(1985). Psychol. [75] Indeed, the king himself would perform an exemplary role in expressing filial piety, through the ritual of 'serving the elderly' (pinyin: yang lao zhi li). English (1979, p. 147) directly answered the question what do grown children owe their parents? with a single word: nothing. She contended that the parentchild relationship is best characterized as an ongoing friendship with spontaneous affection, and that love is the correct ground of filial obligation. The blessings and the curses of filial piety on dignity at the end of life: lived experience of Hong Kong Chinese adult children caregivers. J. Psychol. Yeh, K.-H. (2009). Secure attachment style corresponds to the balanced mode of filial operation (high RFP and high AFP). 10:100. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00100. [62] Ho connects the value of filial piety with authoritarian moralism and cognitive conservatism in Chinese patterns of socialization, basing himself on findings among subjects in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Health Care Res. Rn means favorable behavior to those who we are close to. [34] Furthermore, a filial child should promote the public name of its family, and it should cherish the affection of its parents. [19], The relationship between husband and wife came to be more emphasized, and the extended family less and less. [63], In family counselling research, filial piety has been seen to help establish bonding with parents. Hsu, F. L. K. (1975). Using this model, we re-conceptualize filial piety from its usual definition as a set of Chinese culture-specific norms to a contextualized personality construct representing the underlying psychological mechanisms in the parentchild relationship. It is like a personality characteristic that develops naturally in response to the first interpersonal context everyone encounters after birth. [37], Anthropologist Francis Hsu argued that a child's obedience from a Confucian perspective was regarded as unconditional, but anthropologist David K. Jordan and psychologist David Yau-fai Ho disagree. Cultural values and substance use in a multiethnic sample of california adolescents. [92] Buddhist monks were also criticized for not expressing their respect to the Chinese emperor by prostrating and other devotion, which in Confucianism was associated with the virtue of filial piety. Kohlberg (1981) asserted that moral development progresses through differentiated hierarchical stages with a specified sequence, similar to Piaget (1972/1981) theory of cognitive development. Indig. doi: 10.2307/585603. [114], Comparing data from the 1990s from Taiwan and the PRC, sociologist Martin Whyte concluded that the elderly in Taiwan often received less support from the government, but more assistance from their children, than in China, despite the former being an economically more modern nation. A study of filial norms and behaviors. Accordingly, over time it may evolve with broader social changes. They may also both promote the same outcome. As can be seen from these examples, exploring parentchild relations in terms of the dual aspects of the DFPM may help to illuminate cultural similarities as well as differences in approaches to parentchild relations. doi: 10.1023/B:APJM.0000048715.35108.a7, Unger, J. Lowenstein, A., and Daatland, S. (2006). How parenting and filial piety influence happiness, parentchild relationships and quality of family life in Taiwanese adult children. If the ancestors received the appropriate sacrifices they could provide guidance on important governmental decisions and protect the dynasty (Hsu, 1975). Chinese Buddhists described how difficult it is to repay the goodness of one's mother, and how many sins mothers often committed in raising her children. It may also capture meaningful differences across cultures in the surface content of filial norms and beliefs. Our task here is to take the DFPM, developed in a Chinese society from analysis of Chinese historical and philosophical traditions, and bring it into the realm of cultural psychology where it can represent both the deep structure of human functioning to investigate aspects of the universal mind, as well as the surface content of culture reflecting diverse mentalities. (2013). New York, NY: Springer. doi: 10.1080/17441692.2013.782060. Yang, K. S., Yeh, K.-H., and Lei, T. (1989). The Chinese perspectives on moral judgment development. Affection and bao should flow both ways. (2000). doi: 10.1080/00207590444000177, Hwang, K.-K. (2012). Thus, AFP reflects the schema for social belongingness and collective identity associated with becoming a member of a particular group. Women tend to score higher on RFP than men. Bull. Psychol. They are able to simultaneously consider personal choices and role obligations. Intergenerational exchange behaviors in Taiwan: the filial piety perspective. Consequently, many avoided the ongoing debates surrounding sociological theories of societal modernity and instead adopted a social psychological approach (Yang, 2003). Silverstein, M., Conroy, S., and Gans, D. (2012). The Confucian Classic of Filial Piety, thought to be written around the late Warring States-Qin-Han period, has historically been the authoritative source on the Confucian tenet of filial piety. Authoritarians focus on role obligations and perceive filial piety as self-suppression or self-sacrifice. Indig. The parallel conception of society therefore disappeared from Chinese society. [35][14] Jordan states that in classical Chinese thought, 'remonstrance' was part of filial piety, meaning that a pious child needs to dissuade a parent from performing immoral actions. Fam. [20] The Classic of Filial Piety states that an obedient and filial son will grow up to become a loyal official (pinyin: chung)filial piety was therefore seen as a truth that shaped the citizens of the state,[22] and the loyalty of the minister to his emperor was regarded as the extension of filial piety. The evolution of filial piety and its influence on neighboring countries: taking the classic of filial piety as the chief source. [109], In 21st-century Chinese societies, filial piety expectations and practice have decreased. doi: 10.1177/0268580913484345, Yue, X., and Ng, S.-H. (1999). Recent studies using the DFPM in Chinese societies likewise support the contention that endorsement of authoritarian aspects of filial piety is diminishing (Chow, 2006; Chan et al., 2012). J. Sociol. Due to the global trend of population aging, governments are searching for solutions to the accompanying financial burden so greater attention is being focused on the issue of elder care and its relevance to filial practices. Reciprocal filial piety represents the psychological prototype of filial relations in the sense that it pertains to universal psychological processes relevant to the parentchild context. Communication with elders tends to become more reciprocal and less one-way, and kindness and courtesy is replacing obedience and subservience. He concludes that filial piety appears to have a negative effect on psychological development, but at the same time, partly explains the high motivation of Chinese people to achieve academic results. J.

In Japan, rulers gave awards to people deemed to practice exemplary filial conduct. The practice of filial piety and its impact on long-term care policies for elderly people in Asian Chinese communities. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-5930.1995.tb00121.x, Dunlop, W. (2015). 26, 203223. [8] Taiwan generally has more traditional values with regard to the parentchild relationship than the People's Republic of China (PRC). Gans, D., Silverstein, M., and Lowenstein, A. [35], But filial piety also involves the role of the parent to the child. 28, 277296. Contextualized personality researchers highlight social roles as ideal for contextualizing personality motivations. Attachment, exploration, and separation: illustrated by the behavior of one-year-olds in a strange situation. The filial concept during the pre-Chin Era (before 221 BCE) focused on the reciprocal affection of the parentchild dyad. Schwartz et al. [48] Filial piety was regarded as being a dutiful person in general. Dev. doi: 10.1080/00207590344000312. Authoriratianism and attitude toward filial piety in Chinese teachers. [54], Social scientists have done much research about filial piety and related concepts. They also expressed concern that exposure to the Western ideologies of freedom and independence was giving rise to internal conflict between being filial according to traditional standards, and being self-responsive, independent, and modern (e.g., Ho, 1996). (2009). In the following, we explain how the notion of filial piety can be re-conceptualized so that the DFPM can be applied more broadly using the approach of cultural psychology. Intergenerational relationships among Chinese, Japanese, and Korean Americans. This verticalhorizontal duality of the parentchild relationship can reflect meaningful individual differences in interaction patterns with parents. 6, 215228. [27] Care means making sure parents are comfortable in every single way: this involves food, accommodation, clothes, hygiene, and basically to have them "see and hear pleasurable things" (in Confucius' words)[28] and to have them live without worry. The head of a family ruled over his relatives as the emperor ruled over his subjects. They are interdependent; culture and psyche make each other up. Philos. People functioning in the non-filial mode are low in both RFP and AFP and isolate themselves from their parents. [57] As of 2006, psychologists measured filial piety in inconsistent ways, which has prevented much progress from being made. M. H. Bond (Hong Kong: Oxford University Press), 155165. It encompasses emotionally and spiritually caring for ones parents out of authentic gratitude for their effort and sacrifice, as well as physical and financial care for ones parents as they age. As such, it connects the two universal underlying individual filial motivations to the social role in which they are relevant. The review presented in the philosophy section suggests that varied aspects of filial piety were highlighted in different stages of Chinas development. Am. The question that arises is: can a seemingly culture-bound concept such as Chinese filial piety provide insight applicable to parentchild relations in other cultural contexts? Some scholars have criticized dispositional studies as explorative, and not very profound or systematic (Yang et al., 1990, p. 66), and as Americanized in the sense that nearly all uncritically borrow theories, concepts, methods, and tools developedfor Euro-American subjects (Yang, 2006, p. 285). However, filial piety among the ancient Romans, for example, was largely different from the Chinese in its logic and enactment. Soc. This approach purposefully incorporates a cultural perspective into both conceptual development and theoretical construction. After marriage, their primary responsibility shifted to their husbands parents (Whyte, 2004). In order to demonstrate this claim, we first review the foundations of filial piety in Chinese culture and describe the development of the modern psychology of filial piety through research conducted in Chinese societies. [5], Filial piety is defined by behaviors such as daily maintenance, respect and sickness care offered to the elderly.

Face and favor: the Chinese power game. It can guarantee childrens support of their parents even with a weak parentchild relationship. Children in Chinese societies are taught that the way they treat their elders is a measure of their moral worth. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. (2006) one mind, many mentalities argument, cultural psychology has a psychological side and a cultural side. Yeh, K.-H. (1997). Instead, they represent the two coexisting dynamic fundamental aspects of filial piety that must be considered together in order to have a complete understanding of the role of filial piety in modern Chinese societies. [35] Ho points out in this regard that the Confucian classics do not advocate 'foolish filial piety' ( pinyin: yxio). Few researchers have considered comparing filial piety and attachment style. [9], Confucian ethics does not regard filial piety as a choice, but rather as an unconditional obligation of the child. Furthermore, the practice of filial piety provides the pious child with a sense of adulthood and moral heroism. Stud. [25] Children should attempt not to bring disgrace upon their parents. Eur. Whereas Chinese filial norms encompass reciprocal expectations for parentchild relations, as well as social structure, ethical requirements, and power dynamics (Ikels, 2004), scholars in Western societies tend to define filial norms in a much more limited way. Personality is not merely a collection of traits. (1979). Soc. Yeh (2003) integrated these findings from Chinese history and philosophy to construct a dual-factor model of filial piety. 45, 141161. Adm. 35, 307320. Interpersonal relatedness needs correspond to beliefs about the parentchild interpersonal connection as two individuals (not in terms of their social roles).