Psychology in India, Volume 4

2

Indian Indigenous Concepts and Perspectives: Developments and Future Possibilities

S. K. Kiran Kumar^*

INTRODUCTION

In the past two decades, there has been a growing emphasis on making the discipline of psychology culturally relevant and appropriate. Nisbett et al. (2001) argue that the considerable social differences that exist among different cultures affect not only their beliefs about specific aspects of the world, but also (a) their naive metaphysical systems at a deep level, (b) their tacit epistemologies, and (c) even the nature of their cognitive processes—the ways by which they know the world. They hold that East Asians are characterized by the holistic thought in contrast to the analytical thought that is characteristic of the West, ...