The world views of selected Taiwanese: implications for counseling practice

• Main Author: Chien, Ya-Ling
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 1992
• Subjects: Young adults > Taiwan > Psychology; Counseling; Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research; Educational Psychology
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/1426; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=8264&context=etd_masteral
• Institution: De La Salle University

The study examines the world views of young adult Taiwanese, in order to draw out some indigenous values, beliefs and thoughts that may be relevant to effective counseling in the Taiwanese setting. The study was descriptive in nature. The two hundred subjects for this study, whose ages ranged between 18-40 years old, were selected by non-probability, incidental sampling. The data were translated from Chinese to English, and back-translated for cross-checking. Then, content analysis was employed wherein the responses were classified into different clusters according to the similarity of ideas. Two trends emerged in the responses about life. On one hand, respondents hold a practical, positive view toward life, while on the other hand, a passive, disappointed view was shown. The rest of the respondents referred to life in a neutral, descriptive way. Human nature was described in different ways (a) human nature is good (b) Human nature is originally good but will have changes later on (c) Human nature is not good (d) Human nature is both good and bad, is contradictory (e) Human nature is neither good nor bad (f) Human nature is good or bad (g) Human nature is under the influence of environment. In the main, one-half of the sample showed a negative view towards the world which was described as filled with human desires and in the state of chaos. The other half viewed this world as positive and hopeful. Three-fourths of the respondents attributed the causes of people's problem to human desires and the weakness of human nature (e.g., fame, fortune, money, power, profits, privilege, selfishness and greed). The responses of the best way for living were diverse. Many of them conform to the ancient Chinese philosophy of life (i.e., to be a person of virtue, be contented always, follow the inactive philosophy...). Finally, the implications of these world views for counseling were discussed within Sue's framework which is based on the psychological orientations of locus of control and locus of responsibility.