1. Introduction
The concepts in and the implications of human psychology, more specifically, conversations about “love,” “affection,” and the like, have always enthralled humankind. However pervasive and universal love may seem, its contemplation and study always returns different and sometimes disparate notions throughout culture, history, or religion. Biologists believe that love, attachment and affection stem from a physiological and evolutionary predisposition of humans, of preservation of their progeny, while philosophers have had many viewpoints. The Ancient Greeks laid the foundation for the Western conception of love. They recognized many ‘types’ of love: eros (conjugal), philia (sexual), storge (familial), and agape (selfless, spiritual), et. al. In Hindu philosophy, “bhakti” is defined as spiritual love, whereas Buddhist philosophy emphasizes “metta” or friendly love.
Psychologists from the 19th century, began provoking detailed and extensive theories about love, starting from the Freudian understanding of love arising from Libido, and Erich Fromm defining love as an act of care, affection, understanding and respect. Developmental psychologists Bowlby and Ainsworth began nascent theories of attachment—love attached to biological and relational bonds. This culminated in the last early-modern theory of love, given by Sternberg: the Triangular Theory of Love.
However, since many endeavors to unveil traditional and cultural understandings of love have become more and more transactory in love research. One such important concept is the Korean aspect of “jeong,” which becomes a conclusive theory of love and attachment within modern social psychology.
2. What is “jeong?”
A deep, unspoken bond that ties people together more than love, more than friendship, a connection that lasts a lifetime.
The quiet strength of an unspoken connection—a lasting warmth and loyalty that endures over time.
To translate “jeong” into an encompassing English translation is difficult. “Jeong” is derived in Hanja as “情” which means love, affection, emotion, loyalty, empathy, selflessness, or sentiment. However, to Koreans, “jeong” (정) is not just one emotion, but it is an enduring affect and multifaceted emotion that grows and develops over time, and is often but not exclusively unsaid. It has both positive and neutral dimensions—as does love itself; it can be debilitating or exhilarating. Positive dimensions may include intrapersonal bonding through empathy, connection, and gratitude, whereas neutral dimensions include obligations of duty, guilt, shared pain, or unquestioned filial piety.
3. Where Do We Find Jeong?
In Korea, you learn to both give and receive. This might be a set of vitamin drinks, it might be a compliment or it might be the bill at the local barbeque joint. But it's more than money or affection. Here, those actions become a bond: a psychological umbilical cord linking people. This might be jeong. -David Tizzard in the Korea Times
Jeong, as a concept in Korean culture, is described to be omnipresent. The Korean word, “정들다” or “jeongdeulda,” translates to “be attached” or to “display affection toward.” Moreover, being detached or falling out of love is described as “정 떨어진다” or “jeong tteoreojinda.’ Whether it is from the care of elderly parents and grandparents even in light of disagreements and conflict, or sense of closeness among relatives.
Jeong shows up even in friendships, through small gestures of affection, whether it is unasked help or cooking extra meals for friends. Remembering birthdays, giving presents, care during convalescence, attention to small details, and sharing meals, helping strangers in need are some ways the Korean pool of everlasting jeong is displayed. Even in workplaces, jeong implies loyalty, commitment, and helpfulness and emphasizes better job engagement and job satisfaction or happiness.
4. Jeong and Western Psychology
Some salient and broad features of jeong that have been identified by researchers as individual concepts in psychology which were described years later the traditional Korean conceptions of it, starting c. 18th century in Europe and America. They include:
- Attachment and Bonding: The main concept of jeong is supported by Attachment Theory by Bowlby and Ainsworth, wherein jeong emphasizes enduring and gradually developing bonds, secure emotional reciprocity, and emotional support in attachment figures. Jeong extends the traditional understanding of attachment and affixes it to a broader perspective: attachment toward not only the nuclear family but the extended family and society as a whole.
- Unconditional and Non-Contractual Nature: “Jeong” also emphasizes its unconditional nature. It often involves consistent benevolence or caring even if it is not reciprocated. This concept is repackaged into Western psychology as Carl Jung‘s unconditional positive regard. Moreover, jeong is non-contractual and not based on any formal agreement. This concept is now utilized in modern methods of therapy.
- Social Belongingness and Connectedness: Jeong maintains the psychological view that belongingness, via maintenance, and sustaining of warm and enduring and affectionate ties is a fundamental aspect of human motivation, as purported by Baumeister and Leary. However, unlike Western conceptions, jeong implies a deep emotional connection, not mere affiliation. This works in cohort with the Korean concept of “우리” (uri) which fosters care, mutual trust and a sense of “we.”
- Emphasis on Relational Selves: jeong emphasizes emotional relationships at the center of one’s self rather than Western psychologists’ beliefs of individualist agency and autonomy. Hence, jeong becomes significant in areas of preservation of harmony and conflict resolution with loved ones, and establishing healthy communication, especially implicit, with them. This, too works in correlation with the concept of “한” (han) which is a collective emotion and resilience that ties people together, without which an individual cannot exist.
5. Conclusion
Jeong is an inherently a collectivistic idea of love, which is obvious for an Eastern society like Korea. Jeong finds its historical roots in Joseon neo-confucian ideals, which was nurtured within its concepts of benevolence (인, in) and ritual propriety (예, ye). Concepts resembling jeong has been extensively discussed in the Neo-Confucian Four-Seven Debate. Moreover, Buddhist philosophy has also played an important role in the conception of jeong through the concept of hanmaeum (한마음, one heart), emphasizing interconnectedness within the community, compassion and support. Nonetheless, foreigners in Korea often describe their positive experiences in Korea, whether in classrooms or restaurants, through “jeong,” or a debilitating kindness and unspoken love which better experienced, than defined. Hence, through a Korean humanistic perspective, ‘jeong’ becomes an important pillar of love.