Safety of micro-mobility: Riders’ psychological factors and risky behaviors of cargo TTWs in China

Cargo two- or three-wheeled vehicles (TTWs), as a new form of micro-mobility, have become a popular mode of urban cargo transportation in China. Cargo TTW riders’ psychological factors and risky behaviors lead to a number of accidents. A questionnaire is designed by comprehensively considering these factors and behaviors of cargo TTW riders that includes eleven risk factors to quantitatively analyze the risky behaviors based on structural equation modeling (SEM). One thousand three hundred nineteen participants reported using cargo TTWs on a questionnaire distributed across the country. The characteristics of riding behavior data are analyzed to verify the three-layer risk theoretical framework of “Psychological factors (Personality traits/specific factors) - Psychological acceptability of risks (confidence/perception/attitude) - Risky behaviors”. The results show that anger has a strong direct effect on riding violations, while normlessness and altruism have a direct effect on riding errors. Workload has a weak but direct effect on risky behaviors, and riding feedback has a weak and mixed effect. In addition, high-risk groups are identified by analysis of variance (ANOVA) with rider population attributes. These quantitative analyses can help guide safety countermeasures to mitigate accidents involving cargo TTWs.     

Advocacy,brainwashing theories,and new religious movements

Advocacy by scholars in the field of new religious movements emerged during the ‘cult wars,’ which in the U.S. had their peak between 1970 and 1990 and continued in Europe and Japan in subsequent decades. Advocacy focused on the question of whether the ‘cults’ used a persuasion technique known as brainwashing. The idea of brainwashing was born during the Cold War, and originally applied to Communist techniques of indoctrination, but was lately first extended to religion and subsequently used as a tool to distinguish between legitimate and non-legitimate religions, labeling the latter as ‘cults.’ Prominent psychologists and sociologists were involved in these battles, with most scholars of new religious movements appearing in court in order to criticize the brainwashing theories advocated by psychologist Margaret T. Singer and a handful of anti-cult academics. After the Fishman decision of 1990, which seriously hit the anti-cult camp, advocacy in this field did not disappear but became somewhat less partisan.     

Psychological Abuse Experienced in Groups Scale: Psychometric Properties of the Japanese Version

The purpose of this study was to adapt the Psychological Abuse Experienced in Groups Scale (PAEGS) for use in the Japanese population. This scale evaluates the frequency with which an individual has experienced psychologically abusive behaviors within a group. A questionnaire was administered to 130 former members of abusive groups and to a comparison sample composed of 124 former members of non‐abusive groups. The main results showed a one‐dimensional factor structure and an adequate reliability score. Significant correlations were found between the PAEGS and a group abusiveness measure, providing evidence of convergent validity. In addition, high discriminatory power was found, determining an optimal cut‐off point to distinguish between abusive experiences and non‐abusive experiences within groups. The Japanese version of the PAEGS is able to overcome limitations of previous instruments intended to assess the phenomenon, as sufficient empirical evidence is found for its use in research. In addition, it can be useful in clinical and legal contexts to assess the degree of psychological abuse experienced by Japanese people during their involvement in certain groups.     

The lived experience of spiritual abuse

Over the years there has been considerable research investigating the controversial issues of cult recruitment, “mind control” and post-group difficulties of ex-members from a variety of religious groups. However, the less-well-defined phenomenon of “spiritual abuse” is still under-researched as a specific phenomenon. This is particularly evident in the lack of studies exploring the subjective, internal experience. This study reports on the lived experiences of six individuals who left five different religious groups that were essentially Judeo-Christian in their orientation. An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) revealed six core themes throughout the participant narratives. They consist of “Leadership representing God,” “Spiritual bullying,” “Acceptance via performance,” “Spiritual neglect,” “Manifestation of internal states,” and “Expanding external/internal tension.” These are offered as a foundation to answer the question What can be described as the lived experience of spiritual abuse? The findings suggest that spiritual abuse is a multi-faceted and multi-layered experience that is both process and event, affecting the bio/psycho/social and spiritual domains of an individual.     

Access to excess: media as religion and the new cargo cults

Recent studies of religion and the media generally assume the secular nature of the latter impacting on the former. Religious relevance is set against a media culture of screens and networks that purportedly shape and reshape the symbols of sacredness. Yet the media itself may also be regarded as constituting a form of sacredness in its generation of excess. Within an expanding digital universe, the media creates and channels an abundance of information to overwhelm the attention of billions of people. The power to access excess places the sacred in the resources and practices of interconnectedness made possible by the use of digital devices that readies populations to anticipate limitless flows of data. Parallels can be drawn with the cargo cults of Melanesia where natives in contact with their colonisers came to anticipate the arrival of unlimited wealth and goods. This comparison may be used to illustrate the dual face of the media as secular in its operating system and religious in its production of excess. It also raises the question of whether the secular in digital culture could be treated as if it were wholly autonomous of the religious.     

“Tell Me Who Your Enemies Are”: Government Reports About the “Cult” Phenomenon in Israel

Between 1982 and 2011, four Israeli governmental reports addressing ostensible dangers from “cults” (new religious movements, or NRMs) were issued. The 1980s reports use a collectivist discourse, in which the state sees itself as defending the collective's borders from external threats and representing various sectors while seeking consensual values. The 1990s report marks an interim stage in which the state tries to balance individual liberties with sectoral interests. The 2011 report focuses solely on harm to individuals and is the harshest of the four. The reports reflect milestones in three processes of change that have taken place in Israeli society: from a collectivist‐hegemonic ethos to a multisectoral one; from a focus upon society to a focus on the individual; and from nationalistic values to universalistic ones. At every point in time, NRMs represented a different perceived threat to Israeli society. We explain how multisectoralism brings about both tolerance toward new religious phenomena and fierce anti‐cultic activity.     

From Classroom to Controversy: Conflict in the Teaching of Religion

What happens when a class assignment becomes a source of controversy? How do we respond? What do we learn? By describing the controversy surrounding an assignment on religion and representation, this article examines conflict's productive role in teaching about New Religious Movements (NRMs) and religion. It suggests that we consider how our personal and institutional dispositions toward conflict influence our pedagogies. Moreover, it urges us to consider how teaching conflicts within and/or between disciplines can enhance our learning objectives and stimulate students' ability to think critically.     

Alternative religion kids: spiritual and cultural identity among children and youth involved with new religious movements

ABSTRACT

The term ‘new religious movement’ (NRM) has come to replace the more provocative term ‘cult,’ however this shift of scholarly language has not resulted in a softening of public perception towards those in religious groups perceived as ‘weird’. This perception leaves a distinct mark on the identities of children raised in these communities.Children from alternative and controversial religions comprise a unique subculture.. The experience of growing up in a new religious movement has an important impact on a young person’s cultural and spiritual identity. Drawing on and expanding Useem and Downie’s model of ‘third culture kids’ (TCKs) the model of ‘alternative religion kids’ (ARKs) is developed. It is proposed that ARKs are a subculture in their own right and share a sense of belonging and identity based on their experience of being religious ‘others’. ARKs may be able to connect through a powerful, shared experience not paralleled with other peers.