Korejská domorodá psychologie: Přehled některých pojmů
Korean Indigenous Psychology: Summary of Some Terms

Summary/Abstract: Article reviews some terms used in Korean indigenous psychology. First are described indigenous psychologies and their goals. Then are described Korean terms jeong, woori, han, hwabyung, shimcheong, noonchi a chemyon. Indigenous psychology is psychology adapted into specific cultural environment. Such psychologies evolved as reaction to American psychology since 1960s. Indigenous psychologies aim to create specific psychology for every society with specific population. It is assumed that after this is accomplished a more just global psychology will be created. When indigenous psychology studies local environment, it may adapt two strategies. It might either study local specifics of phenomena studied by global psychology, or it might study local phenomena only. In Korea, the latter approach was employed by Sang-Chin Choi and his colleagues. They studied following phenomena: Jeong is feeling of attachment to other people. Person feeling jeong to other person is emphatic to him or her, interested in the other’s feelings and tries to support the other. It is independent of likeability of the other person. Woori is feeling of we-ness, whose members do not distinguish between self and others. People in a woori collective are connected by jeong. The strong jeong is the strong is feeling of we-ness. This feeling is created by continuous showing of interest in other in form of giving favors to him or her. Han is feeling of accumulated suppressed anger. Korean society doesn’t tolerate people to show their anger, because it might harm relationships with others. So they accumulate this feeling in their heart and try to relieve it by various activities. If relief is not successful, han might evolve into hwabyung. Hwabyung is indigenous Korean psychiatric syndrome. Person wit h hwabyung is angry and feel that society is unjust. This feeling evolves when person is repeatedly exposed to unfair situations, where he or she cannot get better treatment because of society restraints which don’t allow to show anger explicitly. Person feels hatred, depression and guilt. Hwabyung syndrome involves insomnia, anorexia, problems with breath, dry mouth and similar symptoms. Hwabyung is a way how person can justify being relieved from social roles in Korean society. Shimcheong is affect which comes when other person in woori collective shows jeong to insufficient (or over-sufficient) extent. If person does something, which harms the other, it shows that he or she might not feel jeong towards this other person. The second person might have their shimcheong activated. In the state of shimcheong person analyzes all previous interactions with person who have shown insufficient jeong. He or she also analyzes future expectations from the relationship with the other person. The analysis of the relationship finally results in its confirmation, change or termination. Noonchi is a state, when person carefully watches other people. The person can assess appropriately real feelings and wishes of the other person regardless of what the other person actually s ays or does. Noonchi helps to maintain social harmony. Person might behave according to social conventions even if he or she wishes otherwise, but because of the other people’s noonchi he or she might receive the feedback he or she desires. Chemyon (social face) is how person presents himself or herself towards other people. To save one’s face means to satisfy expectations of other people in certain situation. For Koreans it is important to actively maintain one’s face by showing signs connected with social status. High social status is viewed as connected with high moral qualities, so people with high social status have to maintain saving their faces to a greater extent. Korean indigenous psychology might be considered weaker in comparison with other indigenous psychologies, nevertheless it made very good job in conceptualization of some aspects of Korean behaviour.

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