Glossary
Words we keep using
Short definitions, drawn from the literature cited in the series. Each links to the posts that use it.
- Filial piety
- Children’s respect, care, and duty toward parents.
- Kyeong et al. (2025) describe filial piety as varying across sociocultural contexts and across the life span.
- Appears in: Filial Piety Travels
- Kagandahang-loob
- Goodness of the inner self; kindness given freely.
- Discussed by Chiong (2024) as a disposition rooted in loob and kapwa, where recognizing and responding to another person’s need matters.
- Appears in: What We Mean When We Say Utang na Loob
- Kapwa
- Shared identity with others; the self as part of a “we”.
- Maninang (2025) treats kapwa as a core concept in Filipino social psychology.
- Appears in: Kapwa Comes First
- Kusang-loob
- Done willingly, from one’s own free will.
- The proposal stresses that utang na loob should be given kusang-loob, willingly, and not as an imposed obligation.
- Appears in: Retirement Plan, Yarn?, What We Mean When We Say Utang na Loob, Gratitude Isn't a Receipt, When Gratitude Becomes Pressure
- Obligasyon sa pamilya
- Family obligation: the duties a person has as a family member.
- In the study, the responsibility to show care, give support, help, and fulfill duties within the family, financial and emotional.
- Appears in: Retirement Plan, Yarn?, Pananagutan: The Weight of Being the Responsible One, Filial Piety Travels, When Gratitude Becomes Pressure, What Parents Expect, What Children Hear, Two Ideas, One Question: How We're Testing It, What the Numbers Can (and Can't) Tell Us
- Pag-unawa
- Understanding; seeing another person’s situation.
- Aboy (2024) links pag-unawa to the virtue of mercy, where recognizing another person’s circumstances is part of moral action.
- Appears in: Kapwa Comes First
- Pagtanaw
- Looking toward; acknowledging and returning what was received.
- Appears in the proposal’s sources on firstborns’ experiences of repaying utang na loob to family (Baculi et al., 2021).
- Appears in: Pananagutan: The Weight of Being the Responsible One
- Pakikisama
- Getting along with others; building goodwill.
- Boñon (2024) discusses pakikisáma as a Filipino value that supports goodwill toward others.
- Appears in: Kapwa Comes First
- Pananagutan
- Responsibility; being answerable for others.
- The study uses it for the sense of responsibility a child carries toward family, including help, support, and care.
- Appears in: Pananagutan: The Weight of Being the Responsible One, What Parents Expect, What Children Hear
- Panganay
- The firstborn child.
- Often expected to carry extra family responsibility; studied by Baculi et al. (2021) and Quindoza et al. (2025).
- Appears in: Pananagutan: The Weight of Being the Responsible One
- Paninindigan
- Standing by one’s convictions.
- Melendres (2024) presents paninindigan as an integral part of Filipino virtue ethics and of judging an action morally.
- Utang na loob
- Deep recognition of, and gratitude for, help, care, and sacrifice received.
- Literally a debt of the inner self. In the literature the proposal draws on, it is described as tied to kagandahang-loob, to gratitude, and to the wish to return kindness, and as different from a material or financial debt.
- Appears in: Retirement Plan, Yarn?, What We Mean When We Say Utang na Loob, Kapwa Comes First, Gratitude Isn't a Receipt, When Gratitude Becomes Pressure, What Parents Expect, What Children Hear, Two Ideas, One Question: How We're Testing It, What the Numbers Can (and Can't) Tell Us