Cultural psychology and the meaning of morality in Chinese and China: Misconceptions, conceptions, and possibilities

Abstract

I give an overview of our published and unpublished research on everyday morality concepts in China, inviting the reader to explore a question: What is the meaning of morality in Chinese culture—and what can it tell us about human morality? I’ll begin with Buchtel et al. (2015), which found that Chinese immoral behaviors are best described as uncultured, while Western ones are centered on avoiding harm. However, because of Western assumptions that morality is about moral principles, the studies have been misinterpreted as showing that incivility (more than harming people) is the “worst” violation of Chinese social values. I argue that Chinese morality emphasizes virtue cultivation more than absolutist judgments of right and wrong. Virtues and moral judgment could both be common human ways of thinking morally, and both serve a meaning-making purpose.