Nunch'i

 02/20/2024

Nunch'i

         To begin with, let's define nunch’i. Nunch'i means eye measured. It is critical variable in the maintenance of social relationships. It has great impact on  korean people, they could not survive in Korea without this perceptive skill. 

       Korean scholars have referred to nunch’i as a non-logical process variable that uses visual perception to discover the hidden agenda behind all forms of expression in social interaction. Yum (1987a) refers to nunch’i as "perceptiveness or sensitivity with eyes". According to Kalton (1990), nunch’i is used to read the eyes and to assess "quickly and accurately...another's emotions, attitudes, and reaction or likely reaction to a given proposal or situations" (p. 14). K. Kim (1975) states that Koreans use nunch’i to interpret facial expressions, words and "a mysterious 'alpha' hidden in...inner hearts" (p. 7). According to O. Lee (1967), this nunch’i goes "beyond good sense or common sense." Nunch’i is more intuitive and sensitive than logical or rational. It does not lead to fixed decisions as one might find with good sense or common sense. Since it depends on an interpersonal rapport, nunch’i is instead a situational ethic used to solve interpersonal problems.

       Because of nunch’i, Koreans are also very concerned about what others see and think about them: about what others' nunch’i tells them about ego. This concern is related to an emphasis in confucian influenced societies on self-control. Maturity within such a society means "controlling," "hiding," or masking" one's emotions. This philosophy consists of empathizing in order to fit and connect as much as possible with the enviroment and people around us.

        To conclude,  nunch'i expressions of affect are found in the eyes rather than on the face or from the whole body. Because of this emphasis on self-control, Yum (1987a) says that nunch’i becomes crucial in understanding "minute nonverbal cues, on reading between the lines, and on hearing between the sounds" to penetrate the mask that hides one's desires. It's valid to day that Nunchi is not only a koren philosophy but a lifestyle where they feel connected and contextualized with the enviroment.