Philippines

• Main Authors: Pe-Pua, Rogelia, Perfecto-Ramos, Pia Anna
• Format: text
• Published: Animo Repository 2009
• Subjects: Psychology—Philippines; Psychology; Social and Behavioral Sciences
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/faculty_research/13702
• Institution: De La Salle University

This chapter traces the development of Philippine psychology from the introduction of a Western academic-scientific psychology in the early 1900s to the emergence of a Sikolohiyang Pilipino (Filipino Psychology) indigenous perspective in the 1970s. It highlights the humble beginnings of the various psychology departments at different universities around the country, led primarily by Filipinos schooled abroad who were ardent followers of Piaget, Skinner, Freud and the like. A shift towards a more nationalistic spirit led to the discovery of Filipino psychological concepts and methods. Debates involving the duality between Western psychology and indigenous Filipino psychology persist, yet acceptance and tolerance of both schools of thought is observed. To date, Filipino psychologists continue to discover and develop different ways and means of localizing, contextualizing and indigenizing their topics, their means of doing research and their manner of analyzing data. Western psychology also continues to be a strong force in the Philippines.