Sikolohiyang Pilipino

PRESENTATION NO. 3: Development of indigenous personality measures

Prepared by: Cristine Mae G. Evaristo, RPm
Development of indigenous personality measures
In the area of Filipino Personality, Enriquez, together
with PPRH, developed the Panukat ng Ugali at
Pagkatao (PUP) (Measure of Character and
Personality) in 1975 which utilized
dimensions of personality that are relevant to
Filipinos.
While psychological testing is of Western origin, the
substance of the PUP originated from an
understanding of the Filipinos. The test administration
procedures were also adapted to Filipino ways
(Enriquez & Guanzon, 1985).
Cipres-Ortega and Guanzon-Lapen˜a (1997)further noted that ‘‘the 1970s saw
tests developed in creativity, self-perception, personality and vocational testing,
and the 1980s an increased interest in personality testing, with a number of
researchers doing studies on the Filipino child and the Filipino adolescent. And in
the 1990s, tests were developed to measure a wide variety of Filipino
characteristics – katalinuhan [intelligence], pagkarelihiyoso [religiosity],
kaasalang sekswal [sexual behavior], kakayahang magdala ng tensyon [ability to
handle stress], pagkamabahala [anxiety], kahustuhang emosyonal [emotional
stability], kakayahang berbal sa Filipino [verbal ability in Filipino], Filipino
management style, dementia screening, empathy, and trustworthiness, to name a
few’’ (Cipres-Ortega & Guanzon-Lapen˜a, 1997)
Development of indigenous
research methods
The impact of Sikolohiyang Pilipino was greatly felt
in the area of social research methods. In 1975,
Carmen Santiago, a postgraduate student of
psychology at U.P., did a study on pagkalalaki (no
equivalent in English, but approximately, it means
‘‘masculinity’’, ‘‘maleness’’, ‘‘manhood’’, or all of
these) for a class under Enriquez.
This study was to be the turning point in Philippine
social research for it was in her articles (Santiago,
1975, 1977) that the pakapa-kapa (‘‘groping’’)
approach was first introduced.
In searching for appropriate research methods that are indigenous
to Filipino experience, Filipino scholars have learned to assume
the pakapa-kapa perspective, ‘‘a suppositionless approach to
social scientific investigations. As implied by the term itself,
pakapa-kapa is an approach characterized by groping, searching
and probing into an unsystematized mass of social and cultural
data to obtain order, meaning and directions for research’’
(Torres, 1982, p. 171).
There are at least five basic guiding
principles relevant to the use of
indigenous perspective in general,
and indigenous research methods in
particular.
1. The level of interaction or relationship that exists between
the researcher and the researched significantly determines the
quality of the data obtained in the research process
The levels of interaction are the same ones as the kapwa
classifications – Ibang-Tao (‘‘Outsider’’) and Hindi-Ibang-
Tao (‘‘One-of-us’’).
It is recommended that the first level under Hindi-Ibang-Tao,
which is pakikipagpalagayang-loob (level of mutual trust,
understanding, rapport) should be reached, at the minimum,
in order to be assured of good quality data.
2. Research participants should always be treated by researchers
as equal, if not superior – a fellow human being and not like a
‘‘guinea pig’’
3. The welfare of the research participants take precedence over
the data obtained from them.
4. The method to be used in a research should be chosen on the
basis of appropriateness to the population (and not sophistication
of the method) and it should be made to adapt to existing cultural
norms.
5. The language of the people should be the language of research at
all times.
2. Research participants should always be treated by researchers
as equal, if not superior – a fellow human being and not like a
‘‘guinea pig’’
3. The welfare of the research participants take precedence over
the data obtained from them.
4. The method to be used in a research should be chosen on the
basis of appropriateness to the population (and not sophistication
of the method) and it should be made to adapt to existing cultural
norms.
5. The language of the people should be the language of research at
all times.
Areas of Applications of Sikolohiyang Pilipino
1.Early work was focused on the use of the local language in teaching, research
and in the conduct of various conferences and symposia in Psychology
2.The work of Bulatao in appropriate techniques in therapy suited to the Filipino
personality
3.Providing psychological help to children in especially difficult circumstance
4.Feminist psychology social and clinical psychologists have helped battered
women understand their problems in the light of the different socio-cultural
conditions affecting women in Philippine society.
5.In industry particularly in the marketing of specific products and understanding
consumer behavior.
 END OF SLIDE
NEXT IN DISCUSSION: Towards Universal Psychology
Through Indigenization