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Significance of “Jeong” in Korean Culture and Psychotherapy
Christopher K. Chung, M.D. & Samson Cho, M.D.
Harbor-UCLA Medical Center

Practicing in Los Angeles, California, I began to be aware of the differences in patterns of
decision-making and of psychopathology among Asian Americans, especially within the KoreanAmerican population. 

Working on their interpersonal problems, hwa-byung cases, and issues of
marital discord, I began to realize the importance of understanding culture-specific emotions,
i.e., jeong, haan, etc., in the psychotherapeutic setting.

Before I introduce the concept of jeong, I would like to emphasize that this must not be
considered as just a stereotype of Koreans or Asian populations.  I would rather view these
findings regarding the significance of jeong as very useful to understanding the nature of human
emotions and its role in family and social structures.  Furthermore, the introduction of the
concept of jeong to the Western world and Western psychiatry will contribute a great deal to the
field of world psychiatry.

The concept of jeong exists in Korean, Japanese, and Chinese cultures, and the same Chinese
character is used in these countries.  However, it is very interesting for us to see that the meaning
of the same character is subtly different for each of these countries.  The Chinese emphasize the
aspects of loyalty and reciprocity in relationships when using their jeong character.  The
Japanese equivalent, pronounced “jyo,” means sentimental feelings with the addition of another
word, “nin jyo.”  Jeong in Korean culture has much broader meanings and ambiguous nuances in
the expression of emotions, and encompasses the Chinese and Japanese concepts.
It is interesting to note that many contemporary sculptures and abstract art exhibited in Korean
national museums or art galleries are titled jeong.  When I visited the Korean-American artists’
annual show, I noticed the same and found myself having great difficulty explaining or
translating jeong into English.  Rather than translating it into English, using the term jeong in
English would be more appropriate.  However, in English literature thus far there is much
confusion in its use, even in its spelling, “cheong, ceng, jung, jeong.”  I would like to propose
using “jeong,” pronounced closest to the Korean word.

Jeong is difficult to define.  One Korean-English dictionary defines it as “feeling, love,
sentiment, passion, human nature, sympathy, heart.”  Although it is complicated to introduce a
clear definition of jeong, it seems to include all of the above as well as more basic feelings, such
as attachment, bond, affection, or even bondage.

By introducing the characteristics of jeong, I may be able to better clarify the meanings of jeong. 
One of the important characteristics is its “location.”  Jeong seems located not only inside of our
hearts but also outside.  In other words, the location of jeong is between individuals.  It can be
difficult to understand an emotion as being seated outside an individual’s heart, yet it may be
related to the idea of collective emotion. An even clearer understanding in this regard may come from jeong’s characteristics as a
“centrifugal” tendency.  The more common expression in Korean is “jeong deulda” rather than “I
feel jeong.”  A literal translation would be “jeong has permeated.”  An even bolder translation
would be, “I am possessed by jeong.”  It is important to understand this in comparison to the
English expressions of love, depression, hate, or anxiety; “I love you,” “I feel nervous,” or “I feel
depressed.”  If love has a centripetal effect, then jeong has the opposite, i.e., centrifugal effect. 
As I will explain later, jeong affects the individual’s ego boundary; an individual’s “cell
membrane” becomes more permeable, so to speak, thinning the ego boundary.
Unlike other emotions, such as depression, anger, and anxiety, jeong is not entirely definable
even in the Korean language; it is ambiguous and amorphous.  The best description is that jeong
has multiple faces.

The earliest time an individual is exposed to the experience of jeong is when a baby is held and
carried by his or her mother.  As the mother’s warmness permeates to and is felt by the baby, so
to the jeong permeates to the heart of the baby.  This type of jeong is called “mo-jeong,” which
exists during the remainder of the person’s life.  This total trust of life and person without logic
or reason starts from the earliest experiences of life.  I would consider this comparable to the
Freudian concept of basic trust during the oral stage.  As a child grows older, the jeong
experience will expand to include interactions between him/her and the father, friends or other
relatives, neighbors, and members of the community.  As jeong evolves through these different
forms, it is alternatively called “bu-jeong,” “in-jeong,” and “woo-jeong.”  Jeong can exist not
only in the interpersonal space between people but also between a person and objects, such as a
house, book, or hometown.  These are then expressed as a “jeong-deun” (jeong-layed) house,
book, mountain, or stream.

The manifestation of jeong in a social structure and in social values is primarily through loyalty
and commitment without validation, logic, or reason.  This can be compared to the concept of
amae in Japanese, which is an expectation of behaviors without validation.  It is very interesting
to see that interactions in Korean culture, whether formal or private, often carry the assumption
of commitment.  In Western culture, commitment is often contractual and defined, such as in a
marriage, instead of being implicit.  When commitments are made based upon contextual
significance, for example, because of “jeong-related” affairs rather than logical interpretations of
content, individuals easily become members of a cohesive group at home or work, bonded by
jeong or perhaps even held in bondage by jeong.  Interdependency and collectivism are highly
valued, rather than autonomy, independency, privacy, and individualism.

Of course, there is a positive side to jeong.  Warm, rich interpersonal relationships, nurturing,
and caring seem common in the culture of jeong.  Korean-Americans will often say that their
lives in America are dry because of jeong deficiency.  Bonded by jeong, collective efforts toward
a common goal, overcoming crises, and survival are relatively frequent scenes among Koreans or
Asians.

However, there are also negative aspects to jeong.  The phenomenon of the “in-crowd versus
out-crowd” seems ubiquitous in Korean culture.  Academic, political, and geographic divisions
prevail in the culture of jeong.  The leaders of a group protect those within the circle of the in-group and discriminate against outsiders.  Many corrupt behaviors may surface, as I will mention
in the next slide, when greater value and significance are placed in maintaining jeong and the
loyalty in its relationships than in logic, reason, and the law.  The expression “jeong-shil” is
translated as “private circumstances; special and personal connections,” which can lead to
actions that directly oppose “fairness and justice.”  For example, promotions, entrance to
colleges, and business contracts can occur out of these private circumstances or personal
connections.  This becomes a very serious social dilemma.

As the expectation for reciprocity of loyalty grows, if the connections formed by jeong are
betrayed, tremendous hurt and anger can ensue.  This may actually be an important factor in the
etiology of hwa-byung.  Hwa-byung is defined as a culture-bound syndrome in the DSM-IV; it is
characterized by multiple somatic psychological symptoms, believed to be caused by repressed
anger, and has an aspect of self-labeling.

Now let us examine the value structure in a society with jeong.  As you see in this slide, greater
emphasis seems to be placed on loyalty, jeong, and commitment than in logic, reason, or the law
in many Asian countries.  The opposite seems to be true in Western culture.  There is no simple
answer to which approach is better.  It should be a matter of balance.

In the psychotherapeutic setting, inter-dependency or passive-dependency becomes a very
important and difficult issue to deal with.  Cognitive and educational therapy may have its
limitations.  In order to help a patient suffering from the betrayal of jeong, we need to first
identify jeong and free them from its bondage.  Naturally, the issue of ego boundaries blurring
must be addressed.  Koreans say “our husband” or “our wife” rather than “my husband” or “my
wife.”  The concept of “I” seems weakened for the sake of strengthening  jeong.  In other words,
the “cell membrane” of the self is thin enough to be permeated by jeong.  One may easily
interpret this as symbiosis with borderline dynamics; however, this may well be a very healthy
part of a collective ego.  The margin between bond versus bondage seems very narrow, and the
physiology or pathology of jeong may have to be assessed very carefully.  In Korea, “we” often
means “I, bonded by jeong, to you,” whereas in English, “we” just represents any multiple “I’s.”
I definitely urge the continuing study of jeong psychology to increase awareness of collectivism
versus individualism and to increase understanding of patient’s in our population that are either
jeong-deprived or jeong-intoxicated.

 

this is the first thing i thought of when i read this..

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-N79fDBtpI]