The Taiji Model of Self.

Author: Wang FY1,2, Wang ZD1,2, Wang RJ3
Affiliation: <sup>1</sup>Institute of Moral Education, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China. <sup>2</sup>School of Psychology, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China. <sup>3</sup>Nanjing Foreign Language School, Nanjing, China.
Conference/Journal: Front Psychol.
Date published: 2019 Jun 21
Other: Volume ID: 10 , Pages: 1443 , Special Notes: doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01443. eCollection 2019. , Word Count: 164


An important theme in the development of self-psychology is the attempt by scholars to construct a self-model with universal cultural adaptability. Among them, representatives are the tripartite model of self-built by Triandis, the theory of the independent self and interdependent self-proposed by Markus and Kitayama, Yang Kuo-Shu's four-part theory of the Chinese self, Hwang Kwang-Kwo's Mandala model of self, and Shiah Yung-Jong's Non-self-Theory. However, these models have a difficult time explaining the structure and development of the Chinese self in Chinese cultural background. After pondering over Chinese traditional culture and the Chinese self, inspired by the archetype of Taiji diagram, in this paper, we construct the Taiji Model of Self. The Taiji Model of Self can not only properly represent the Chinese self-structure, but also explain the growth course of the Chinese self and four kinds of life realms of Chinese people with satisfactory cultural and ecological validity.

KEYWORDS: person-making; self; self-development process; self-structure; the Taiji Model of Self

PMID: 31293484 PMCID: PMC6598445 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01443