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College Students and Religious Groups
in Japan: How are they Influenced and How do they Perceive the Group Members?
Ando, Kiyoshi
Tsuchida, Shoji
Imai, Yoshiaki
Shiomura, Kimihiro
Murata, Koji
Watanabe, Namiji
Nishida, Kimiaki
Genjida, Ken'ichi
Abstract
Almost 9,000 Japanese college
students completed a questionnaire designed to tap: how they were approached by
religious groups and how they reacted to them; how they perceived "mind control'
techniques which they believed were adopted by some religious groups; and
how their psychological needs were related to their reactions to the attempt to
influence them by religious groups. About 20% of respondents listed
religion-related requests as making the most impression. Although
respondents' impressions of the recruiter were somewhat favorable in comparison
with those of salespersons, their level of compliance was rather low. The
regression analysis showed that they tended to comply with the request when they
were interested in what the agents told them, when they were not in a hurry or
did not have any reason to refuse, when they had a liking for the agents, and
when they were told that they had been specially selected, that they could gain
knowledge of the truth, and that they could acquire a special new ability.
When asked to evaluate people who were influenced or mind controlled by a
religious group, the respondents tended to perceive that it was "inevitable"
that they had succumbed, and they put less emphasis on dispositional factors.
However, where mind control led to a criminal act, they tended to attribute
responsibility to the person. More than 70% of respondents answered in the
affirmative when asked if they themselves could resist being subjected to mind
control, showing the students' underestimation of their personal vulnerability.
The respondents' needs or values had little effect on the reactions, the
interest, and the impression of the influencing attempt by religious groups.
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