The Korean indigenous psychology approach: Theoretical considerations and empirical applications

This article outlines an indigenous psychology approach that has been appli ed to Korean behaviour and thought. It is presented here as an alternative scientific paradigm to traditional "mainstream" psychology. Traditional psy chology emulates the natural sciences through an approach that attempts to seek objective, experimental, and linear laws of human behaviour. By contra st, the present approach focuses on bottom-up, model-building research that examines proactive and generative actions of human beings that occur in a meaningful context. Human consciousness, intentions, and goals, both at the individual and collective level, become an integral part of the research p aradigm. The goal is not to abandon science, objectivity, experimental meth od, and the search for universals, but to create a rigorous science that is firmly grounded in human understanding. Two empirical studies conducted in Korea are reviewed to illustrate the utility of this indigenous psychology approach.