邪教快速发展的秘辛及其心理机制

快速传播是本研究新近发现的邪教特征,境内外邪教快速发展的事实说明了这一点。邪教快速传播的秘辛是将信徒变成"传教狂",而这一变化是通过利用"神"的法力让信徒自动化地传播邪教;利用"教主崇拜"驱使信徒自动化地传播邪教;利用信徒想进天国的需要促使其传教;利用信徒的"阿基米德效应"推动其传教;巧用激励驱使信徒传教;靠内滋激励(成就感所致的自我满足)使信徒自发传教。揭示这一秘辛和它的心理机制,对防范邪教乃至最终消除邪教都会有极大裨益。     

邪教的末世论与教主崇拜

教主崇拜与邪教之间存在着因果关系,但是,这种因果关系不是直接的,而是间接的,未世论是其中最为重要的中介。邪教的末世论具有特殊之处,其一是它以族群性的末世论为提供合法性基础:其二是它在末世论的基本假设上强调教主是教中那个与神最为亲近、最能代表神的"原人",或者直接就是神的化身,掌握着灵魂进入新天新地的钥匙。这构成了教主崇拜的理论基础。以如此独特的末世论假设为基础的对教主的神秘化和对灾难的神秘化,使得教主成为至高无上的人神,掌握着现世中一切苦难,尤其是苦难如何地临于人或远于人,则使教主崇拜在邪教中成为现实。     

中美邪教定义的比较与对话

由于文化背景和现实国情的差异,中美两国学者对邪教的理解不尽相同。中国学者在论及邪教的识别与防治时,往往更强调邪教冒用传统宗教名义的欺骗性及其对社会和国家的危害;美国学者则较少关注邪教同传统宗教的关系,往往更强调邪教形式的多样性及其在心理生理上对信徒个人和家庭的侵害。然而,两国学者对于邪教的破坏性、封闭性、教主崇拜、强制性劝诱和精神控制等特征的相似论述,不仅为双方的学术交流提供了对话中介,而且为扩大两国在邪教问题上的共识和实现打击邪教犯罪的跨国合作提供了可能条件。     

邪教的主要特征和形成的内在条件

邪教的形成有什么样的内在条件呢？邪教到底有什么本要特征？当我们剖析“人民李殿教”、“上帝的j［女”、“大卫支派”、“太阳圣殿教”、“拉杰尼希静修会”、“奥姆真理教”以及“大堂之门”这几个被世人公认的邪教时，我们发现，无论是在思想指导还是行为活动上，它们都有一个极端的特征，即绝对的教主至上，在信仰教义则都鼓吹具体的末世论。教主崇拜是新兴家教的特征之一，许多新兴宗教的组织者都具有一定的魅力和权威，他们被其信徒神化，成为其崇拜的对象之一。而我们在邪教组织中发现的这种绝对的教主至＿匕可以说是教主崇拜的极…     

20世纪世界邪教透视

２０世纪末期，西方社会接连发生了一些邪教事件和邪教活动，如１９７８年美国人民圣殿教在教主琼斯的煽动下集体服毒自杀，９１４人葬身丛林；１９９３年，美国大卫教派主考雷什的指挥下，与警察对峙了５１个日夜，放火自焚，８６人葬身火海参；１９９４至１９９５年，太阳圣殿教７０多名信徒先后在法国、瑞士、加拿大等地集体神秘死亡；１９９５年，日本奥姆真理教在教主麻原彰晃的指使下，制造了东京地铁毒气事件，造成１２人死亡，５０００多人中毒；１９９７年，美国天堂之门３９名信徒在海尔─波普慧星来临之际陈尸豪华别墅……除了这些事件以外，还时常发生煽动信徒弃工弃学，等待“末日来临”，以巫术迷信活动诈骗钱财，及严重违反社会伦理的邪教活动。这类邪教事件屡屡出现，已成为令人瞩目的社会问题之一。人们想了解的是，这些悲剧是如何发生的？邪教的特点怎样？它是如何把信徒引向死亡命之路的？     

德国法院裁定：“法轮功”可被称为“心理邪教”

[美联社莱比锡1月20日电]题:“法轮功”可以被称为“心理邪教”根据德国莱比锡地方法院作出的一项裁定,中国的修炼运动“法轮功”——它在德国也有信徒——可以被称为“心理邪教”。这项裁决已于1月20日在沙克森的博览会城市莱比锡公布。莱比锡地方法院的判决驳回了对科堡报纸《新闻报》一名记者提出的停止侵害起诉。这家报纸在一篇关于巴伐利亚城市克洛纳赫建城1000年的游行庆祝活动的文章中对“法轮功”信徒参加游行活动发表了看法。作者在文章中称“法轮功”是“新的宗教性心理邪教,具有等级森严的信徒结构”。代表“法轮功”练习者利益…     

心灵关怀是根治邪教的有效良方

在科学昌明的２０世纪末叶 ,为什么会出现那么多的邪教组织 ?又为何会有那么多的信徒去信奉它们呢 ?这不得不令人深思。大凡邪教 ,都有许多共同点 ,如教主崇拜、精神控制、编造邪说、聚敛钱财、蒙骗群众、危害社会等。但从这许许多多的邪教中我们还可以发现两种很特殊的现象 :一是这些教主和教徒大都受到过文明教育 ,具有一定现代科学知识 ,如美国“天堂之门”教派的３９名自杀者 ,都是精通电脑的青年知识人才 ,这说明邪教与知识没有必然关系 ,而只与精神有关 ;二是邪教盛行与物质生活的富裕或贫困也没有必然联系 ,而只与信仰有关。并且 ,在…     

转型期我国农村邪教问题探究

改革开放以后,一些貌似宗教却并非宗教的非法邪教组织,伴随着宗教世俗化的浪潮在我国部分农村地区纷纷粉墨登场。这些邪教多以农民容易接受的形式,宣扬世界末日论,美化神化教主,一定程度上的强制洗脑,最终达到对信徒的思想控制、骗取钱财、妖言惑众、秘密结社、危害社会的目的,对贫瘠的农村构成了相当的负面影响。邪教已成为农村中一股不可忽视的邪恶势力。一、农村邪教的危害1.农村邪教的非法活动严重威胁我国农村基层政权的稳定,这是农村邪教组织的最大危害。2.农村邪教的非法活动对农村的物质文明、精神文明建设构成了巨大的危害。农村邪…     

邪教滋生是因为传统宗教受到制约吗？

国内外历史和现实的情况难以支持＂传统宗教受到制约才使邪教乘虚而入＂的判断。传统宗教与邪教更多地表现为某种形式的＂并生共存＂,邪教甚至尤其需要盗用传统宗教的无形资产来妆扮和壮大自己。传统多神观念被广泛激活后,在当年的＂宗教热＂和＂气功热＂中都可以找到随之而来的习惯性＂寻神＂＂造神＂需求和适应此种需求的潜流。产生邪教组织的首要条件——对在世教主的＂人神＂崇拜趁势蔓延。传统宗教的有识之士对提高信徒信仰素质充满急切感和责任意识,从根本上说,这要依靠全体社会成员生活素质、文化素质和道德素质的全面提高。     

法轮功是邪教中最邪恶的邪教

1993年 4月，美国政府在用武力行动取缔自称言行由“上帝授意”并把自己封为“活先知”，装神弄鬼欺骗美国人民的所谓教主考雷什成立的“大卫教”邪教组织时，全副武装的特工人员在坦克、装甲车的掩护下攻进了这个邪教盘踞的山庄，其教主考雷什以及八十多名徒众在与美国政府的激烈对抗下所引起的一场大火中全部丧生。 1995年 3月，日本臭名昭著的邪教组织奥姆真理教在东京地铁施放毒气酿成 12人死亡，近 5000人受到伤害的惨剧。 1997年，美国邪教“天堂之门”的 39名信徒服用自己配制的毒药，分三批集体自杀。死者年龄最小的 20岁，最大的…     

From Freud to Gehrig to Rapaport to DiMaggio

Lacking the size, talent, and speed to play shortstop for the New York Yankees, I chose instead to become a psychologist/psychoanalyst. Yet, baseball and psychoanalysis share much in common. Each is played in the inner diamonds of one's mind, values the past and what is passing, and requires a strong work ethic. Both are timeless and involve an almost boring leisureliness between occasional moments of crisis. Then too, each calls for an attitude of consistency and patience and a responsibility to do one's best. From my parents and brother to my wife and son and his family, from my teachers and supervisors to my colleagues, and from Menninger to the Society for Personality Assessment (SPA), I feel deeply grateful for the partners and teammates I have and have had.     

How Not to Apply to College

Samples of letters written by college students are excerpted to demonstrate the deterioration of students' writing skills. The relative unimportance many college students and graduates attach to the art of writing letters of inquiry is emphasized. A checklist is provided to assist students in preparing letters requesting information from colleges and universities.     

From object to image to object

Images are mental representations accommodated by grammatical structures. These structures order sensori-input of information as well as provide for articulated ways of expressing motor sequences associated with images. The psychological process of perception is reflected in the development of paradigmatic structures. The psychological process of action (behavior and its mental representations) is reflected in the development of syntagmatic structures. Forming and expressing imagery requires both paradigmatic and syntagmatic structuring. The former relates to logical issues of identity of objects and to the formation of concepts. The latter relates to the solution of psycho-logical questions of causality through articulation of grammatical roles in sentences. Two issues affecting the formation of a model to account for imagery are examined: (1) The tendency to explain imagery as a result of motor sequences and to utilize performance grammar. (2) The impact of ontogenesis on social processes affecting the logical and psycho-logical concerns facing the person at different stages of development. The grammar of imagery is seen as broader than one of performance. The epistemology of imagemaking does not reflect a linear ontogenetic development which precludes attention to problems of creating the logical structures of an object.     

From Biology to Consciousness to Morality

Abstract. Social animals are provisioned with prosocial orientations that operate to transcend self‐interest. Morality, as used here, describes human versions of such orientations. We explore the evolutionary antecedents of morality in the context of emergentism, giving considerable attention to the biological traits that undergird awareness and our emergent human forms of mind. We suggest that our moral frames of mind emerge from our primate prosocial capacities, transfigured and valenced by our symbolic languages, cultures, and religions.     

Reply to Letter to the Editor

The current policy of the National Institute of Health designed to increase the participation of women and minorities is radically different from previous policies designed to protect minorities from abuses in research studies. The principal arguments to support this policy are twofold: 1) Increased representation of minorities and women in research would increase the generalizability of research data and allow for valid analyses of differences in subpopulations; and 2) being in a clinical research study is advantageous to participants regardless of the final research study results. It remains unclear whether minorities find these arguments compelling. Instead of telling minorities that participation in research is good for them, the research community should focus on understanding what minority communities want from clinical research and then tailoring the message to meet this need. Persuasive arguments to promote long-term increased representation of minorities in clinical research must come from within minority communities.