Abstract

The well known Four-Seven debates of neo-confucianism during the Chosun dynasty contain many psychological theories of emotion. In this article the empirically testable psychological hypothesis were derived from the debates among Toegye, Kobong, Yulgok and Ugae. The derived hypotheses were verified through 5 experimental studies. Theses studies dealt with the semantic associations, differences in the judgement of good-evil dimension in terms of personal and communal good-bad, and mutual inclusiveness among the four beginnings and the seven emotions. The main results revealed that the four beginnings and the seven emotions consisted of two dimensions with minor exceptions. It was also found that the four beginnings were rated on the average as good compared with the seven emtions, though there were exceptions of shame and disgust as bad among the four beginnings, and love as good among the seven emotions. The inclusiveness hypothesis, which was proposed by Yulgok, was partly supported. The suggestions for future study were discussed.