wider issues of more distant people: nevertheless, this should not be mistaken for individualism. In Japan, however, devotion to kinship relations was and still is much more broadly construed, involving more than just kin. In Korean culture, filial piety is also of crucial importance. In Taiwan, filial piety is considered one of eight important virtues, among which filial piety is considered supreme. It is "central in all thinking about human behavior". Taiwan generally has more traditional values with regard to the parentchild relationship than the People's Republic of China (PRC). This is reflected in attitudes about how desirable it is for the elderly to live independently. In behavioral sciences Social scientists have done much research about filial piety and related concepts. It is a highly influential factor in studies about Asian families and intergenerational studies, as well as studies on socialization patterns. Filial piety has been defined by several scholars as the recognition by children of the aid and care their parents have given them, and the respect returned by those children. Psychologist K.S. Yang has defined it as a "specific, complex syndrome or set of cognition, affects, intentions, and behaviors concerning being good or nice to one's parents". As of 2006, psychologists measured filial piety in inconsistent ways, which has prevented much progress from being made. Filial piety is defined by behaviors such as daily maintenance, respect and sickness care offered to the elderly. Although in scholarly literature five forms of reverence have been described, multi-cultural researcher Kyu-taik Sung has added eight more to that, to fully cover the traditional definitions of elder respect in Confucian texts: Care respect: making sure parents are comfortable in every single way; Victual respect: taking the parents' preferences into account, e.g. favorite food; Gift respect: giving gifts or favors, e.g. presiding meetings; Presentational respect: polite and appropriate decorum; Linguistic respect: use of honorific language; Spatial respect: having elders sit at a place of honor, building graves at respectful places; Celebrative respect: celebrating birthdays or other events in honor of elders; Public respect: voluntary and public services for elders; Acquiescent respect: listening to elders without talking back; Consultative respect: consulting elders in personal and family matters; Salutatory respect: bowing or saluting elders; Precedential respect: allowing elders to have priority in distributing goods and services; Funeral respect: mourning and burying elders in a respectful way; Ancestor respect: commemorating ancestors and making sacrifices for them. These