Abstract:
Pakikiramdam is a cultural phenomenon common during social interactions of Filipinos in order to get a sense of what other people feel. With the advent of the digital age when forms of communications have changed, it is interesting to know how pakikiramdam is manifested in the life of millennials.
A sequential exploratory method was utilized to explore the concept of pakikiramdam. Six males and females aged 19-39 years participated in the key informant interviews. The results of the qualitative phase were utilized in the development of the research framework and instrument. During the pilot testing of the Pakiramdam Scale that was developed to measure levels of pakikiramdam, 153 respondents were gathered. Content validity and reliability analysis were done where an acceptable Cronbach alpha was derived for the whole scale and for each domain. Using the validated scale, 401 millennial respondents were recruited for the main survey.
The results show that pakikiramdam towards someone outside the social group (ibang tao) was significantly more complicated than pakikiramdam with a person who belongs to own social circle (hindi ibang tao). Pakikiramdam during personal interactions was also found to be significantly higher than pakikiramdam during digital interactions. No significant differences were indicated when using verbal and nonverbal cues during incidences of pakikiramdam. Aside from levels, the dynamics or process of pakikiramdam were also described in the study. Recommendations were made to improve the skills of pakikiramdam as it was found an essential component in socialization or pakikipagkapwa.
