THE FILIPINO ATHLETE’S EXPERIENCE OF THE BAHALA NA ATTITUDE IN

INTERNATIONAL SPORTING COMPETITION

A Dissertation Presented to

The Faculty of John F. Kennedy University

PsyD Program

In Partial Fulfillment

Of the Requirements for the Degree of

Doctor of Psychology

By

Sheryll Magante Casuga

May 2011

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ii

© 2011 by Sheryll M. Casuga All Rights Reserved

iii

THE FILIPINO ATHLETE’S EXPERIENCE OF THE BAHALA NA ATTITUDE IN

INTERNATIONAL SPORTING COMPETITION

This dissertation by Sheryll M. Casuga has been approved by the committee members, who recommend that it be accepted by the faculty of John F. Kennedy University, Pleasant Hill, Caifornia, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PSYCHOLOGY

___________________________________________________ Eric Vogel, PsyD, Chair

___________________________________________________ Alison Rhodius, PhD, Reader

___________________________________________________ May 18, 2011

iv

ABSTRACT

THE FILIPINO ATHLETE’S EXPERIENCE OF THE BAHALA NA ATTITUDE IN INTERNATIONAL SPORTING COMPETITION

SHERYLL M. CASUGA

John F. Kennedy University

College of Graduate and Professional Studies Pleasant Hill, CA

This is a qualitative study on the Filipino athlete’s experience of the bahala na

attitude in international sporting competition. Bahala na translates literally as “leave it

up to God” and is used as an expression almost universally in Filipino culture. Filipinos

engage in the bahala na attitude when faced with challenging situations. Eleven Filipino

athletes who have participated in an international sporting competition participated in a

semi-structured interview, and the conventional qualitative content analysis was utilized

to analyze the data. The study found that Filipino athletes experienced and utilized the

bahala na attitude in sports and in other contexts. The common themes that emerged

among the participants’ description of their bahala na experience were: Bahala na as

adaptive attitudinal coping with significant challenges, performance pressure as

prompting context for bahala na, bahala na as an automatic response to routine stress,

bahala na as problematic effort reduction, use of bahala na as a source of performance

learning, and preparation obviating need for bahala na. The discussion concentrated on

the bahala na attitude as a culture-influenced coping strategy for performance anxiety and

to manage expectations and situational demands in sports and in similar contexts.

Clinical implications and directions for future research are also discussed.

v

KEYWORDS: “bahala na”, “Filipino athletes”, “Filipino psychology”, “cultural sport

psychology”, “coping strategy”, “Philippine sports”

vi

DEDICATION

This dissertation is dedicated to

Constancia Mortel Magante and Agleo Magante,

Jose “Papa Joe” Casuga and Maria Marquez Casuga

In loving memory of my departed grandparents

They always inspire me to honor my Filipino roots

And seize every opportunity with dignity and pride

Maraming salamat po sa inyong mga payo

Tinuruan ninyo akong magsikap at magpahalaga sa karunungan

Nasa puso ko po kayo palagi…

vii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to express my gratitude to Mr. Bill Velasco for his invaluable

assistance and support during the research process. I would also like to express my

gratitude to Dean Leilani Gonzalo of the University of the Philippines, College of Human

Kinetics (UP-CHK) as well as Coach Louie Mangahis, Team Manager of the Philippine

National Water Polo Team and Director of the Southern Tagalog Amateur Swimming

Association (STASA), for helping with the participant recruitment process.

I would like to thank all the participants for sharing their experiences and insight

on bahala na, as well as for their contribution to the research on Philippine athletes and

sport psychology. I would also like to thank my dissertation chair, Dr. Eric Vogel and

my dissertation reader, Dr. Alison Rhodius, for their unwavering support, guidance, and

encouragement throughout this entire research process.

Lastly, I would like to acknowledge the support and inspiration of my parents,

Jesus and Nida Casuga, as well as my siblings, Ritzyl, Darlene Joy, and John Collins

Casuga. I would also like to acknowledge my family members in the Philippines: Jasmin

Balaquidan, Michael Martos, and Virginia Magante, who helped with the logistics during

the two weeks I stayed in the Philippines for data collection.

viii

Table of Contents

Page

Dedication………………………………………………………………………………. vi

Acknowledgements…………………………………………………………………….. vii

List of Tables………………………………………………………………………….... xi

I. Introduction………………………………………………………………………… 1

II. Literature Review…………………………………………………………………... 4

Overview of Philippine History………………………………………………… 4

Psychology in the Spanish Colonial Era………………………………………... 6

Psychology in the American Colonial Era……………………………………… 7

Psychology in the Post-American Colonial Era………………………………… 8

The Rise of a New Filipino Psychology……………………………………….. 11

The Concept of Self in Filipino Psychology…………………………………… 13

Bahala Na: Definition and Origin……………………………………………… 17

Bahala Na as Fatalism…………………………………………………. 20

Bahala na as Optimistic Fatalism…………………….………………… 22

Bahala na as Determination……………………………………………. 26

Achievement Motivation………………………………………………………. 28

Achievement Motivation of Filipinos………………………………….. 29

Achievement Motivation in Sport Psychology Literature……………... 32

Culture-specific Influence on Achievement Motivation in Sport……… 32

Social Influence on Sport Performance………………………………………... 33

Non-Western Attitudes in Sports………………………………………………. 35

ix

Filipino Athletes in International Sporting Competition………………………. 39

III. Method…………………………………………………………………………….. 43

Participants……………………………………………………………………... 43

Recruitment…………………………………………………………………….. 45

Data Collection………………………………………………………………… 45

Data Analysis…………………………………………………………………... 46

Assumptions……………………………………………………………………. 47

IV. Results……………………………………………………………………………... 48

Bahala Na as Adaptive Attitudinal Coping with Significant Challenges……… 50

Bahala Na as an Automatic Response to Routine Stress………………………. 63

Bahala Na as Problematic Effort Reduction…………………………………… 66

Use of Bahala Na as a Source of Performance Learning………………………. 68

Performance Pressure as Prompting Context for Bahala Na…………………… 69

Preparation Obviating Need for Bahala Na……………………………………. 70

V. Discussion…………………………………………………………………………. 71

Bahala Na as a Distinctive, Culturally Normative Attitude Among Filipinos… 71

Bahala Na as the Prototypical Filipino Response to Adversity………………... 72

Bahala Na as Spiritual Coping……………....…………………………………. 75

How Adaptive is Bahala Na?…………………………………………………... 76

The Implications of the Bahala Na Attitude in Philippine Sports.…………….. 78

Bahala Na as a Coping Strategy in Sports……………………..………. 78

Bahala Na as an Alternative Confidence Technique.………………….. 79

Bahala Na as an Alternative Goal Setting Technique.………………… 79

x

Bahala Na as an Alternative Imagery Technique.……………………... 80

Bahala na for Athletes from Similar Collectivist Cultures…………...... 80

Exporting and Adapting Bahala Na for Non-Filipinos………………… 81

Clinical Implications of Bahala Na…………………………………………….. 82

Filipinos in Therapy……………………..……………………………... 82

Working with Diverse Populations……..……………………………… 83

Recommendations for Future Research………………………………………... 83

References….…………………………………………………………………………... 85

Appendix A: Recruitment Flyer………………………………………………………... 93

Appendix B: Consent Form…..………………………………………………………... 94

Appendix C: Demographic Questionnaire……………………………………………… 95

Appendix D: Semi-Structure Interview Questions…………………………………….. 98

xi

List of Tables

Page

Table 1: Participant’s Demographic Information……………………………………… 44

Table 2: Number and Percentage of Participants per Theme………………………….. 48

1

Chapter I

Introduction

The Tagalog expression “Bahala na!” meaning “leaving things to Bahala (God)”

is a phrase Filipinos commonly say when they are faced with a difficult circumstance.

Bahala na has also been described as a culturally-distinctive attitude and as a core

Filipino cultural value that can be traced back to pre-colonial times. Bahala na is derived

from the root Bathala, the name of the indigenous deity worshiped prior to the

introduction of Catholicism to the Philippines in 1571.

There is a debate in the psychology literature (Pe-Pua & Protacio-Marcelino,

2000) as to whether bahala na has debilitative or facilitative influence on Filipino

behavior, that is, whether the forms of coping it promotes are on-balance adaptive or

maladaptive. Most of the early literature (Bostrom, 1968) on the concept of bahala na

described it as being analogous to the Western concept of fatalism, associated with other

debilitative traits such as resignation, effort withdrawal, and inaction as a response to a

stressful decision-making process.

Subsequent research (Church, 1987) found evidence for both facilitative and

debilitative impacts of bahala na, describing bahala na as a form of optimistic fatalism,

suggesting that it is a dual-purpose coping mechanism, enabling the individual to

surrender control, yet persevere hopefully, in spite of apparent unlikelihood of success.

Recently, however, Filipino Psychology theorists have argued that bahala na does

not involve the passivity attributed to it by earlier conceptualizations. Rather, they argue

that bahala na is an assertive response to highly stressful situations, making it more

analogous to qualities such as determination and risk-taking. Furthermore, they argue

2

that this purely facilitative conceptualization of bahala na is more consistent with the

overall conceptualization of Filipino personality norms, grouping bahala na among

several adaptive and confrontative values embodied by many Filipinos.

The task of evaluating the relative merits of these differing theoretical views on

bahala na is complicated by the lack of inductive research exploring the subjective

experience of bahala na. Prior research supports the contention that bahala na functions

as a coping mechanism for Filipinos during times of stressful decision-making or in

socially evaluative situations, such as in academic and sport performance. The stressful

nature of international sporting competition suggests this a good context in which to

examine the bahala na attitude, particularly with the demands placed on high-level

Filipino athletes and with their motivation to achieve at this level of sport participation.

The achievement motivation literature (Reeve, 2005) identified several factors

that influence an individual’s drive to excel, overcome obstacles and compete. Studies of

culture-specific influences on achievement motivation suggest that causal attribution,

coping strategies, and motivational behavior vary cross-culturally. This suggests that

culture-specific influence on achievement and sport performance needs to be studied.

Furthermore, the intersubjective experience of bahala na may influence an

athlete’s emotion and behavior in socially evaluative situations. This is supported by the

Filipino Psychology theory (Enriquez, 1994), which suggests that Filipino cultural norms,

such as bahala na, are known to impact the expected achievement motivation in a wide

variety of settings such as in athletic situations.

This current study investigated the Filipino athlete’s experience of the bahala na

attitude through an in-depth qualitative exploration. This current study illuminated how

3

Filipino athletes engage in the bahala na attitude in different performance situations to

mediate anxiety, cope with challenging performance situations, and manage performance

demands, with implications on how the bahala na attitude could be adapted as a coping

strategy by more Filipinos as well as non-Filipinos in similar situations.

4

Chapter II

Literature Review

Overview of Philippine History

The Philippines is an archipelago comprised of more than 7,107 islands. The first

inhabitants appear to have reached the Philippines 500,000 to 2,000,000 years ago.

Various ethnic groups such as the Negritos from Burma and New Guinea, Indonesians,

and the Malays settled in different parts of the archipelago (Agoncillo & Guerrero, 1984).

During the last quarter of the 13th century, Muslim traders settled in the southern islands

of the Philippines. In the early 14th century, maritime trading brought people from the

neighboring countries in Asia, including China, Vietnam, Thailand and India to dwell in

the islands (Abeto, 1989). Intermarriages between the locals and the traders created an

ethnically diverse population throughout the archipelago (Fernandez, 1998).

Muslim, Chinese and Indian influences were predominant in early Filipino

culture, as could be observed in their language, arts and customs. For instance, the

polytheistic religious belief system of the early Filipinos was a fusion of Islamic,

Christian, Hindu and Eastern beliefs in a chief God referred to as Bathala, as well as the

worship of an ancestral god referred to as anito (Agoncillo & Guerrero, 1984). Bathala

worship was widely supported by the babaylan or a female priestess who held an

important role in the early community, particularly in the healing of the body and the

spirit. The babaylans were considered to be the first to carry out a counseling function

and their advice constituted of an indigenous approach to coping with different issues,

including childcare and interpersonal relationships (Enriquez, 1994).

5

The year 1521 marked the first arrival of Spaniards in the Philippines. Ferdinand

Magellan set foot on the island of Samar, befriended the natives, and converted them to

Catholicism. However, not all the natives cordially welcomed Magellan. A Filipino

ruler by the name of Lapu-Lapu waged a war with Magellan and his crew, and claimed

the life of the Spanish explorer. The Spanish conquistador Miguel Lopez de Legazpi

eventually succeeded in invading the archipelago, which led to over 300 years of Spanish

rule in the Philippines (Agoncillo & Guerrero, 1984). During the Spanish colonial era,

many of the beliefs, customs and social structures of the early settlers were suppressed.

Instead, Western Hispanic systems and customs were imposed, with the notable

exception of the use of the Spanish language (Arcilla, 1971). This was meant to keep the

natives ignorant of the communication of the colonizers. As a result, while most

Filipinos became baptized and converted to Catholicism, they continued to speak in their

native languages (Abeto, 1989).

Throughout the period of Spanish colonial rule, various resistance groups formed

to overthrow the Spanish government but these had little success until the end of the 19th

century. Jose Rizal together with other Filipino scholars in Spain formed the

Propaganda Movement. The goal of the Propaganda Movement was to campaign for

reforms in the Philippines through the Spanish legislatures. The Propaganda Movement

distributed the newspaper, La Solidaridad, which inspired the Filipinos in the Philippines

to start the revolutionary group the Katipunan. Contrary to the educated, upper class

membership of the Propaganda Movement, the Katipunan was comprised of mostly

uneducated, working class Filipinos. The goal of the Katipunan was to fight for the

6

freedom of the Philippines against the Spaniards, which became known historically as the

1896 Philippine Revolution (Agoncillo & Guerrero, 1984).

Although the Filipinos won the revolution, a treaty between Spain and the United

States subjected the Philippines to the American rule for more than 40 years. The

American colonial era began in 1898 and ended in 1941, at the dawn of World War II in

the Pacific. During the war, Japanese forces ruled the Philippines for a terrifying five

years. The Americans returned to the Philippines in 1945, which signaled the end of the

Japanese regime. The Philippines became an independent nation on the 4th of July 1946

but kept close ties with the United States (Agoncillo & Guerrero, 1984).

Psychology in the Spanish Colonial Era

Western psychology reached the Philippine shores from various sources, starting

with the Spanish priests teaching psychological philosophy in Manila at the University of

Santo Tomas and at the Collegio de San Juan de Letran in the 17th Century (Enriquez,

1994). According to Salazar (1985), this psychology was mainly theological. The strong

influence of Catholicism in the teachings and philosophy of the educational system

during the Spanish era prevented the exploration of thought inconsistent with the tenets

of the Church.

In the late 19th century, two notable Filipino scholars who became important to

the revolution, Jose Rizal and Apolinario Mabini, had the opportunity to study in Europe

and objected to the characterizations of Filipinos and Filipino culture in the West

(Protacio-Marcelino & Pe-Pua, 2000). Spanish colonial landowners had depicted

Filipinos as inherently lazy, and such depictions became widespread as evident in the

popular Philippine folklore, Juan Tamad (Lazy John). This is consistent with how

7

colonized populations are portrayed by European colonizers as wasteful of opportunities,

incapable of caring for themselves and needs direction from the colonizers (Pickren,

2009). Rizal (1890) was the first to contest indolence as a Filipino trait by attributing the

lack of motivation among Filipino laborers to the harsh and oppressive conditions under

the Spanish misgovernment, specifically, coercion and insufficient monetary

compensation.

Psychology in the American Colonial Era

When the Philippines became a colony of the United States in the early 19th

century, American psychology spread in the Philippines due to the effort to Americanize

Spanish-colonial educational institutions. The University of the Philippines (U.P.), a

state-owned school was established in 1908 and began offering psychology courses in the

early 1920s (Enriquez, 1994). Enriquez (1994) described the curriculum at U.P. as

following an academic-scientific psychology model, which focused on experimental

methods. Behaviorism was in its heyday in American psychology for most of the

American Colonial era, thus students were trained in laboratory animal behavioral

experiments. However, in spite of some of these limitations, the psychology taught at

U.P. was comparatively liberating in that the students were given the freedom to explore

conflicting ideologies, which had previously been forbidden under the Catholic university

administration (Enriquez, 1994).

During the 1950’s, there was an expansion of psychology as an academic

discipline from other European sources such as the Germans and the Belgians. German

psychologists taught a different kind of experimental psychology in the tradition of

Wundt at the University of San Carlos in Cebu City. The psychology students were

8

involved in laborious perception experiments. However, Wundtian psychology struggled

to advance in the Philippines and the supporters of American psychology from Manila-

based universities ridiculed the perception experiments as “brass and cymbals”

psychology (Enriquez, 1994).

According to Enriquez (1994), although American psychology became

widespread in Manila, the Belgians became successful up north in the Cordilleras during

the 1960’s. The Belgians introduced counseling psychology at Saint Louis University.

The students conducted community outreach programs in the Cordillera Mountains,

which enabled Filipinos in rural areas to avail counseling services. The Belgians were

regarded as the pioneer of applied psychology in the Philippines. However, the success

of community outreach counseling services was primarily limited to the Cordillera

region.

Psychology in the Post-American Colonial Era

Twenty years after the Philippines gained its independence from the United

States; the Americanization of educational institutions in the Philippines impeded the

development of an indigenous psychology (Enriquez, 1994). Through the process of

cultural diffusion, which can be described as the flow of the dominant cultural values

from the colonizer to the colonized nation, the American cultural values permeated all

aspects of Filipino living, including the work force, arts and sports. The English

language became an established medium of instruction and American Western concepts

were taught in schools, which greatly influenced the ways of thinking among educated

Filipinos (Lagmay, 1984).

9

Filipino Psychology theorists suggested that the use of the English language

combined with the dominance of Western-oriented methods in research and in the

training of psychologists in the Philippines, led these psychologists to misapply American

theories and methods in clinical work and research (Pe-Pua & Protacio-Marcelino, 2000).

This in turn created negative depictions of the culturally normative aspects of behavior

and personality of Filipinos (Church, 1987).

Furthermore, Enriquez (1994) suggested that the disparity in the quality of

education within the regions and social strata in the Philippines, particularly among those

with lower English proficiency in the rural areas, created a discrepancy between the

levels of acculturation of Filipinos. According to Enriquez (1994), Filipino scholars and

researchers who were able to afford American Western-oriented education were a

privileged few. These Filipino scholars were mostly from affluent families, and as such,

they were disconnected from some of the realities of poverty in the rest of the country.

Thus, those who received psychological training in the American colonial era were likely

to be differentially acculturated to American cultural norms, and to be distanced from

daily realities of the populations they were conceptualizing on the basis of economic and

social class. This resulted in Filipino scholars and researchers incorporating biased

Western views about Filipinos into their formulations.

Lagmay (1984) suggested, however, that while Filipino Psychology in the

academy had produced a distorted view of Filipino norms, the: “traditions, customs and

folkways of the people [Filipinos] have been preserved more in the rural areas, relatively

untouched by Western concepts, theories and cognitive categories” (p. 32). He suggested

that taking a fresh look on Filipino values free from the distorting lens of comparing the

10

Filipino values with the predominant Western concepts and theories could enable the

creation of a Filipino Psychology that would be more applicable to the needs of the

Filipino people.

Similarly, arising psychologies, such as the Afrocentric Psychology and

Liberation Social Psychology from post-colonial countries recognized the need to deal

with the lingering psychology legacies of colonialism (Burton & Kagan, 2005). Nobles

(1991) contended that psychology “has contributed more clearly to the domination and

continued oppression of people of color” (p. 295), describing how African worldviews

have been deemed primitive and appear disordered when subjected to Euro-American

worldviews. Pickren (2009) provided further support for the impact of racism and

internal colonialism in the psychology of racial and ethnic minorities, suggesting that the

future of a globally inclusive psychology lies with the understanding and connection with

various indigenous psychologies.

Although some Filipino scholars began to identify the need for an indigenous

Filipino Psychology, there were a few Filipino scholars who viewed this as a lost cause.

Samson (1995) contended that the regional differences in the country make the study of a

general Filipino Psychology to be difficult. He further argued that the Philippines today

shares more cultural and social values with the Western world than with the cultures of

the Far East, and so Western depictions of Filipinos are sufficiently accurate. Samson’s

(1965/1995) view appeared representative of the internalization of colonial values

identified by Enriquez (1994) and Pickren (2009).

11

The Rise of a New Filipino Psychology

According to Pe-Pua and Protacio-Marcelino (2000), it was not until the early

1970’s that a movement led by Virgilio Gaspar Enriquez, regarded as the father of the

Filipino Psychology movement, began to call for the study of the Filipino psyche from an

indigenous perspective. Enriquez returned to the Philippines after obtaining a doctorate

in Social Psychology from the Northwestern University at Evanston, Illinois and

pioneered the development of Filipino Psychology research and courses in various

universities in the country.

Pe-Pua and Protacio-Marcelino (2000) provided a basic definition of Filipino

Psychology as the psychology created from the Filipino’s experience, thought and

orientation. According to Enriquez (1994), Filipino Psychology is largely based on the

historical and socio-cultural context of indigenous Filipinos. Filipino Psychology is

greatly dependent on the approach called indigenization from within (Pe-Pua & Protacio-

Marcelino, 2000), a theoretical framework that recognizes the importance of

understanding the local language and developing an indigenous lens through which

observations are drawn.

The focus of Filipino Psychology is on “unraveling Filipino characteristics and

explaining them through the eyes of the native Filipino” (Pe-Pua & Protacio-Marcelino

2000, p. 51). Enriquez (1994) acknowledged that previous psychologies have been

influenced by the colonial history of the country, namely the philosophical influences of

empirical philosophy and Thomasitic philosophy, a belief derived from the Catholic

doctrine that faith combined with reason can lead to the truth; as well as the influence of

American Western Psychology. As a discipline, Filipino Psychology promotes

12

approaches that are applicable for the Filipino population and discourages methodologies

that views non-Western ideologies as pathological. Filipino Psychology appreciates both

the science and art in psychology and places a greater emphasis on collective experience

than individual experience.

One of the methods used in Filipino Psychology research is Santiago’s

(1977/1995) pakapa-kapa or groping, an indigenous method of inquiry designed to

address the shortcomings of earlier foreign-derived method of inquiry used in the

Philippines that used quantitative approaches rather than process-focused approaches.

Torres (1995) defined pakapa-kapa as "a suppositionless approach to social scientific

investigations… characterized by groping, searching, and probing into an unsystematized

mass of social and cultural data to be able to obtain order, meaning, and directions for

research" (p. 171). Thus, pakapa-kapa avoids the imposition of Western values in

studying the Filipino population. A qualitative research method is similar and consistent

with these principles of Filipino Psychology.

The history of Filipino Psychology reflected a larger tension between imported

and indigenous ideas in post-colonial Filipino culture, particularly in the use of Western-

oriented methods in research. The failure of Western-oriented models to describe

Filipino behavior supported the use of an inductive, qualitative method in understanding

the experience of Filipinos, such as in describing the bahala na attitude. This current

study aims to contribute to the larger body of research in Filipino Psychology and to

adhere to maintaining a historical and socio-cultural context in the study of Filipino

behavior.

13

The Concept of Self in Filipino Psychology

One of the main differences between Western-oriented psychology and Filipino

Psychology is their conceptualization of self. The concept of self in Filipino Psychology

is integral to its conceptualization of normative Filipino attitudes. Filipino psychologists

analyzed normative Filipino values and patterns of behavior; with the ultimate aim being

to construct a personality theory that accurately encompasses Filipino identity.

The concept of kapwa, a sense of shared inner self, is central to the understanding

of Filipino Psychology. Enriquez (1994) differentiated kapwa from the Western concept

of self as separate from other, in that the Filipino self, known as ako, lacks a vital sense of

its own context, known as kapwa, when the self is individuated. This means that the

Filipino self loses its value without the context of the other. This was consistent with

Kitayama and Markus’ (1997) model of Asian norms for the self that is based on a

cultural framework of interdependence, where the “self-in-relation-to-other” (p. 97) is the

focus of the individual experience. Kitayama and Markus (1997) suggested that this

interdependent view of self is normative in Japan, China, Korea, and in Southeast Asia,

possibly reflecting some cultural commonalities or influences between the Philippines

and these countries. This conceptualization of the self is highly similar with more

collectivist post-colonial cultures, such as the Afro-centric Theory and Liberation Social

Psychology mentioned earlier.

According to Enriquez (1994), kapwa was considered to be a core aspect of

Filipino personality. Kapwa or pakikipagkapwa, meaning being with others, determines

a Filipino’s personality and personhood. As such, personality and personhood are

intertwined in the Philippine value system. Enriquez (1994) further emphasized that for

14

Filipinos, “Without kapwa, one ceases to be a Filipino. One also ceases to be human” (p.

63).

Next to kapwa, pakikiramdam or shared inner perception is another essential

aspect of the Filipino personality. Mataragnon (1987) was among the first to describe

pakikiramdam, which she characterized as an active process by which a person attempts

to feel and understand the feelings of another. This was also consistent with Kitayama

and Markus’ (1997) description of intersubjectivity as an essential component of the

emotional experience of an interdependent view of the self. Intersubjectivity is very

similar to pakikiramdam in its key features of having “a heightened sense of the other and

of the nature of one’s relation to the other” (p. 102), together with an expectation of

mutuality. Mansukhani (2005) suggested that pakikiramdam facilitates Filipinos’

adaptation to and navigation of different social situations. Pakikiramdam could be

maladaptive, however, for Filipinos when maintaining harmony and indirectness in

relating to others results in confusion and miscommunication in interpersonal relations.

Mansukhani (2005) noted that the non-verbal nature of the enactment of pakikiramdam

creates a particular risk for cross-cultural miscommunication. For instance,

pakikiramdam can enable a Filipino working for a foreign manager to quickly adapt and

please the manager by being sensitive to the manager’s needs. In that example,

pakikiramdam is deemed adaptive. However, pakikiramdam can also subject a Filipino

employee to be agreeable to the foreign manager even if he feels otherwise, just to

maintain harmony. When pakikiramdam leads a Filipino to be dishonest for harmony’s

sake, pakikiramdam can be viewed as maladaptive in interpersonal relations. This,

15

however, works under the assumption that both parties share the value of pakikiramdam

and abide by it.

Enriquez (1994) contended that pakikiramdam is a pivotal value in the Filipino

Psychology conceptualization of self, linking the core value of kapwa to what he refers to

as surface values or observable values that are anchored to the less-visible core values in

the Filipino culture. Among the surface values that sprung from the core value of kapwa

and pakikiramdam were the Filipino attitudes such as pakikisama or companionship, hiya

or dignity and the attitude in the current study, bahala na, which is the surface value

equated to determination. He suggested that pakikiramdam underlies common Filipino

surface values, and that recognizing these values sheds new light to these concepts.

These surface values produce the normative behavior patterns, which were

mischaracterized by Western psychology.

Enriquez (1994) argued that instead of analyzing the Filipino surface values

through similar Western constructs, Filipino Psychology theorists explain these surface

values using the underlying motivation created by pakikiramdam. For instance, the

surface value, bahala na, is related to pakikiramdam in that both share an “improvisatory

character” (Enirquez, 1994, p. 64) or a spontaneous, intuitive manner of behaving to

adapt to the situation. In pakikiramdam, Filipinos exhibit this improvisatory character

when they navigate unstructured and unpredictable situations by attuning to the feelings

of other people. In the case of bahala na, the same improvisatory character is exemplified

as determination in the face of uncertainty and readiness to deviate from a set game plan

to cope with surprising aspects of the situation.

16

According to Enriquez (1994), Filipino surface values are categorized as either

accommodative, which main function is to maintain the status quo, or confrontative,

which main function is to create reforms. Bahala na is among the confrontative surface

values together with lakas ng loob (guts) and pakikibaka (cooperative resistance). These

confrontative surface values are also inter-related in their function of effecting change.

For instance, bahala na is often coupled with lakas ng loob, just as a person who is

determined often exemplifies a gutsy attitude as well.

Enriquez (1994) suggested that a tree-like structure best represents the Filipino

personality, in which kapwa are the roots of the tree. The trunk of the tree is the pivotal

value, pakikiramdam or shared inner perception. This pivotal value functions in

processing the various Filipino traits as it relates to the surface values. The tree branches

are the surface values, which are the observable Filipino values. These surface values are

comprised of behavior patterns evident in the Filipino personality.

An illustration of the tree-like structure of the Filipino personality could be

demonstrated in the conception of an individual who is walang hiya (has no dignity or

shame). This Filipino negative trait befits an individual who does not have the surface

value of hiya, has a fragmented sense of pakikiramdam and has difficulty with his kapwa.

This means that for a Filipino to be without shame, that person would have a flawed

sense of shared inner perception and difficulties with relating to others that is consistent

with the individual’s personality. This conceptualization of an individual who is walang

hiya is more applicable for Filipinos more so than from the Western understanding of a

person who is without shame.

17

Thus the difference between the conceptualization of the self in Filipino

Psychology and that of traditional Western psychology accounted for the common

misrepresentation of Filipino surface values when viewed through the lens of Western

theories of personality, resulting in a distorted view of the Filipino character. This could

impact how Filipinos experience their socio-political status, specifically, in socially

evaluative situations wherein the core value of kapwa is influencing the Filipino’s

attitude. Similarly in Nobles’ (1991) article on the African worldview, Western theorists

subscribing to the dominant Euro-American values that emphasize on individual rights

and independence found the extended self and interdependence in the African self-

concept as uncivilized and seen as a failure to assimilate to the superior Euro-American

values.

Moreover, in contexts defined by Western cultural norms, such as in international

sporting competitions, the experience of Filipinos might be influenced by the same

indigenous Filipino values and yet might be misinterpreted by foreign observers. An in-

depth exploration of the experience of Filipinos is necessary to understand how the

Filipino surface values, particularly bahala na influence the thoughts, feelings and

behaviors of Filipinos.

Bahala Na: Definition and Origin

The bahala na expression can be traced back to pre-colonial times, when Filipinos

worshiped Bathala and the babaylan priestesses were giving life advice, including on how

to cope with difficulties. According to De Guia (2005), the alibata, which is the syllabic

ancestral Filipino alphabet, the word bahala was broken down into three syllables: ba,

which meant woman; ha, which meant breath or wind that signified God; and la, which

18

meant man. Together, the three syllables comprising bahala represented a trinity of the

balance of these three forces, united by God. Prior to the colonization of the Philippine

archipelago, the bahala na attitude had existed and was utilized by early settlers as a

positive outlook synonymous to putting forth one’s best energies. The survival of this

pre-Christian religious construct through the extensive cultural and religious transitions

of the Philippines is perhaps an indicator that bahala na constitutes a core cultural idea.

The root word bahala has had several meanings in the Filipino language. De Guia

(2005) provided some of the nouns associated with the term bahala, namely:

“responsibility, care, management, as well as apprehension” (p. 31). According to Roces

and Roces (2006), the bahala na expression meaning, “leaving things to Bahala (God)”

(p. 102) is a common expression that many Filipinos say when they are faced with a

seemingly insurmountable circumstance. Roces and Roces (2006) further elaborated

upon bahala na, referring to the phenomenon as, “the Filipino ‘too hard’ basket, where

planning and worrying are shelved because it depends not on him but on other persons,

minds and whims” (p. 102).

Filipino culture can be described as a collectivist society, and Filipinos tend to be

highly interdependent within tight kinship networks (Roces & Roces, 2006). In

Leoncini’s (2005) conceptual analysis of the Filipino cultural trait of pakikisama or

getting along with others, he described this kinship network as hierarchical, requiring

deference towards elders, this same deference being extended to superiors in non-familial

hierarchies such as the workplace. According to Leoncini (2005) it is expected that

individual’s choices will likely reflect awareness of the needs of others and it can be

expected to produce anxiety for Filipinos in socially evaluative situations, particularly

19

when an individual is forced to make a decision that yields to the will of the group.

Based on Leoncini’s (2005) analysis of how Filipinos navigate group decision-making

situations, bahala na could serve an anxiety-mediating function for Filipinos to cope with

the collective pressure in decision-making found in socially evaluative situations such as

in international sporting competition.

As a confrontative surface value bahala na is an attitude that Filipinos may utilize

when faced with a stressful situation that calls for decisiveness (Enriquez, 1994). The

bahala na attitude might appear to observers as having an escapist value, that the person

is resigning to his or her fate just when the odds of succeeding get slim (Bostrom, 1968).

However, Enriquez (1994) described this resignation to fate as “an indication of an

acceptance of the nature of things, including the inherent limitations of one’s self” (p.72).

Enriquez (1994) added that this acceptance is not passive. Instead, it is an acceptance

that requires resourcefulness and creativity given the inevitable failure that lies ahead.

Lagmay (1976) further argued that though the situations wherein individuals operate in

bahala na are filled with uncertainty, there is an observable courage in that the individual

continues to confront the situation.

The question of whether the bahala na attitude is facilitative or debilitative in such

stressful decisive situations has been debated in both Western and Filipino literature. As

noted previously, the earliest attempts to define bahala na were made by comparing the

concept to Western counterparts. Bostrom (1968) compared bahala na to the Western

concept of fatalism, or leaving things to fate. Enriquez (1994) challenged this

interpretation, suggesting that the understanding of indigenous Filipino values had

become distorted by their being likened to non-equivalent Western constructs.

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Enriquez’s critique came at a time when most of the literature on Filipino values was

based on comparisons with universal and foreign concepts. Pe-Pua and Protacio-

Marcelino (2000) contended that there is no existing English term which is truly

equivalent to bahala na, supporting the idea that bahala na is an example of a truly

culture-specific construct. A review of the literature suggested that, there were three

understandings of the meaning of bahala na, which were classified here as: (a) fatalism,

(b) optimistic fatalism, and (c) determination. This is presented below.

Bahala na as fatalism. Pe-Pua (1995) provided a definition of bahala na in the

Filipino language as “mistikal na pagpapaubaya sa tadhana” (p. 326), which translates to

the mystical deference to fate. According to Pe-Pua (1995), this definition was derived

from the work of sociologists who were aral-Amerikano (American-schooled).

Similarly, Andres (1994) defined bahala na as “the Filipino attitude that makes him

accept suffering and problems, leaving everything to God” (p. 12). Andres (1994)

elaborated that bahala na is a fatalistic attitude towards a crisis or indifference in

decision-making, leaving everything to fate. In addition, he associated the extreme

depiction of bahala na with the attitude of Filipino gamblers or those who invest

everything they have on a single bet to determine their fortune. As such, the author

contended that the bahala na attitude has a debilitative influence in Filipino behavior.

In Gripaldo’s (2005) philosophical analysis of bahala na, he derived the meaning

of fatalism from the Greek word, Moira or fate. He aligned the use of bahala na, with

theistic fatalism, a providential form of fatalism where one surrenders to fate with a wish

that a higher being, such as Providence or God, will take care of the future. Gripaldo

(2005) suggested that although both theistic fatalism and the bahala na attitude have

21

debilitative influence on Filipino behavior, Filipinos exhibit this attitude in situations

where it is a psychological necessity for them to do so, therefore making it adaptive. He

stated:

It is construed as a violation of freedom when one does not accept God’s

will and the person, in this case, becomes psychologically disturbed,

emotionally unbalanced, and will generally have no peace of mind.

Resignation, indifference, or apathy to adverse occurrences in life are [sic]

considered the highest good (Gripaldo, 2005, p. 208).

Fatalism carried a negative concept in the modern Western perspective, associated

with passivity, effort withdrawal, and having an external locus of control (Andres, 1994;

Church, 1987; Gripaldo, 2005; Pe-Pua & Protacio-Marcelino, 2000). The fatalistic

resignation version of bahala na appeared to be derived from early Western depictions of

the Filipino personality, particularly in the Filipino’s predisposition to inaction. This

depiction of Filipinos is consistent with other negative traits, such as indolence, that were

inaccurately attributed to Filipinos by colonial sources with a sociopolitical agenda.

These probable misrepresentations have been learned and accepted by Filipino scholars

through the cultural diffusion in the educational system.

De Guia (2005) contended that the negative fatalistic notion of bahala na is a

misinterpretation of the literal translation of what it means to submit to forces greater

than mankind. According to De Guia (2005), this submission is an expression of courage

and perseverance in the face of difficulty, as well as acceptance of consequences.

Furthermore, the passivity in the bahala na attitude is actually the contemplative

confidence of an individual who has intrinsic motivation towards mastering challenges.

22

The colonial construct of bahala na, however, thrived among the younger generations of

Filipinos, attaining notoriety as the negatively construed bahala na mentality.

Bahala na as optimistic fatalism. Osias (1940) was among the earliest to

present a more balanced depiction of bahala na. Colin-Jones and Colin-Jones (2004)

provided a different perspective on bahala na, a perspective tied to the pre-colonial

Bathala worship and the strong Roman Catholic influence on Filipino culture. They

characterized the attitude which bahala na attitude evokes as optimistic fatalism, and

suggested that it functions as a dual-purpose coping mechanism that Filipinos exercise in

times of great adversity. The fatalistic aspect of bahala na is enacted when the individual

surrenders control to a higher being and allows the circumstance to take care of itself.

The optimistic aspect of bahala na is exhibited when the individual engages in hopeful

perseverance despite the lack of any reasonable chance for success. The authors

suggested that bahala na is really two different attitudes, which serves one function as an

effective coping mechanism for many Filipinos who undergo various hardships in their

daily lives. De Guia (2005) described bahala na as a double-edged sword in that it

involves both a risk-taking quality as well as acceptance of the nature of things.

The optimistic fatalism theory of bahala na appears to be consistent with some of

the teachings of the babaylan priestesses from pre-colonial Philippines. The babaylan

priestesses were spiritual healers who encouraged faith in Bathala as a coping

mechanism. Additionally, the optimistic fatalism theory is aligned with the earlier

findings of Church (1987), describing bahala na as a result of the fusion of Christian

values and traditional Filipino values about spiritual and supernatural beings. Church

(1987) also suggested that bahala na inspires Filipinos who have very few resources to

23

avoid resentment of their current situation and continue moving forward in spite of

limited chance for success.

In the sport context, the “spiritual wellbeing” in the study done by

Hammermeister and Ridnour (2008) is comparable to Church’s (1987) depiction of the

spiritual aspect of bahala na. According Hammermeister and Ridnour (2008), there study

showed a relationship between spiritual wellbeing, which is the heightened sense of

connectedness to either others or a higher power that provides meaning and purpose in

life, and athletic coping skills among NCAA Division I athletes. Among the coping skills

that were found influenced by spiritual wellbeing were, “coping with adversity, freedom

from worry, goal setting/mental preparation, confidence, and achievement motivation”

(Hammermeister & Ridnour, 2008; p. 88).

The spiritual roots of bahala na that was emphasized in the optimistic fatalism

theory appears consistent with the modern Filipino worldview as well. Quito (1996)

described the Filipino worldview as both Theo-centric and others-centered in nature.

According to Quito (1996) the integral part of God in the Filipino belief system is evident

in the acknowledgement that God created life and it is His to take, involving aspects of

external locus of control. Quito (1996) added that most Filipinos have a transpersonal

worldview, where faith in God is very much a part of the decision-making process.

Likewise, the other-centered worldview of Filipinos, as demonstrated in kapwa, impacts

how some Filipinos behave in socially evaluative situations. This implies that invoking

God and consideration of others is a part of the decision-making process among Filipinos.

A study by Quito (1996) examined Filipino worldviews to determine the

relevance of Western counseling models as an intervention in the Philippines. She

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contended that the Filipino worldview is simultaneously optimistic and fatalistic. This

characteristic of the Filipino worldview, thus, encourages the use of a dual-purpose

coping mechanism such as bahala na as part of the Filipino way of life. According to

Quito (1996), the optimism in the Filipino worldview could be observed in the Filipino’s

belief that there will be an end, to which one could look forward, to every suffering. This

optimism is partly indicated in bahala na as optimistic fatalism.

On the other hand, Filipinos also believe that life is plagued with hardships, which

could lead to feelings of despair. An important point that Quito (1996) raised is that the

fatalistic nature of the Filipino worldview could be maladaptive in problem solving when

the acceptance of problems manifests behaviorally as effort withdrawal. In effort

withdrawal, there is a lack of deliberate action towards the fulfillment of the goal, which

reduces the person’s chance to succeed in the task. When the bahala na attitude is

manifested as effort withdrawal, the optimism serves a consoling function that giving up

is the best thing that one can do at the moment, which may not always be the case. At

times, engaging in bahala na in problem solving situations could prevent the active

pursuit of solutions, most notably when bahala na is used irresponsibly as an excuse for

inaction.

Quito’s (1996) findings substantiated that the bahala na attitude as optimistic

fatalism is a culturally normative response to the decision making process in stressful

situations. This provides a cultural framework within which the bahala na attitude could

be viewed. The Filipino worldview that Quito (1996) explicated shows that the bahala na

attitude is an integral concept for understanding the Filipino culture as seen in the

existence of the aforementioned fatalistic and optimistic aspects of the Filipino culture.

25

Furthermore, the optimistic fatalism theory assumes both adaptive and

maladaptative functions of bahala na, which Gripaldo (2005) described as the

ambivalence of bahala na. Gripaldo (2005) named the positive, adaptive functions of the

bahala na attitude in situations as follows: during calamities or death of a significant other

despite active preventative measures, when undertaking a task that requires fortitude, and

when uncertainty prevails after a long deliberative process. The bahala na attitude seems

to incorporate a notion roughly equivalent to “God helps the person who helps

himself/herself” (Gripaldo, 2005, p. 215). On the contrary, bahala na might be

experienced as negative and maladaptative in decision making situations that require time

and effort to deliberate yet a haphazard decision is chosen instead, or when a detrimental

pursuit is undertaken irresponsibly without understanding the consequences of the chosen

decision (Gripaldo, 2005).

Tuason (2008) described various Filipinos’ experience of their socio-economic

status resembling the bahala na attitude in her qualitative study on the psychological

experiences of poverty. The study compared two groups of Filipinos, those who were

born poor and stayed poor versus those who were born poor and became wealthy. Some

of the participants lived in the Philippines, while others lived in the United States.

The study showed that both groups exhibited attitudes similar to bahala na as a

way to cope with adversity, although the groups differed in their explication of

facilitative and debilitative attitudes in terms of changing their socio-economic status.

The group that eventually became affluent put their trust in God and prayed for “courage

and strength to take the risks necessary to change their circumstances” (Noel, 2008 as

cited in Tuason, p.165). The group that remained living in poverty also relied on God

26

and trusted that God would not give them more than they could handle. The main

difference noted between the groups was that the former exhibited a markedly more

optimistic and facilitative mind frame, while the latter displayed a more fatalistic and

debilitative mind frame. Tuason’s (2008) study suggested that bahala na is a widely

expressed attitude among Filipinos of varying levels of socio-economic status, and that

having optimistic and facilitative attitudes were observed more on the successful group.

Furthermore, Tuason’s (2008) findings showed that Filipinos living in the

Philippines found it hard to self-identify with success or visualize overcoming their

poverty in the future. The author attributed this to the low morale and limited

opportunities that accompany the standard of living in the Philippines. As a result,

Filipinos living in unfavorable conditions might find it difficult to see themselves

improving their situation and just resort to effort withdrawal. Tuason (2008)

recommended that her study be replicated on impoverished populations in other

countries, who may have a different historical and socio-cultural context to that of the

Philippines to see what behaviors and attitudes will be present in their population.

The marked demoralization and inability to self-identify with success might be an

important factor in the achievement motivation of Filipinos living in the Philippines.

Tuason’s (2008) study showed the depth and complexity of the bahala na attitude as a

psychological experience. This established a useful precedent for qualitative approaches

in exploring the meaning and function of the bahala na attitude.

Bahala Na as Determination

Filipino Psychology theorists proposed an alternative definition of bahala na that

de-emphasized the fatalistic aspects of the construct, those appearing to be related to

27

colonial ideologies. Lagmay (1977) argued that the bahala na attitude is not fatalistic and

that Filipinos do not respond with resignation or passivity when they experience bahala

na. Instead, Lagmay (1977) suggested that bahala na is more accurately described as

determination and willingness for risk-taking. The thought or utterance of “Bahala na!”

is thus a form of positive self-talk that Filipinos employ to prepare themselves for

challenges and to remind themselves to give their best regardless of the favorability of the

situation. Similarly, Salazar (1976, as cited in Pe-Pua, 1995, p. 326) defended the bahala

na attitude as one of deliberate acceptance of responsibility to strive, in which one

courageously accepts and immerses oneself into the situation despite the lack of hope.

This vision of bahala na seems almost existentialist in nature, although the theological

and collectivistic aspects of bahala na are certainly inconsistent with existentialism.

The characterization of the bahala na attitude as determination is a response to

situations which the individual perceives as more challenging than the person can cope

with, and only then that the person would be summoning God’s help. The bahala na

attitude provides Filipinos with “a psychological peace of mind and emotional stability”

(Gripaldo, 2005, p. 215), both of which are motivating for the person to continue facing

the situation. This provides support for the purely facilitative function of the bahala na

attitude and its influence in the motivation of Filipinos.

Although there is hardly any literature on bahala na as it pertains to Filipino

athletes, bahala na as determination appears to be analogous to virtues associated with

admired athletes. Lagmay’s (1977) depiction of the bahala na attitude is comparable to

the Japanese samurai term konjo. The notion of konjo describes the athlete’s inner

potential associated with “physical endurance, courage under adversity, and the tenacity

28

to face pain and hardship for the good of the team” (Kozuma, 2009, p. 207). Japanese

athletes believe that winning or losing relies on one’s konjo, which makes konjo a highly

acknowledged attitude in Japanese sports.

There appears to be a lack of research on the bahala na attitude regarding the

meaning it holds for various Filipinos who operate under this notion. For instance, how

much of the bahala na attitude is optimistic and how much of it is fatalistic? Is bahala na

facilitative or debilitative? Additionally, is bahala na an adaptive or maladaptive

behavior? Due to the lack of literature on bahala na as optimistic, the Western notion of

fatalism, which is deemed debilitative and maladaptive, remained the more widespread

perspective. If the bahala na attitude were experienced as debilitative and maladaptive,

then Filipinos in stressful decision-making situations would be at risk of thinking and

acting in ways that could be detrimental to themselves or the situation. This current study

aims to clarify the meaning of bahala na as experienced by Filipinos who engage in this

attitude and to provide more depth to the complex construct that this Filipino attitude

embodies. Part of understanding the Filipinos’ psychological experience of the bahala na

attitude, it is crucial to grasp its role in the context of achievement motivation.

Achievement Motivation

Murray (1938) defined achievement motivation as “a person’s efforts to master a

task, achieve excellence, overcome obstacles, perform better than others, and take pride

in exercising talent” (as cited in Gould & Weinberg, 2003, p.59). Reeve (2005) identified

three main foci in achievement motivation research: (a) socialization influences, (b)

cognitive influences, and (c) developmental influences. The early focus in achievement

motivation research was on the influence of socialization on achievement motivation to

29

create an environment that would maximize achievement motivation, particularly in

children. The achievement motivation research also looked into the cognitive influences

and developmental influences on achievement motivation, and examined the individual

development of the need to achieve as shaped by experiences of successes and failures.

The bahala na attitude appears to be partly a fusion of socialization and cognitive

influences on achievement motivation with a cultural influence unique to Filipinos.

In addition to the traditional influences discussed by Reeves (2005), there was a

small body of literature that suggested culture-specific factors mediate achievement

motivation. Kitayama and Markus (1997) argued that the individual’s behavior, motives

and feelings are constructed relative meaning derived from the individual’s cultural

construction of self, as well as other core cultural ideas. Bahala na appears to be an

instance of the kind of distinctive motive or feeling state derived from core cultural ideas

which Markus and Kitayama (1997) described, and which they suggested should be the

focus of further research.

Achievement motivation of Filipinos. As discussed earlier, theorists using

Western psychological frameworks authored most of the psychology literature on

Filipinos until quite recently, including the achievement motivation literature. Filipino

Psychology theorists argued that the stereotypic image of the indolent Filipino

contaminated a lot of prior research in the area of achievement motivation. In a

personality study on Filipino culture, Church (1987) noted that motivational

characteristics of Filipinos were compared to Western measures, such as hours spent on a

task and productivity. These studies however, failed to account for the historical and

socio-cultural contexts of Filipinos. For instance, the impact that climate had on work

30

hours in the Philippines had been overlooked. The afternoon snack time, merienda, a

customary practice among Filipinos, was characterized as an unnecessary meal that

diminishes productivity, although similar practices were commonplace in a wide variety

of European cultures.

In Church’s (1987) critique of the early depictions of the Filipino’s motivational

character, he highlighted the Filipino accommodative surface value of pakikisama

(companionship) as a cultural trait that influences achievement motivation. When

Filipinos exercise pakikisama, getting ahead is seen as harmful to group harmony and

achievement motivation is lessened. For example, a worker might choose to slow down

to avoid making a slower co-worker look bad. Conversely, achievement motivation is

increased by opportunity for collective gains, where an individual could share success

with relatives or co-workers.

Aside from pakikisama, the confrontative surface value explicated in the bahala

na attitude also impacts achievement motivation. A study conducted by Watkins (1982)

showed how the bahala na attitude serves as a causal attribution for Filipinos in academic

performance situations. Watkins found that unsuccessful students, both male and female,

tend not to attribute their poor performance to ability or effort, but to factors beyond their

control, such as luck and difficulty of task. He contended that the rural Filipino students’

explanation of their poor performance being beyond their control, served as an adaptive

way of coping with extreme adversity and provided them with achievement motivation.

Similarly, Quito (1996) found that external locus of control regarding perceived failure

actually enables Filipinos to persevere instead of becoming hopeless when there is very

little that is in their control. Furthermore, the causal attributions for academic

31

performance in Watkins’ (1982) study were similar to the optimistic aspects of the bahala

na attitude exhibited by the subjects in Tuazon’s (2008) study who succeeded in

overcoming poverty.

Watkins’ (1982) and Quito’s (1996) findings demonstrated that bahala na is active

for Filipinos in performance situations, and that this attitude mediates the influence of

anxiety upon performance. It is possible that bahala na would likewise be active in

athletic situations, just as other anxiety-mediating, group-specific dynamics such as

stereotype threat appears to function similarly in academic and athletic situations.

The theory of stereotype threat was developed by Aronson and Steele (1995)

predicting that when an individual group member experiences anxiety over being

evaluated in a performance that could potentially confirm a negative stereotype about his

or her group, the threat would engage a priori self-handicapping response, particularly

with individuals with high achievement motivation. A study conducted by Stone (2002)

showed that the theory of stereotype threat applies in the athletic setting in that White

students used behavioral self-handicapping as a strategy to deal with the threat of

confirming the negative stereotype of poor White athleticism. In Stone’s (2002) study,

the engaged White students reduced practice effort compared to that of the engaged

Hispanic students when their performance in a golf task was linked to natural athletic

ability, to create ambiguity as to the cause of a potentially poor performance that could

confirm a negative stereotype about White athleticism.

In a similar way, the bahala na attitude might be viewed as behavioral self-

handicapping to mediate anxiety from socially evaluative situations. Thus these findings

support the contention that bahala na is a common response to stressful situations for

32

Filipinos, and that the bahala na attitude might influence Filipinos’ behaviors across a

wide range of important areas of functioning: academic, social and occupational.

Achievement motivation in sport psychology literature. Since the beginning

of the field of sport psychology, motivation has been the focus of much of the research in

this field. Achievement motivation in sport performance became the core of the

motivation literature. Theories of achievement motivation were applied in the context of

sport competition as a way to enhance athletic performance (Balaguer, Cumming &

Duda, 2005; Duda & Treasure, 2006; Gould & Weinberg, 2003).

Due to the Western-centric focus of research on achievement motivation in the

sport domain, there appears to be a lack of cultural consideration for the non-Western

cultural influences that shape athletic performance. Gill and Kamphoff (2009) shared

this contention, in that they acknowledged the Western cultural influence in the field of

sport psychology and the need for a more multicultural framework for working with

clients of increasing diversity.

Culture-specific influence on achievement motivation in sport. Bhatt and

Higgins (2001) compared the causal attributions of undergraduate students from Canada

and India using a revised Attributional Style Questionnaire (Abramson, Baeyer,

Metalsky, Peterson, Seligman & Semmel, 1982). They found that both groups showed a

self-serving bias, that is, they attributed failure to external factors and success to personal

qualities and effort. Although both groups displayed a self-serving bias, culture-specific

differences were evident. The Indian sample attributed negative life events less to

internal and controllable factors compared to the Canadian sample. The study also found

that, although both cultural groups presented with a self-serving bias to explain negative

33

events, the Indian sample used more external explanations that could be related to emic

factors (Bhatt & Higgins, 2001).

Bhatt and Higgins (2001) surmised that the cultural ideology Karma, a deeply

rooted Hindu belief in India that an individual’s life events is somewhat predetermined

by one’s actions in the past, contributed to the largely external explanation for negative

events evident in the Indian sample. The study provided further evidence that collectivist

cultures, such as the Indian culture used in the study and maybe others like the Filipino

culture, might have different biases with regard to causal attributions than individualist

cultures, because of the role that culture plays in how one views the self and others.

Additionally, the authors contended that individuals from collectivist cultures, wherein

the view of the self is more intertwined with that of others, were less likely to distinguish

between their own achievement and the success of the group. This means that

individuals from a collectivist culture are more likely to use external, culture-specific

causal attributions for their achievements and that their achievement motivation might be

perceived as both personal and interpersonal. The bahala na attitude might function

similarly as Karma, a culture-specific explanation for Filipino individuals’ responses to

negative events. Furthermore, the collectivist culture of Filipinos might shape how they

experience achievement, specifically in socially evaluative situations.

Social Influence on Sport Performance

It has been established in the achievement motivation literature that there are

cultural factors influencing the athlete’s motivation and sport performance. In order to

solidify an in-depth exploration of the Filipino athlete’s experience in the sporting

environment, it is logical to look into the influence of social factors on the athlete’s sport

34

performance. The international sporting competition arena is comprised of both cultural

and social factors that present additional consideration for the competing athlete. The

literature on the impact of social influence on sport performance helps explain the

underlying factors in socially evaluative situations that could potentially influence

Filipinos in similar situations.

Babkes and Partridge (2004) reviewed the role of social influence on sport

performance in existing studies based on a primarily Western theoretical framework. The

authors found that athletes’ emotional responses in sport are affected by their perception

of significant others’ attitudes and behaviors. For instance, the athlete might perceive

parental pressure as stressful. This perception of stress could create negative emotional

responses, which could impact the athlete’s motivation. Conversely, the athlete might

perceive the coach’s positive feedback as inspiring, which could be a source of

enjoyment for the athlete. The social influence on emotion in sport has long been

considered valuable in achievement outcomes and was supported by research targeting

Western participants. However, the authors suggested that further research is necessary

to illuminate the complexities regarding how significant others impact the athlete’s

emotional response when cultural factors are considered.

Based on the findings of Babkes and Partridge (2004), the athlete’s emotions,

reactions and achievement outcomes are in part influenced by the athlete’s perception of

his or her social world. The authors also acknowledged that social factors could interact

with cultural factors and together influence the athlete’s emotional response. This

provided support on the contention to further examine the socio-cultural factors that

35

underlie the athlete’s experience in the sport environment, which in the Filipino athlete’s

case would be the bahala na attitude.

The connection between expectation and performance has been one of the key

social factors influencing sports. Horn, Labrador and Lox (2006) looked into the

expectation-performance process as it relates to coaches and the ability of individual

athletes. According to Horn and colleagues (2006), the coach’s expectation of the

individual athletes could serve as a self-fulfilling prophecy, which is based on a theory

stipulating that expectations can determine the achievement of each athlete, making the

expectation into a reality. Expectations are believed to shape the coach’s behavior

according to what he or she perceives as the athlete’s potential, which could limit the

athlete’s level of achievement. At the same time, coach’s expectations influence the

athlete to conform to these expectations. The self-fulfilling prophecy is similar to the

bahala na attitude in that there is a strong social component in this Filipino attitude as

explicated by Roces and Roces (2006). Furthermore, expectations appears to determine

performance in bahala na, such as when a Filipino expects that risk-taking would yield

success even when failure is unavoidable.

Non-Western Attitudes in Sports

Peters and Williams (2009) stated the importance of socio-cultural factors in sport

particularly for non-Western athletes who adhere to indigenous practices or attitudes in

sport. More and more athletes all over the world compete globally, which translates to an

increasing diversity among athletes participating in the predominantly Western-centric

international sporting competitions. Despite the growing diversity in sport, very little

research has been done on non-Western attitudes in international sporting competitions.

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In a study conducted by Blodget and colleagues (2009) on the aboriginal athletes

in Canadian communities, the authors found that sensitivity must be exercised when

working with these athletes. The authors argued that many of the aboriginal athletes have

experienced oppression from the mainstream culture, which embodies the cultural values

exercised in sports today. Finally, the authors suggested that effective cross-cultural

exchanges come with the understanding of the relevant cultural practices that occur in the

sport performance of athletes from non-Western cultures (Blodget, Enosse, George, et al.,

2009).

Recent researchers have begun looking into unconventional attitudes in sports that

might be negatively perceived in the Western culture and yet have overlooked positive

qualities, such as in the case of self-handicapping in sports. The self-handicapping

attitude in sports is a Western construct that shares attributes with the bahala na attitude.

For instance, the similarity between effort withdrawal, which is similar to the fatalistic

manifestation of bahala na, and the concept of self-handicapping in sports can be further

examined.

Maddison and Prapavessis (2007) reviewed various studies on self-handicapping

in sports and defined it as a self-preserving act of avoiding threat by externalizing losses

through the use of excuses and internalizing success. The authors named two types of

self-handicapping: dispositional or what is more trait-like, and behavioral, which presents

as a response to certain situations. Behavioral self-handicapping is similar to effort

withdrawal in sports, in that an athlete withholds task involvement to deal with a

threatening situation. The bahala na attitude might be perceived in Western sport

psychology as similar to behavioral self-handicapping employed by athletes during

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performance as an excuse for not winning, although it is also similar to dispositional self-

handicapping in that it is considered an attitude employed by many Filipinos across

various contexts.

Bailis (2001) performed a field study on behavioral self-handicapping with

swimmers and found that there were costs and benefits to self-handicapping as a strategy.

The results of Bailis’ (2001) study showed that based on the Self-Handicapping Scale

(SHS), self-handicapping had low and inconsistent correlation with negative emotions.

The study, however, revealed some aspects of positive emotion related to the athlete’s

depth of involvement and lower anxiety associated with positive coping among self-

handicapping athletes. Additionally, Bailis (2001) reported that self-handicapping is

associated with racing speed advantage in swimmers during the first two months of the

study.

In observing university swimmers and wrestlers for over four months, there was

no reliable evidence of negative consequence to self-handicapping with regards the

athletes’ emotions and performance during competition. Instead, the findings showed

that self-handicapping serves a purpose of “escaping evaluative pressure, specifically by

arranging unfavourable conditions for performance in advance” (p. 220).

Although self-handicapping appears to be merely a way for athletes to explain

losses post-performance, Bailis (2001) found self-handicapping as a strategy used during

the performance. According to Bailis (2001), self-handicapping attitudes in competitive

sports catered to the need of university-level athletes to maintain esteem, public image

and motivation. Bailis (2001) further argued, “while self-handicapping is contrary to the

techniques that sport psychologists would recommend, it also reveals a threatening aspect

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of the performance situation – the potential loss of self-esteem or public image – for

which these techniques may have limited relevance in helping athletes” (p. 221). The

unforeseen benefits of self-handicapping in Bailis’ (2001) study provided support for an

in-depth exploration of the Filipino athlete’s experience of the bahala na attitude to reveal

similar hidden benefits for Filipinos who engage in this attitude.

Bailis (2001) was aware of the limited generalizability of his study due to the

small sample size of his participants. He speculated that using university-level athletes as

subjects might have weeded out ineffective self-handicappers who were not able to

progress and participate in a higher level of competition. Additionally, there might have

been a sampling bias, with the sample being over-representative of athletes that

effectively and adaptively utilize self-handicapping as a strategy in athletic performance.

Furthermore, Madisson and Prapavessis (2007) suggested the use of qualitative

approaches in studying self-handicapping due to methodological concerns about the Self-

Handicapping Scale’s (SHS) low reliability and the failure to account for cultural

differences in self-handicapping behaviors. Although the SHS is a common measure

used in quantitative studies on self-handicapping, the SHS is ineffective in explicating the

complex relationship between self-handicapping and performance. Madisson and

Prapevessis (2007) suggested the use of a qualitative approach that could look deeper into

the relationship between behavioral self-handicapping and performance as well as look at

various antecedent conditions and socio-cultural factors that lead to this phenomenon,

providing further support of qualitative methods in studying bahala na as a non-Western

attitude in sports.

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Filipino Athletes in International Sporting Competition

In order to solidify a multicultural framework for working with Filipino athletes

that takes into consideration the socio-cultural and historical context of Filipinos, it was

logical to examine the history of Filipinos in international competition as well as the

current status of Filipinos in the global sport scene. It was reasonable to infer that the

Philippines has been a nation invested in international sporting competition in that the

Philippines participated in various global sporting events despite the country’s limited

economic resources. The history of the Philippines in international sporting competition

provides contradictory evidence to the indolence of Filipinos, and instead, it manifests

that Filipinos exhibit high achievement motivation and passion for sport participation.

The Philippines has been participating in international athletic competition almost

as long as its neighboring countries. According to Gems (1999), the Americans in the

early 20th century used sports to teach Filipinos workforce skills such as teamwork, and

to promote American patriotism among the newly colonized people. Filipinos learned

American sports such as basketball, baseball and volleyball (Gems, 1999).

According to Dayrit (2003), the Philippines debuted in international competition

in 1913, when it became part of the Far Eastern Games (FE Games), a triangular athletic

meet with China and Japan. Dayrit (2003) described the Philippines reigning as “Asia’s

best for half a century from 1913 to 1965” (p. 119). Filipino athletes during this period

won four out of ten FE Games and lost the Asian championship only once. This early

success of the novice Filipino athletes was surprising. It could be inferred that for the

Philippines to succeed in the early years of competing internationally, there must be

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psychological skills that were contributing to the success of Filipinos despite their

inexperience.

In 1950, the Far Eastern Games became the quadrennial Asian Games, wherein

the Filipino athletes competed in athletics, basketball, swimming, and weightlifting.

Throughout the first 15 years of the Asian Games, the Filipinos dominated basketball and

won five gold medals. This success could be due to the experience and comfort Filipinos

have with the game of basketball, gained through the American influence. In 1977, the

Philippines joined the South East Asian (SEA) Games, a biennial tournament for

Southeast Asian countries (Dayrit, 2003).