Confucian Psychology

c. 500 BCE

Confucius (551­–479 BCE)

Kong Fuzi (“Master Kong”), known in English as Confucius, played many roles in his life: diplomat, teacher, and philosopher. Around 500 BCE, he also became an important political adviser. His teaching on the Way of Humanity provided a model for how to live, how to understand one’s obligations, and how to treat others.

The five interrelated aspects of Confucianism are destiny, mind, ethics for ordinary people, self-cultivation, and ethics for scholars. Confucius stated simply that we all share the destiny of birth, aging, disease, and death, but we nevertheless have a responsibility to act morally in relation to our fellow humans. The Confucian model of mind has two aspects: a mind of discernment, which includes our cognitive abilities, and a mind of benevolence, which is our ethical mind or conscience.

Ethics for ordinary people asks each person to show benevolence or affection toward those who are close, and to act righteously, showing respect for each person, especially to those who have superior social rank; in doing so, the person will observe propriety and contribute to smooth social functioning. Benevolence, righteousness, and propriety make up the Way of Humanity, which is intended to reflect the Way of the Heavens. Through self-cultivation in the Way of Humanity, we develop into people of deep moral character and move toward attaining the three virtues of wisdom, benevolence, and courage.

Since the end of the Cultural Revolution in China in the mid-1970s, the discipline of psychology has grown rapidly, as indicated by its esteemed place in the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Chinese psychologists have built on the Confucian tradition to empirically demonstrate that the traits of interpersonal relatedness, holism, dialectical self, relationship harmony, and concern with face are unique expressions of the Chinese personality.

SEE ALSO Big Five Personality Factors (1949), Moral Development (1958)

Statue of Confucius outside Confucius Temple in Shanghai, China.