In 1989, Virgilio Enriquez, a PhD holder in social psychology from the University of Illinois, proposed a personality theory based on the IKSP of Filipinos. Using Western scientific lingo, he established a framework for understanding the ways of the Filipino culture-bearers. Pagkataong Filipino emerged the first academic theory that formulated a value-system of Asian personality. While its framework emulates Western models of personality-theory, its concepts do not. The emerging value-structure is, therefore, unique from other psychological models.



This most blatant difference between the Filipino personality theory and its Western counterparts is the distinction between “personhood” (pagkatao) and “personality”. 

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Enriquez, who coined the term “personhood”, chose the English suffix “hood” to underpin his psychological reasoning. When this “ ~hood” is added to a root-word, it draws attention to the state, quality, or condition of this person (or thing). For example, by entering into “manhood”, a boy acquires the qualities of a man. The concepts formed with “~hood” are closure seeking.  They convey essences that are shared by many. Thus, “~hood” concepts are deeper, wider, more generic, more complex than those suffixed with an “~ity”.  The “~ity” words point to a personalized or individual domains (i.e. the repeated act of being generous turns into “generosity”).  Such “~ity” words mark distinctions-- characteristics that separate one person (or thing) from an Other. For example, “motherhood” is common to many women, while “maternity” singles out one pregnant woman from a group of others who are not.  Pagkatao-- “personhood”-- then, asserts the shared humanity of a people while “personality” is confined to the individual viewpoint of an outsider observing an Other.