This notion defines specific rules of conduct in social relationships and places great importance on the family. The welfare and integrity of the family are of great importance. The individual is expected to submerge or repress emotions, desires, behaviors, and individual goals to further the family welfare and to maintain its reputation. The individual is obligated to save face so as to not bring shame onto the family. The incentive, therefore, is to keep problems within the family.
Interdependency is valued and stems from the strong sense of obligation to the family.
This concept influences relationships among family members. According to this philosophy, maintaining harmony and balance with nature is important to one's spiritual well-being. The goal of many of the traditional healing practices, such as herbal medicine, acupuncture, coining, and cupping, is to restore this delicate balance. In Asian families, this concept extends to maintaining harmony in social relationships. An individual may appear passive, indifferent, or indecisive.