Understanding the Software of the Mind, Self and Culture: The Scientific Foundation of Indigenous and Cultural Psychology

Abstract

The understanding of the nature and the software of the mind has generated immense debate in religion, philosophy, sciences and psychology. Drucker notes that the basic assumption about the reality is the foundation for science, axiom and algorithm adopted for the theory, concept and method. The assumption differentiates what is important from what is noise. In the medieval Europe, the Catholic Church provided a unified theory of the world as a reflection of God’s grand design and purpose. They held the power to define and thus had the power to control people’s lives. Their power was challenged during the Renaissance with the emergence of humanism. The Cartesian duality of separating the mind from body allowed the separation of church and state and science to flourish. In East Asia, Confucius articulated a different set of assumptions. Humans are defined as ingan 人間 (‘human between’) and assume relationship and compassion as the basic foundation. This is the basis of the cultural difference and theory of the mind. The Darwinian Evolutionary Theory replaced the religious definition, Cartesian duality, and empathy with the biological traits, instincts and natural selection. Psychology adopted the biological model to explain human behaviour. Research in paleoanthropology, genetics, and neurobiology outline the limitations of the biological model in explaining the human mind and behaviour. Bandura has documented the importance of human agency, consciousness, and self-efficacy in explaining human behaviour and provided empirical results with greater predictive and explanatory power than the traditional psychological theories. Indigenous and cultural psychology represents the continuation of the assumptions, theory and concepts outlined by Wilhelm Wundt and Albert Bandura. Kim outlines the transactional model of science, where human agency (measured by self-efficacy) can explain a person’s performance and outcome. Empirically, the Harvard Study of Adult Development, the 85-year longitudinal study, found the unexpected results that challenge the previous held assumptions. Waldinger and Schulz have found that maintaining good relationship is the most important predictor of happiness, health and longevity and not high income, success, IQ and personality. Kim and Kim found that for Millennials and Gen Z, happiness is predicted by relational and social efficacy, positive outlook, and receiving social support from family, friends and online communities, replicating previous results found across three generations and for the past 25 years in Korea. These results point to the importance of examining the basic assumptions of the theories in psychology and the scientific foundation of indigenous and cultural psychology.