On Voicing:Ren (忍,Forberance)and Self-Transformation in the Chinese Context of Vertical Relation
Date Issued
2006
Date
2006
Author(s)
Cheng, Wan-Jung
DOI
zh-TW
Abstract
Ren (忍, forbearance) has been considered as a Chinese national character or a strategy of coping with interpersonal conflicts in the previous literature. In contrast with the perspective of regarding Ren (忍, forbearance,) as a national character, the approach of regarding Ren (忍, forbearance) as a strategy of coping with interpersonal conflicts specifies not only its constituents, but also how it operates in various interpersonal contexts. Adhering to this approach, Ren (忍, forbearance) was conceptualized as a psychological process with multiple operating mechanisms, and the process of Ren (忍, forbearance) was defined as various types of experience occurred at different stages toward the same social object. Meanwhile, special attention was focused on how people transform in the process of Ren (忍, forbearance). In consideration of Chinese Relationalism, the vertical relation was viewed as the most important interpersonal context for the operation of Ren (忍, forbearance). A study of qualitative approach was conducted to investigate various experiences of Ren (忍, forbearance) in vertical relations. 17 participants (6 males and 11 females) were interviewed for approximately 2-3 hours to report their own experiences of self-transformation in the process of Ren (忍, forbearance). Analysis of their narrative data indicated that four stages of self-transformation could be identified and labeled as “pre- forbearance”, “self-repression”, “self-compartmentalization” and “self-exceeding” in a sequential order. The vicissitudes of relationship between individual and authority were discussed by means of analyzing the dynamism between “ Xiao-wo” (the individual self ) and “ Da-wo” ( the authority figure): as the strength of an individual‘s self increases, it may counterbalance the power of authority figure, and the individual may become capable of being autonomous. Thus, this research concluded that the Chinese self may transform in the process of Ren (忍, forbearance) and it was suggested to construct a scale of Ren (忍, forbearance) for educational and counseling usages.
Subjects
忍耐
上下關係
自我
自我轉化
權威
Ren
vertical relation
self
self-transformation
authority
SDGs
Type
other