Sikolohiyang Pilipino also known as Filipino Psychology refers to the psychology and

values of the Filipinos and it is particularly born out or rooted in meaningful concepts
relevant and applicable to our experiences, discipline, culture and ideas. It was formally
introduced by Dr. Virgilio Enriquez back in 1975 and he was then regarded as the
‘Father of Filipino Psychology’. Even though it was formally introduced back in 1975, the
idea of it already started in the 1960’s with the help and cooperation of Dr. Jaime
Bulatao. This is fundamentally about cultivating and nourishing our own identity,
consciousness, ideologies, language, culture, and giving more emphasis on the Filipino
orientation.

Since psychology did not originate in the Philippines and it is a Western discipline, it
was first mainly about their values and behavior and when it came to our country we
started to adopt and adapt its concepts, methods, theories and ideas that came with it
even though some of it were not culturally-appropriate in our context. It is noticeably up
to now that Western psychology is more on self-concept and it is very far from our
context if we put the concept on Enriquez’s theory of “kapwa” as the core value of
Sikolohiyang Pilipino and with that, if we continue to adapt their concepts, it will
obviously make distortions or inaccuracies in the way we picture ourselves as a Filipino.
However, Filipino psychologists back then noticed this eventually and recognized that
Western concepts does not fit to our own concept as a Filipino and from that it brought
noise and concern to make psychology more culture related and make theories,
methods and contents in Filipino context or locally relevant. In that case, fortunately, it
led to the emergence of indigenous psychology from the vision of Enriquez and the birth
of Sikolohiyang Pilipino in the country. Sikolohiyang Pilipino concentrated on a type of
indigenization which is the “Indigenization from Within” that means a psychology
emerge from the experiences and culture of the Filipinos or from an indigenous culture.
The ultimate goal of Sikolohiyang Pilipino is not to be anti-universal but to contribute to
universal psychology, since one of the goals of psychology is to be able to understand
people, this will help psychologists and other people to understand beliefs, concepts,
and culture from different perspective. With the emergence of Sikolohiyang Pilipino
comes the development of indigenous concepts and theories, and the analysis of
Filipino values. The Sikolohiyang Pilipino starts or begin with “Kapwa” or togetherness
as the core construct and value which means that it is based on shared identity with
others and considering other people as part of you. It has two (2) categories, the first
one is the Ibang Tao or other people which we deal with them through pakikitungo or
civility, pakikisalamuha or act of mixing, pakikilahok or act of joining, pakikibagay or
conformity, and pakikisama or being united with the group while Hindi Ibang Tao or not
other people, on the other hand, we treat them though pakikipagpalagayang-loob or act
of mutual trust, pakikisangkot or act of getting involved, and pakikiisa or being one with
others. In addition to what has been said, there is another societal value which is “Hiya”
that shows an accommodative surface values, it is seen as shame or being shy in
Western context or when we literally translate it in English but it is actually having the
sense of propriety or conforming in what is socially acceptable. Lastly, the “Bahala na”
came from the statement “Si Bathala na ang Bahala” which is an attitude that shows
confrontative surface values that describes our expression, beliefs or faith that our good
actions will be then rewarded. It also can be seen as determination in doing our best,
having deep trust in God, and Letting Him take charge or take care of the rest.