Psychology research in the Philippines is in the process of exploring ways by which elements of different “psychologies” can be appropriated and employed to understand the characteristics of the psychology and behavior of Filipinos, says College of Education (CED) Dean Dr. Allan Bernardo.


Bernardo, running head of the Psychological Association of the Philippines (PAP), made this assessment in a symposium of Filipino psychologists at the Philippine Social Science Center, Alip Auditorium Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City on January 26. The symposium was part of the 40th anniversary celebration of PAP.

His paper titled, “Finding Our Voice(s): Philippine Psychologists’ Contributions to Global Discourse in Psychology” looked into the contributions of Philippine psychologists to the psychology literature from 1991 to 2000.

The results of the analysis of 55 abstracts indicate that the Philippine contributions to psychology literature primarily come from three universities, one of which is De La Salle University-Manila. The two other schools are Ateneo de Manila University and University of the Philippines.

Bernardo noted that many contributions involved collaborations among Filipino and foreign psychologists, and that most of the contributions are published in the core journals of disciplines.

He pointed out that low representation of Philippine psychologists in psychology literature is most likely reflective of two things: one is the weak emphasis on research and a stronger emphasis on application and practice, and another is the fact that psychology as a scientific discipline is still underdeveloped in the Philippines compared to economically developed countries.

Results of his study indicate that most of the contributions seem to take an indigenizing orientation, where topics and problems are chosen for their local interest and relevance. However, this indigenizing orientation is found mostly in the theoretical/conceptual level, as the methodological approaches taken conform to the highly experimental and quantitative orientation of mainstream psychology.

In a related development, Dr. Imelda Villar, faculty of the Counselor Education Department of DLSU-M, launched her book, “Brief Psychodynamic Strategies for Counseling and Psychotheraphy,” also during the PAP anniversary celebration.