Mberot and cultural compliance in traditions, customs, and rituals: A cultural psychology perspective

Faculty of Psychology, University of Muhammadiyah Malang, Indonesia

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Abstract

This study examines the paradox of cultural compliance and mberot (deviation/adaptation from canonical conventions) in the folk arts of bantengan, jaranan, and topeng across Greater Malang through the lens of cultural psychology. The aims are to: (1) describe forms of compliance as representations of customary law and ritual; (2) analyze mberot as innovation and as a response to modernization; (3) uncover the psychological paradoxes that shape identity, social relations, and spirituality; and (4) formulate a conceptual account of how traditional and modern values are negotiated. The reviewed methods are qualitative: ethnography, participant observation, in-depth/phenomenological interviewing, documentation, and thematic analysis verified via triangulation and member checking. Findings indicate that compliance appears as ritual discipline (prayer, offerings, canonical plot/movement, trance control) that sustains cosmological harmony and social cohesion; mberot emerges as a sustainability strategy—shortening duration, modifying choreography/materials, and stage packaging—accepted so long as it still ngemu rasa (embodies the inner aesthetic–ethical “feel”). Psychological paradoxes arise when the needs of the interdependent self (norms/togetherness) coexist with those of the independent self (autonomy/expression), producing mixtures of safety and pride alongside guilt/shame or intrapsychic conflict post-trance. Rasa/rumangsa functions as an ethical compass that sets boundaries of propriety, while collective effervescence indicates social acceptance of innovation. We propose the conceptualization of “creative compliance” to explain fidelity to the spirit of tradition through adaptive forms. Practical implications include rasa-informed curatorial standards, trance ethics protocols, and intergenerational transmission in education; future research should employ mixed methods to test the theoretical propositions.