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Private Faith, Public Life. The Psychology of Religion in Southeast Asia. Southeast Asia Today. Major Religions of Southeast Asia.
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Private Faith, Public Life The Psychology of Religion in Southeast Asia
Major Religions of Southeast Asia “Southeast Asia is a great laboratory to study religious change because it is home to all the world religions and there is so much evidence of the localization and amalgamation of outside beliefs.” Barbara Andaya
Is Religion: Personal and Private? Subjective and Emotional? Ethical and Moral? Theological and Philosophical? Social and Cultural? Traditional and Familial? Political and Ideological? Relevant to the study of Psychology? A “Taboo” topic of conversation our Culture? Why?
Psychology of Religion Psychology is the scientific study of what people think, feel, and do (cognition, affect, and behavior.) It includes both experimental research and applied clinical work. Psychologists have studied cultural and religious beliefs since the beginning of psychology through today. Experimental psychologists have used a sociocultural approach to attempt to tease apart what human behavior is universal and what is culturally influenced. Comparative studies include both quantitative and qualitative methods, ranging from brain imaging and controlled experiments to interviews and analysis of media and social events. “Clinical psychologists have worked to develop ‘indigenous psychologies’ that blend Western psychology with local beliefs and practices” in an effort to help both understand and heal (Clay, 2002.)
William James, 1842 – 1910The Father of American Psychology 1890 Published “The Principles of Psychology” with its longest chapter “The Consciousness of Self” in which he describes the sense of self as “duplex, composed of objective and objective selves.” The “I” is Self as knower, pure consciousness. The “me” is self as known, as the physical, social, and spiritual self of which one is aware. His definitions reflect the Samkhya philosophical duality of purusa and prakriti (Pynn, 2010.) James’ background in philosophy and theology, belief in the value of introspection, and interest in spirituality and Asian ideas did not mix well with the emerging positivist perspective and insistence on observation of external phenomenon that developed into the behavioral school of psychology.
“The Varieties of Religious Experience”Published by William James, 1902 “Religion consists of the belief that there is an unseen order, and that our supreme good lies in harmoniously adjusting ourselves there." James recognized the personal and social aspects of religion. He differentiated between people who follow the conventions of the religion in which they were raised, which he called a “second-hand religious life” and “religious geniuses,” “pattern-setters to all this mass of suggested feeling and imitated conduct. These experiences we can only find in individuals for whom religion exists not as a dull habit, but as an acute fever rather.” James said that all states of mind are neurally conditioned, and that there is a relationship between religiosity and mental abnormality. “There can be no doubt that as a matter of fact a religious life, exclusively pursued, does tend to make the person exceptional and eccentric.”
George Herbert Mead 1863 – 1931The Social Emergence of Self in Psychology Studied with G. Stanley Hall and Wilhem Wundt, knew James. Published “Mind, Self, and Society” in 1934 in which he said that the “development of the individual’s self, and of his self- consciousness within the field of his experience” is preeminently social. Mead analyzes experience from the “standpoint of communication as essential to the social order.” He said that self-consciousness develops through communication, and described both language and the “conversation of gestures” which we today call nonverbal communication as vital. Mead said that through symbolic language the “individual enters as such into his own experience . . . as an object” which is what makes our consciousness distinctive from other animals.
George Herbert Mead “Only in terms of gestures as significant symbols (language) is the existence of mind or intelligence possible; for only in terms of gestures which are significant symbols can thinking — which is simply an internalized or implicit conversation of the individual with himself by means of such gestures — take place.” “The ‘I’ is the response of the organism to the attitudes of the others; the ‘me’ is the organized set of attitudes of others which one himself assumes” Mead defines the “me” as “a conventional, habitual individual,” and the “I” as the “novel reply” of the individual to the generalized other, as a creative process. After the “I” has acted, “we can catch it in our memory and place it in terms of that which we have done,” but it is now (in the newly emerged present) an aspect of the restructured “me” so that the sense of self is constructed in a temporal-historical sequence.
Self or No-Self? Buddhist Concept of Anatman Western psychology has been criticized for encouraging self-analysis perhaps to the point of narcissism. The Buddhist concept of anatman goes further than Mead’s idea of the social construction of self – the social/relational construction is what there is. It states that there is no permanent unchanging soul since everything is impermanent and interdependent. What we think of as Self is constructed out of our social network, our surroundings, our reactions and perceptions. Pay full attention to what you’re doing and everything around you, and treat other beings with compassion rather than doing an internal search for “self.” (McDaniels, 2011)
Neuroscience and Self Reduced parietal lobe activation during Buddhist meditation. From Todd Chambers (2003) “Should the Buddha have taken Prozac?” The Dalai Lama has expressed interest in neuroscientific research on meditation, described in his book “The Universe in a Single Atom.” Following their meeting at Dharamsala Richard Davidson, director of the Laboratory for Affective Neuroscience in Wisconsin, used EEG and fMRI scans to test Mahayana monks from Tibet as well as experienced and novice meditators from the U.S. People with training in meditation showed a dramatic shift in brain activation, with a reduction in areas active during fear and stress and an increase in areas correlated with positive emotion. A Tibetan abbot measured the highest activation in positive emotion brain centers ever measured. “With realization of one's own potential and self-confidence in one's ability, one can build a better world.”
Carl G. Jung, 1875 – 1961Collective Unconscious and Cross-Cultural Psychology Jung split from Freud over the concept that our psyche contains more than the personal unconscious, our personal memories and neuroses. The collective unconscious is “the reservoir of our experiences as a species, a kind of knowledge we are all born with.” To explore this concept Jung traveled widely between the end of WW I and 1946 visiting Africa, America, and India. He read in several languages, including Sanskrit which he employs here:
Symbolism, Archetypes and the Process of Individuation Mandalas appear in many world religions because they are symbolic of the Self and the process of individuation, or the process of self development through reflection. He considered Jesus and Buddha to be archetypes of the perfected Self. Certain characters, such as the compassionate mother, the old wise guru, or the semi-divine warrior king/hero appear across world literatures because they are archetypes, or primordial images.
Indic Belief and Symbolism in Southeast Asia: The design of Angkor Wat in Cambodia represents the cosmos, with the central tower symbolizing Mount Meru, home of the gods. The design repeats towers in the four cardinal directions, surrounded by a mote representing the sea. Travelers carried Indian literature, including epic stories and scientific and philosophical writings that had been developed over centuries of Indo-Aryan civilization, across Asia.
Symbolism, Religion, and Nationalism The Golden Age or “Camelot” archetype for Cambodians? Source of ethnic identity and pride or border conflict and commercialism? Angkor Wat
The Confluence of Belief and Behavior, Place and Culture Lily Kong (2001) of the Dept. of Geography, National University of Singapore notes that the geographic analysis of religious sites should be extended beyond the “officially sacred” to include that which people treat as sacred, such as indigenous sacred sites, domestic shrines, religious processions and festivals, etc. She noted that the relationship with a site may change with tourism. “Religion, like class and race, must be a matter for historical and place-specific analysis rather than taken as a priori theory. The ways in which an Irish and a Filipino Catholic, or a rural and metropolitan Manila Catholic, experience and negotiate religious place and experience, must be subject to specific contextual scrutiny.” We need to analyze religion on various scales: “global, national, regional, local and, indeed, that of the body. Religious broadcasting and the emergence of the Internet suggest that certain religious groups have a more global reach than others, exercising influence that is nevertheless mediated by local contexts. Similarly, the reach of transnational religious groups set against the mediations of local forces demands attention, as does the question of how pan-religious identities and communities conflict with local and national affiliations.”
State Religion – or Not! Separation of Church and State, with a diversity of religions Legal Separation, but a majority share one religion One Official State Religion Communism: Officially atheist, varying tolerance of religion Secular Humanism and Science: The religion of the West?
Religion, Politics, and Self SUNDAY, JANUARY 16, 2011 ID & Religion – Indonesia: An Indonesian ID card, like any other around the world, tells who you are, but here it also identifies what you believe in, which can be a source of trouble if you’re a member of a faith that the state does not recognize. The Indonesian Constitution states that “every person shall be free to choose and to practice the religion of his/her choice” and “guarantees all persons the freedom of worship, each according to his/her own religion or belief.” The government, however, only recognizes six religions, namely Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism. In Malaysia, identification cards carry thumbprints as well as religious affiliation. Everyone over the age of 12 is supposed to carry one.
Clinical Practice and Religion Teaching Council in Sri Lanka: A Post Disaster, Culturally Sensitive and Spiritual Model of Group Process After the tsunami struck southeast Asia in 2004 a group therapy model incorporating meditation, mindfulness, and culturally congruent spiritual ritual, called Council, was taught in Sri Lanka by local paraprofessionals working for NGO Sarvodaya and trained by American psychotherapists. They were able to help Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, and Christians in devastated communities. ArunaBroota (University of Delhi) has developed a relaxation technique that combines four yogic postures and repetition of a religious word like shanti, or peace. Such techniques make thoughts more accessible, says Broota, which facilitates Western techniques like cognitive-behavioral therapy. And the technique is effective for everything from depression to panic disorder to stress management, she says, in part because yoga is so familiar to Indians.” (Clay, 2002)
Major Religions of Southeast Asia • Animism: Indigenous • Hinduism / Buddhism: originally from northern India • Theravada Buddhism through Sri Lanka • Mahayana Buddhism through China • Confucianism and Chinese Traditions: from China • Islam: originally from Arabia, through trade with Arabia, Mughal India, and Persia • Christianity: originally from the Middle East • Catholicism through Spain, Portugal, and France • Protestantism through Great Britain and the Netherlands
Traditional Religion: Animism “The environment is alive and animated by powerful forces that can bestow their bounty on humans, but can also express their anger for any transgression” Barbara Andaya People who live by hunting and gathering or by agriculture live with an awareness of our dependence on natural forces and the earth’s fertility. These forces may be personalized in order to make them comprehensible and amenable to human influence. Mai Thorani, the Earth Goddess of Burma
Animism and Locus of Control Theory The theory of locus of control developed by Julian Rotter predicts that when people believe in their ability to control their own behavior and influence external events, they are more likely to strive toward success. A low expectation in the probability of reinforcement leads to low effort, likely failure, and a vicious cycle of decreasing expectancies and reduced performance. Later Martin Seligman called this learned helplessness. Shamans in traditional cultures do rituals that appease the spirits before important events, interpret key events and why they happen, and may foretell the future. These acts give people reassurance that there is some element of human control over powerful forces.
Animism and Herbal Healing Shamans may be men or women, and often are also healers with an extensive knowledge of local medicinal plants developed through careful observation over many generations. The World Health Organization has published “Guidelines for the Regulation of Herbal Medicines in the Southeast Asia Region” after a 2003 workshop in Bangkok. There are 5 national research institutes on Traditional Medicine in SEAR testing the safety and efficacy of traditional herbs. They recommended pharmacovigilance units to collect and assess reports of adverse drug reactions and effectiveness. Shamanic localization of knowledge and influence could be seen as both a strength and a weakness as “canonical” written religions enter Southeast Asia.
Islam Enters by Land and Sea Arabic traders have used the sea route through the straits to reach China since the 13th century. The conversion of Melaka in 1430 ce increased the Islamization of maritime Southeast Asia. Today Indonesia has the most Muslims of any nation - 240,271,522
Islam in Southeast Asia:Diversity and Localization Mosque in northern Java As Islam spread, the forms of its architecture and religious practices adapted to local customs while maintaining core beliefs in the 5 pillars. Drum used for the call to prayer, Sumatra
Islam and Outgroup Homogeneity:Who is the Real Muslim Woman? All of these photos are of Muslim women.
Outgroup Homogeneity Effects In the language of social psychology, an "ingroup" is a group to which someone belongs, and an "outgroup" is a group to which the person does not. Research on the outgroup homogeneity effect has found that when it comes to attitudes, values, personality traits, and other characteristics, people tend to see outgroup members as more alike than ingroup members. As a result, outgroup members are at risk of being seen as interchangeable or expendable, and they are more likely to be stereotyped (Linville, 1998). People maintain their self-esteem in part by identifying with groups and believing that the groups they belong to are better than other groups (Tajfel, 1981; Tajfel & Turner, 1986). When people experience a threat to their self-esteem they are more likely to express an ingroup bias and prejudice toward the outgroup.
The Availability Heuristic: Who is the Terrorist? Timothy Mohammad “Tversky and Kahneman (1973) proposed that people may use an availability heuristic to judge frequency and the probability of events. Using the availability heuristic, people would judge the probability of events by the ease in which instances could be brought to mind.” Media causes certain types of events and people to be stamped into our minds. Research indicates the cognitive biases are consistent sources of error in decision making. Most people, even those who have taken college level statistics classes, are likely to reason by example rather than by numerical probability.
Who is the Terrorist? Mohammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for founding the Grameen Bank in 1983 to provide microcredit to the poor in Bangla Desh in an effort to eradicate poverty. The program has since been replicated globally. Timothy McVeigh was convicted of killing 168 people in the Oklahoma City Bombing in 1995. He was executed in 2001.
So What is Islam? It is the world’s second largest religion. About 23% of all people on Earth follow Islam. The religion is currently in a period of rapid growth. Christianity is currently the largest religion in the world, followed by about 33% of all people. It is a monotheistic faith that acknowledges the prophets of the Bible, and adds that Mohammad is the final prophet. Muslims believe that he received the word of God and shared it with his followers, and that the Qur’an is the transcription of His word. The 5 Pillars of Islam are: belief that there is one God and Mohammad is his prophet, prayer 5 times a day, almsgiving and concern for the poor, fasting during the daylight hours of Ramadan, and a pilgrimage to Mecca if possible.
Christianity in Southeast Asia: Where did it take root and why? By the mid 1800s Southeast Asia had been colonized by European powers, with the exception of Thailand (Siam.) Britain held Burma and Malaysia, the Netherlands held Indonesia, France held Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, East Timor was the last holding of the Portuguese, and Spain held the Philippines. Yet the only Christian majority countries today are East Timor and the Philippines. Why?
Catholicism in the Philippines Ferdinand Magellan, reaches the Philippines, Easter 1521. He promised the local raja a large wooden cross erected on a nearby hill would provide protection from “thunder, lightning and storms”and that his enemies could now “be more easily conquered than before.”
Be the First Major World Religion on the Block! Our Lady of Antipolo In many parts of Southeast Asia, Buddhism or Islam was well established before Christianity arrived. When Magellan reached the Philippines it was not unified in ethnicity, language, religion, or political structure. The Spanish Catholic Church was flexible enough to incorporate some local beliefs. The pageantry of Catholicism, the stories of saints, and the drama of “Pasyon” or the Easter ceremonies was very appealing.
Miracles in the Philippines: El Nino Santo, Cebu Island Pageantry celebrates the “indestructable” statue of the Christ Child on Cebu Island, Philippines.
Psychological Aspects of Religion The “rituals or rites of passage practiced by many of the major world religions play an important role in assisting individuals in successfully passing from one phase of life into the next.” (Idler, 2008.) These may include births, baptisms, confirmations, coming-of-age rituals, marriages, and funerals. Religious beliefs and practices “integrate different aspects of our human experience – our emotions with our intellect or our minds with our bodies – while also connecting us with others who share similar beliefs” (Idler, 2008.) Belonging to a religious community may provide a sense of positive self-identity and social connectedness.
Religion, Health, and Happiness Religion is positively correlated with subjective well being (SWB) which is predicted by “the overall balance of people’s positive to negative emotions.” (Frederickson, 2002.) Positive emotions tend to broaden the person’s thought-action repertoire and is correlated with enhanced dopamine levels. Religious beliefs moderate health-related lifestyle habits such as diet, sexuality, substance use, and social support (Idler, 2008). “Positive religious coping” with stress or tragedy, including forgiveness and seeking spiritual support, has a positive effect on health and adjustment (Pargament, 1998.)
References: Andaya, Barbara (2011) Presentation to the National Endowment for the Humanities Seminar on Cultural Unity and Diversity in Southeast Asia. American Psycholoical Association: Understanding Prejudice http://www.understandingprejudice.org Boeree, George C. Personality Theories: Carl Jung http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/jung.html Clay, Rebecca A. (2002) “An indigenized psychology. Psychologists in India blend Indian traditions and Western psychology.” http://www.apa.org/monitor/may02/india.aspx George Herbert Mead. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, a peer-reviewed academic resource in philosophy http://www.iep.utm.edu/mead/ Idler, Ellen (2008) The psychological and physical benefits of spiritual/religious practices. Spirituality in higher education. http://www.spirituality.ucla.edu/docs/newsletters/4/Idler_Final.pdf Kong, Lily (2001) “Mapping ‘new’ geographies of religion: politics and poetics in modernity” National University of Singapore. http://www1.geo.ntnu.edu.tw/~moise/Data/Books/Social/01%20religion/mapping%20new%20geographies%20of%20religion.pdf Mearns, J. (2009) The Social Learning Theory of Julian Rotter, http://psych.fullerton.edu/jmearns/rotter.htm Nobel Prize http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2006/yunus-bio.html
References Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance http://www.religioustolerance.org/islam.htm Pargament, Kenneth I. (1998) Patterns of Positive and Negative Religious Coping with Major Life Stressors for the Scientific Study of Religion Vol. 37, No. 4 (Dec., 1998), pp. 710-724 Pynn, Tom (2010) “The things of this world are masks the infinite assumes: Introducing samkhya and yoga philosophy.” In Asian Texts, Asian Contexts, SUNY, New York. Teaching Council in Sri Lanka: A Post Disaster, Culturally Sensitive and Spiritual Model of Group Process http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20458541 Tversky and Kahnemanhttp://www.psychologyandsociety.com/availabilityheuristic.html University of Missouri- Kansas City School of Law Oklahoma City Bombing Trial http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/mcveigh/mcveightrial.html Vishvipani (2009) The technology of happiness. http://www.wildmind.org/blogs/on-practice/the-technology-of-happiness William James: Biography, Chronology, and Photographs http://des.emory.edu/mfp/jphotos.html World Health Organization Regional Office for Southeast Asia (2003) http://www.searo.who.int/LinkFiles/Reports_TradMed82.pdf
Definition of RELIGIONMerriam Webster Online 1 : the service and worship of God or the supernatural 2 : commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance 3 : a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices 4 archaic : scrupulous conformity : conscientiousness 5 : a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith
