use.
materialism. Be that as it may, the problem Not even with the guidance of language plan-
with the emic-etic distinction can be partially ners. It can be readily-seen that it is quite a job
traced to the ambiguity of the terms themselves explicating the meanings of -the above men-
(cf, Jahoda, 1976) and the apparent reversal of tioned dimensions; not to mention the equally
foci of meaning after the terms were bor- important job of explicating the theoretical
rowed from linguistics. Semantic controversies linkages amongst them.

12
• INDIGENOUS INDIGENOUS

!
Identification of key
I indigenous concepts!metho dsl
! theories
I
I

1
Semantic elaboration Culture assimilation; indigenous
versions of imported systems

1 r
re-codification1
Indigenous codification or Indigenisation as strategy

Systematization/Explication of
r
Theoretic indigenisation
implied theoretical frameworks

• Application/Use 1 r
Content indigenisation; test
modification; translation of
imported materials

1
EXOCiENOUS
1
EXOCiENOUS

INDIGENISAnON FROM WITHIN INDIGENISAnON FROM WITHOUT


Basis: The indigenous Basis: The exogenous
Direction: Outwards Direction: Inwards
(Cuiture-as-source) (Culture-as-target)
• Comparison with other theories, Transfer of technology;
methods, techniques, etc. modernisation

FIGURE 1: INDIGENISATION ACCORDING TO SOURCE


• AND DIRECTION OF CULTURE FLOW
1 ,
, t'";

.'
.....

,
.:"
:.. ~ ,

PSYCHOLOGY OF SOURCE
cULTURES

"'D:~from TargefCultures ?~~,~,,:., ",.


, . Pseudo-etics'Imposed e~cs

;'1
Etie dimensions plus ernie definitions
.'~;;';l\' '~";':!~L': , .: .r »:

CROSS-cUL TU RAL (WESTERN) PSYCHOLOGY

···.·.·l~·.
, CourttryZ' Country n

Cultures-as-recipien ts
.: '. ;,
~ ,.l'
; ~ j

'-~'~'.i;- .. ,.I'_." _ -. _ ~_'-t;·x:, r."-


f"3
,'Tli'frdWorld'Countries'as"~'(-
-: ,;': 1,:.,: ': ," :2,Recipients of scientific fj
::~ ..<:, i-"~\ ':m~r9~~;C.1,i1tural knowledge r

FIGURE 3. A SCH'EMATIC DIAGR~MOF 'ONi-NATIONAL DOMINANCE


INP'SYCHOLOGY (INCLUDING CROSS-CUL1'tJRAL
',PSYCHOLOGY) •.." :'INDIGENtSATIONFROMWITHOUT'
J
.'

; !,.. <
I."

"
I ~,

L.
I r

r', .
I •

.' }.....s
,. RATIONALE FOR THE INDIGENOUS
METHOD
been tossed about and refined (in certain parti-
cular ways) in the West(from research to thera-
py), does not mean, the Third World researcher
The indigenous method is of course motiva- should learn to do it the western way. (Sec for
ted by the search for universals. As Jacob example, Feliciano, 1965; de Vera, Montano
(1977) in another but similarly motivated con- and Angeles, 1975; de Peralta and Racelis,

.. text puts it,


" ...the variables affecting human relations
1974; Santiago, 1975).
Jacob (1977) sees that "too much of social
may differ radically across national science is guilty of influential propositions
cultures, so that studies within one coun- given broad applicability even though based on
• try will not provide adequate evidence for monocultural explorations." To this can be

• universal generalizations about social


dynamics. At least one cannot tell
without conducting comparative studies
added the use of influential Western methods.
Such wholesale use is sometimes tempered by
token modifications but nonetheless genuine
in a number of differing cultural situa- interest in reliability and val'.dity. In any case
tions." little is heard or written about the issues 01
Jacob happens to be ahead of his time. He is appropriateness and wastefulness! Researchers
quite right in saying that "common tools and actually go to the farm or the mountains with
techniques are essential for successful compa- questionnaires in a language the people do not
rative research, and they must be relevant to truly comprehend even granting that said lan-
the circumstances being investigated." How- guage is considered official in the country of
ever, such tools and techniques have to be iden- research. It is one thing to use English or

.
tified and refined. Even the "simple" task of French as a tourist but another .so use it as a
asking questions can have a variety of para- "-researcher for one's Ph.D. dissertation.
meters to make its use in one situation in the
The idea of cost validity is important. Some
same culture different from its use in an- approaches can be very expensive by Third
other. More so if you have a number of cul- World standards and should be carefully
tural settings involved. Even assuming that the weighed in terms of relative efficiency versus
question are "the same" (after a series of trans- cost and immediacy of need. If the results can
lations, backtranslations, calibration according wait another year, it might even be practical
to functional equivalence, contextualization, from the point ~f view of resource training and
etc.), the answers may lend themselves to a institution building not to rely heavily on ma-
variety of interpretations (See Rubin, 1976 on chines. The Third World's strength is in its
"how to tell when someone is saying 'no" and people.
Torres, 1973 on "the Filipino 'yes' "). Instead of arguing about the relative merits
While people find it easy to appreciate in- of influential methods, the cross-indigenous
digenous concepts (this is by no means a closed
perspective may be viewedin the light of Camp-
issue, (cf, qonifacio, 1976) they show initial
bell and Fiske's (1964) argument for the multi..
puzzlement when the "radical cultural rela-

• tivist" tell them about indigenous methods. It


is excruciatingly hard to liberate oneself of eth-
nocentric bias especially when "your way" has
method approach. The cross-indigenous method
is a call for the multi-language/multi-culture ap-
proach based on indigenous viewpoints (cf,
Enriquez, 1975). Even if it is granted that the
been adopted and used in many situations and
use of a foreign language and culture does not
places in the world. In any case, it can be
distort social reality in the indigenous culture,
reasonably argued that simply because the ques-
it still makes a great deal of SEnse for scientific
tionnaire has evolved into a technology or even
and not maudlin reasons to use the local Ian-
an industry in the United States of America, it
guages and cultures as sources for theory,
does not follow that it should be used in the
method and praxis. As Alfonso (1977) puts it,
Third World. Simply because the interview has


13
the exclusive use of supposedly international velopment: Asian and Americln View&
language "can lead to the neglectof the wealth New York: The Asia Society, 1968, 2~49.
of indigenous concepts and methods embodied CAMPBELL, D. T. and FISKE, D. W.
1964 Covergent and disclrminant validation by
in a language more meaningful to the culture."
the multitrait-multimethod matrix. Psy-
She argues that "developing and following a chology Bulletin, 56, 81-105.
Filipino orientation in the conduct of re-
CHAN-Y AP, GLORIA
search and teaching in psychology is not incon-
sistent with the goals of psychology as a science
1973 Chinese influences in the Tagalog language.
Unpublished dissertation. Ateneo de Manila -.
in search for universalities but rather a contri- University.
bution to it." In fact, the cross-indigenous DE PERALTA, PATRICIA and ANGELES D. RAC&
LIS
method better assures generalizability of find-
ings precisely because several languages and cul-
tures are used as sources and bases.The findings
1974 Mga uri ng Pahiwatig. SikolinggwistikaTqf
Filipino. Edited by Virgilio G. Fnriquez
Diliman, Quezon City, University of the

of Western based psychology as applied in re- Philippines Press.
search and practice in a Third World country DE VERA, MA GRACIA A, AGNES MONTANO
and EDGARDO A ANGELES
using a Western language and orientation can 1975 Ang metodo ng pagtatanong, Notes pre-
very well be an artifact of the language and pared for Psychology 180 (Social Psycho-
the method. logy). College of Arts and Sciences, Univer-
sity of the Philippines, November 11, 1975.
REFERENCES ENRIQUEZ, VIRGILIO G.
1975 Mga batayan rig sikolohiyang pilipino sa
kultura at kasaysayan General Education
ALFONSO, AMELIA B-. Journal, 29 (First semester, 1975-76),
1977 Towards developing Philippine psychology:-
61-88.
Language-rela ted isllues in teaching and 1975 Developing concepts and approaches in
research. Paper prepared for tbe 'Fourth Philippine psychology.' An ongoing research
Conference of Asian Association of National project supported by National Research
Languages, University of Malaysia, Kuala Council of the Philippines.
Lumpur, Malaysia, April 25-30, 1977. 1977 Filipino psychology in the Third World,
BILMES, JACK PhQippine Journal of Psychology, 10,
1973 Misinformation and ambiguity in verbal (1),3-18.
interaction: A Northern Thai example. FELICIANO, GLORIA
BONIF ACIO, ARMANDO 1965 The limits of Western social research
1976 Hinggil sa kaisipang Pilipino, Ulat ng Unang methods in rural Philippines: The need for
Pambansang Kumperensya sa Sikolohiyang innovation. Liptl1Ul1l I (1), 114-128.
Filipino. Quezon City: Pambansang Sarna- . FORMAN, MICHAEL L.
han sa Sikolohiyang Pilipino, 24-48. 1973 Philippine languages in contact: Honolulu
BORING, EDWARD G. radio station K.LS.A Working Papers in
1929 A History of Experimental Psychology. New Linguistics. Department of Linguistics, Uni-
- York: Appleton Century Crotts. versity of Hawaii 5 (10), 137-15 l.
BRISLIN, RICHARD W. GRAUMANN, CARL E.
1976 Comparative research methodology: Cross- 1972 The state of psychology (part one). Inter-
cultural studies. International Journal of national Journal of Psychology, 7 (2),
l'8ychology, H, 215-249.
- - - and FAHY HOLWILL
1977 Indigenous views of the writing of be-
123-134.
HARRIS, M.
1976 History and significance of the emic/etiC

havioral social scientists: Towards increased distinction. Annual Review of Anthro-
cross-cultural understanding. International pology, 5, 329-5 O.
Journal ofIntercultural Relations. In press.
JACOB, P.E.
CARREON, MANUEL
1977 Paper included in Bond Without Bond-age.
1923 Philippine Srudies in Mental Measurement.
Honolulu: Culture Learning Institute, East
Nueba York: World Book.
West Center.
CASTlJ.LO, GELLA T. _-
JAHODA, GUSTAV
1968 A view from Southeast Asia. In SEADAG,
. American Research on Southeast Asia De- 1976 In pursuit of the emic-etic distinction: Can

14
........

we ever capture it? Symposium on the Im- SECHREST, LEE and GEORGE GUTHRIE
portance of Theory in Cross-Cultural Psy- 1974 Psychology of, by, and for Filipinos. Philip.
chology. Third International Congress pine Studies: Geography, Archaeology, Psy-
IACCP, Tilburg, University of Holland, July chology and Literature. Spechl Report No.
12-16,1976. 10.
1976 Mediating between extremes: An approach SERPELL,ROBERT
to transitional social science plows. Honolu- 1977 Cultural validation of psychology center. A

.. lu, Hawaii: East-West Center, (March 30).


MURPHY, GARDNER and L.B. MURPHY, (eds.)
1968 Asian Psychology. New York: Basic Books,
working paper for the emic/etic study group
in East-West Center Culture Learning Inst"
tute's cross-cultural Researcher's project!
Inc. activity (March 1977).
O'CONNELL, D.C. TORRES, EDWIN A
1970 The changing faces of European psycholo- 1973 Analysis of the meanings of yes among Fili-

• gy: Gennany. Paper presented at the meet-


ing of the American Psychological Associa-
tion, Miami Beach, September 1976.
pino college students. (Department of Psy-
chology, University of the PhiIippines)
Octover 6, 1973, 5 p. (typescript).
PIKE, K.L. TRIANDIS, ac
1967 1IJnguage in Relation to a Unified Theory of 1972 The Analysis of SUbjective Culture. New
the Structure of Human Behavior. The York: Wiley.
Hague: Mouton WATSON, ROBERT L
SANTIAGO, CARMEN E. 1968 Recent developments in the historiography
1975 Ang kahulugan ng pagkalalake sa mga Pili- of American psychology. Isis, S9 (197,
pino. Sikolohiyang Pilipino: Mga Rling part 2), 199-205.
PapeL Papel Big. 4 ng Serye ng mga papel
sa Pagkataong Pilipino, Nobyembre 1975.


15

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