Yes / In human societies there will always be differences of views and interests. But the reality today is that we are all interdependent and have to coexist on this small planet. Therefore, the only sensible and intelligent way of resolving differences and clashes of interests, whether between individuals or nations, is through dialogue. The promotion of a culture of dialogue and nonviolence for the future of mankind is thus an important task of the international community. (His Holiness the Dalai Lama, in a speech to the “Forum 2000″ Conference, Prague, Czech Republic, September 4, 1997)

Yes / The purpose of a systematization is threefold. It is first and foremost a tool for self reflection and critical analysis by participants of a process. Secondly, it enables participants to adjust and plan better for the future, learning from past mistakes and problems. And finally, it informs non-participants and hopefully encourages them to get involved. Lisa Cumming has worked with these goals in mind to produce this systematization of a six year experiment in how a University can share concerns and pool skills with local communities to help build a better place for working and living. She has been assisted by many people who have come in and out of the PPC as their time and inclination permits over the years. In the appendix we have only listed the members of our steering and now advisory committees. Many others have nurtured this process on its way and created lively and sometimes tense debates about the role of the PPC. We thank them all for their contributions. Readers will note that this systematization is open and self critical. The PPC did not set out to solve the problems of Bradford District. Participants in our network do not have a ‘solution’ to take off the shelf for addressing the complex issues facing the communities of the District. These include the legacy of economic change and decline and the differential impact on the South Asian communities who came to work in the factories that have closed down, as well as problems in housing, education and employment. PPC participants see value in the partnerships to be forged through the network and the discussion of difficult topics. Above all the PPC is a commitment to building a way of talking about the divisions and differences within and between our communities, largely a legacy of our social and economic past, as a first step to finding shared solutions for the future. On the journey, we have had many difficult moments as PPC network participants have debated and reflected on ways forward. Our systematization has tried to convey the ups and downs of this journey. We have learnt how quickly trust erodes where there is little clear leadership from the local state. We have also learnt that lack of trust makes it very difficult to challenge and open debate. Our idea of ‘safe spaces’ has been taken up in the District by others. But we are very aware that Bradford people are still not comfortable in talking about issues such as ethnicity, religion, gender, diversity, inequality and racism in ways which could encourage the search for shared understandings and an end to all discrimination and oppressions. It is for this reason that Bradford District’s idea of building a ‘Shared Future’ will require, we think, much more effort to open up ways of exploring these issues which go deep into our individual lived experiences as well as that in our groups and collectivities. One of our tasks for the future, therefore, is to deepen this effort and the challenges it implies. We all need to confront and examine our assumptions towards each other and to acknowledge the legacy of social inequality, racism and gender discrimination on people’s sense of self worth. We need to recognize the power relationships amongst us all, and how we can be powerless in one relationship and use our power to dominate in other relationships. There are complex intellectual problems to be addressed, such as the unresolved debate around multiculturalism, cohesion, integration and interaction. The PPC is just one space in our District for this debate to take place. The debate is not in itself the solution to the material problems facing our many poor communities. But opening it is one way of democratizing the search for such solutions and ensuring that as many voices as possible participate in finding them.

No description available.

Concern about privacy is an important consideration for users of information and communication technologies (ICT), particularly when using computer-mediated communication (CMC), i.e. Internet usage. Several researchers have studied privacy issues by taking into account the views of users to include individuals, organisations, privacy policy makers, governments and trust organisations. This thesis investigates whether an individual's perspectives about privacy are culturally relevant when using the Internet. This research used a survey in the form of a questionnaire in two countries, namely, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia to compare online privacy perspectives of young and mature (male and female) Saudi and Malaysian students. The research examines the relationship of the effect of the cultural background including the effect of social norms, religious belief, Internet regulation and IT skills of these Internet users upon their attitude towards privacy online and their perspectives about privacy. It also examines the effect of nationality (Malaysian and Saudi), gender and age groups. In this study, online privacy perspectives are a synthesis of three perceptions; what is 'personal' information online, the online privacy concerns and the Internet trust, whereby the cultural effects are the effect of religious beliefs, social norms, Internet regulation and IT skills in the privacy attitudes of keeping personal information safe, caring about their and others' privacy online and when revealing personal information. The demographic factors in this research are nationality, gender and age. To study these relationships, the research uses t-test, ANOVA, and single regression methods as data analysis techniques. The results show that the level of concern and degree of trust exhibited by Malaysian students with regard to submitting personal information via the Internet was affected the most by their gender, and social norms upon their online privacy attitudes. For Saudi students, the level of concern and trust with regard to submitting personal information via the Internet was found to be related to the effect of their age, gender, and religious beliefs on their online privacy attitudes. The other cultural factors, i.e. Internet regulation in force in each country and the IT skills of participants, are likely to have equal effects on both Malaysian and Saudi privacy perspectives. This research adds the cultural background, age and gender effects to the model of the calculus of the privacy concern that is proposed by Dinev and Hart (2006, pp. 63-64). The research also establishes what is 'private' in Malaysia and Saudi Arabia, by identifying 'what counts as personal information with regard to Internet users' and provides a comparison in this concept between the two countries, their gender and age groups. For examples, Malaysian students consider name, e-mail address, date of birth, nationality and religion as 'personal' information and Saudi students consider home address, phone number, photographic image and credit card number as 'personal' information. In addition Saudi females tend to consider, particularly, home address, phone number, and photographic image as 'personal' information more than Saudi males. These findings should help both web designers and Internet policy makers in Saudi Arabia and Malaysia to consider these cultural effects when designing the privacy policies of their websites.

This thesis aims to contribute to the ongoing critical discussion within the sociology of religion by focusing on the seldom considered perspective of methodology. As such, it consists of a theoretical part that problematizes the ways in which religion has been analyzed, and an empirical part that develops how religiosity can be approached in sociological studies. The thesis seeks, in other words, to contribute to how sociologists analyze religion, and addresses a research problem that has gained new relevance in the aftermath of criticism of the secularization paradigm. In the theoretical part, the assumptions underlying the ways in which religion is studied are revisited, as is the impact that these have had as faras the empirical study of religion is concerned in one of the countries often assumed to be secularized – i.e. Sweden. The empirical part of the thesis is comprised of three studies based on the latest European Value Survey, qualitative interviews and the Blogosphere on religion-related content (n=220000 blog posts). The results from these studies are used to reconsider the religiousmainstream, the “package”-like assumptions often made about affiliation, belief and practice, as well as the fact that the study of religiosity tends to be relegated to the periphery of the imagination of sociologists of religion. The thesis proposes that if we want to study religion in a lay people sensitive way we cannot continue to overlook their understandings of the sacred, the ways in which they regard their own religiosity, and the fact that their affiliation,belief and practice do not necessarily fit the expectations of established ways of analyzing religion.

Introdução e justificativa. A dissociação pode ser definida como a temporária desconexão (patológica ou não patológica) entre módulos psíquicos e / ou motores que se encontram, em geral, sob o controle voluntário ou acesso direto da consciência, do repertório comportamental usual e / ou do autoconceito (Krippner, 1997). As pesquisas internacionais têm sustentado sua recorrente associação com determinadas crenças e experiências alegadamente paranormais e / ou de cunho religioso. Tais crenças e experiências estão também frequentemente correlacionadas com outras variáveis ligadas à dissociação como sintomas depressivos e ansiógenos, queixas somáticas, trauma infantil e transliminaridade. O fato de algumas pessoas apresentarem características psicológicas que as predispõem a tais ocorrências sugere a importância de se compreender melhor como nelas se dá a formação da identidade, seu desenvolvimento cognitivo, emocional e social, de modo a permitir uma abordagem mais ampla de outros aspectos envolvidos nessas alegações e na assunção de várias dessas crenças. A revisão da literatura indica grande quantidade de estudos quantitativos e poucos estudos de natureza qualitativa, com a consequente ausência de aprofundamento em aspectos biográficos e sociais. Até o momento, não existem estudos brasileiros sobre as relações entre dissociação, crença paranormal e transliminaridade. Objetivos. Investigar as relações existentes entre dissociação (e seus tipos específicos), crença e formação da identidade em grupos religiosos e não religiosos de participantes brasileiros; Pesquisar os possíveis fatores etiológicos das experiências dissociativas e das crenças e experiências paranormais, bem como suas interações, a partir do estudo de variáveis psicopatológicas e psicossociais diversas; Investigar o papel dos processos inconscientes na formação e manutenção das crenças e experiências paranormais; Verificar a extensão e o impacto dos processos dissociativos e das crenças e práticas paranormais e religiosas na formação da identidade e na história de vida, com especial atenção ao desenvolvimento afetivo / emocional e social do indivíduo; Aprofundar a compreensão do contexto grupal e social de inserção dos participantes, de modo a averiguar como tal contexto contribui na construção de suas crenças e experiências, e de como estas afetam ou determinam, em contrapartida, esse mesmo contexto; Pesquisar empiricamente o nível de adesão a crenças religiosas tradicionais e outras categorias de crença paranormal em grupos religiosos e não religiosos de participantes brasileiros. Método. De modo a permitir certa generalização para os dados obtidos na pesquisa, bem como, paralelamente, um aprofundamento nos processos individuais e coletivos de construção da identidade, utilizou-se de uma proposta de investigação tanto quantitativa quanto qualitativa. Por meio de questionário sociodemográfico e escalas, compôs-se a frente quantitativa do estudo. No que diz respeito à frente qualitativa, empregou-se entrevistas biográficas abertas, questionário semi-dirigido sobre experiências anômalas / paranormais e observações de campo. Pressupondo-se que determinados contextos religiosos são aparentemente mais receptivos e estimuladores de vivências dissociativas, e que afiliações religiosas mais tradicionais ou mesmo grupos ateístas tenderiam a estimular menos esse tipo de experiências, os participantes do estudo foram divididos em três grupos, com vistas a uma análise mais detalhada dessas diferenças: grupo um (espíritas, umbandistas e membros de círculos esotéricos e ocultistas), grupo dois (outros religiosos e pessoas sem afiliação definida) e grupo três (ateus e agnósticos), abrangendo um total de 1450 respondentes para a frente quantitativa. O único critério de exclusão foi a idade (18 anos ou mais). O número de entrevistas biográficas (22) e de observações de campo (31) foi determinado com base no critério de saturação. No caso das entrevistas, considerou-se também certo equilíbrio em termos de gênero, idade e número de participantes acima e abaixo da nota de corte utilizada para diferenciar high e low scorers em dissociação. Para efetuarmos a análise dos dados, recorremos às hipóteses propaladas na literatura psicológica e sociológica recente acerca das crenças e experiências paranormais e de sua relação com os fenômenos dissociativos, buscando avaliar até que ponto nossos dados confirmavam ou não tais modelos hipotéticos. Nossas avaliações também tiveram como pano de fundo trabalhos que versam sobre os processos de construção psicossocial da identidade no mundo contemporâneo e sobre as transformações mais recentes na família e na religião (Bauman, 2005, 2007; Castells, 1999; Giddens, 2002; Paiva, 2007; Poster, 1979), bem como sobre novas formas de subjetivação e sofrimento psíquico (Roudinesco, 2006), incluindo contribuições de teorias psicodinâmicas atualmente em voga, em particular a teoria do apego (Granqvist & Kirkpatrick, 2008) e a teoria da gestão do terror (Pyzscynski, Solomon & Greenberg, 2003). Principais resultados. O grupo um e o grupo dois não diferiram em termos de dissociação cognitiva, mas ambos pontuaram acima dos ateus e agnósticos. Não obstante, o grupo um obteve média significativamente maior em dissociação somatoforme (sintomas conversivos e psicossomáticos), crença paranormal e transliminaridade comparativamente aos demais grupos. Não houve diferença entre os grupos para os relatos de experiência traumática na infância. A escala de experiências dissociativas correlacionou positiva e significativamente, embora em diferentes graus de magnitude, com a crença paranormal, a transliminaridade, a medida composta de sintomas psicossomáticos, a escala de sintomas conversivos e várias formas de experiência traumática na infância. Todavia, quando controlados os efeitos da transliminaridade, a correlação entre dissociação e crença se desfez, apontando para um possível paper mediador da transliminaridade na relação entre as duas variáveis. A dissociação (somatoforme e cognitiva) não foi elevada nos líderes dos grupos visitados, mas se observou histórico de aparente somatização em alguns casos. Indivíduos com escores elevados na escala de experiências dissociativas denotaram personalidade regredida e impulsiva, além de relatarem mais experiências anômalas espontâneas. Discussão. Sugere-se a existência de dois tipos de dissociação, uma tendencial, outra contextual. Sugere-se também a existência de uma série de mecanismos psicossociais de mimetismo, desempenho de papéis e gerenciamento da impressão que podem passar por fenômenos dissociativos, embora não o sejam. Relaciona-se o fenômeno da crença paranormal, do sincretismo religioso e da dissociação a variáveis sócio-históricas mais amplas, como a procura por sensação nas sociedades contemporâneas, certas consequências do processo de secularização, as relações de consumo, identidades líquidas e uma compensação frente a padrões de apego familiares desorganizados. Relaciona-se a personalidade regredida e impulsiva dos high scorers a formas de defesa narcísicas, a uma maior flexibilidade da barreira entre consciência e inconsciente e a uma manutenção da infância e da fantasia na vida adulta. Associa-se o aumento das crenças paranormais e religiosas com a idade à saliência da morte (teoria da gestão do terror), e certos aspectos da psicodinâmica adolescente ao ateísmo, que se mostrou mais frequente entre adultos jovens e adolescentes em conflito com suas famílias / Introduction and rationale. Dissociative experiences can be defined as reported experiences and observed behaviours that seem to exist apart from, or appear to have been disconnected from, the mainstream, or flow, of ones conscious awareness, behavioural repertoire, and/or self-identity (Krippner, 1997). Research has long sustained a positive relationship between dissociation and paranormal beliefs and experiences. Allegations of paranormal phenomena are also frequently correlated with dissociation-related variables such as depression and anxiety symptoms, somatic complaints, childhood trauma and transliminality. The fact that some people have psychological characteristics that predispose them to such occurrences suggests the importance of studying their identity formation and cognitive, emotional and psychsocial development in order to gain insight into other aspects involved in the assumption of paranormal beliefs. The literature on paranormal beliefs indicates large amount of quantitative studies and few qualitative data, with a consequent gap in biographical and cultural aspects. The majority of studies have also neglected contextual and social variables which are better understood through interviews and ethnographic observations. There is virtually no Brazilian studies on the subject of dissociation, paranormal belief and transliminality. Objectives. 1) To investigate the relationship between dissociation, paranormal belief and associated variables, including its possible impact on the life history and identity of Brazilian respondents from different religious and non-religious groups; 2) To identify some of the possible etiological factors underlying the presumed association between dissociativ eexperiences and paranormal beliefs, from the study of several psychosocial and psychopathological variables; 3) To investigate the role of unconscious and psychodynamic processes in the formation and maintenance of paranormal beliefs and experiences; 4) To improve the understanding of the social context underlying religious and non-religious dissociative practices, in order to ascertain how such a context assist in the construction of certain experiences or beliefs, and, on the other hand, how these beliefs and experiences affect or determine the same context; 5) To explore the level of adherence to traditional religious beliefs and other categories of paranormal belief in religious and non-religious groups of Brazilian participants; 6) To compose a Brazilian sample that could map the associations between the aforementioned variables, aiming to a comparison with data from other sociocultural contexts. Methods. A quali-quantitative approach was proposed. Through socio-demographic questionnaires and psychological scales, it was designed a quantitative online questionnaire. Regarding qualitative techniques, the study employed 1) biographical interviews, 2) semi-structured interviews concerning the phenomenology of paranormal / anomalous experiences and 3) field observations. Assuming that certain religious contexts are apparently more receptive to dissociative experiences, and that more traditional religious affiliations or even atheist groups tend to discourage such experiences, the participants were divided into three groups, with a view to a more detailed analysis of these differences: group one (also called dissociators: spiritualists, umbandists, members of esoteric groups, catholic carismatics and pentecostals); group two (members of other religious affiliations and people without defined philosophical or religious affiliation) and group three (atheists and agnostics), covering a total of 1450 respondents. The only exclusion criterion was age (18-years-old or above). The number of biographical interviews (22) and field observations (31) was determined on the basis of data saturation criterion. For the qualitative interviews, a balance was seek in terms of gender, age and number of participants above or below the cutoff (>= 20) used to differentiate high and low scorers on the Dissociative Experiences Scale. To perform data analysis, we considered some of the most important sociological and psychological hypotheses concerning the relationship between dissociation and paranormal beliefs and experiences, assessing the extent to which our data confirmed or not such hypothetical models. We were also based on works dealing with the psychosocial construction of identity in the contemporary world and the most recent changes in family and religion (Bauman, 2005, 2007, Castells, 1999; Giddens, 2002; Paiva 2007; Poster, 1979), as well as new forms of subjectivity and 7 psychological distress (Roudinesco, 2006), including contributions from psychodynamic theories currently in vogue, particularly the Attachment theory (Granqvist & Kirkpatrick, 2008) and the Terror Management Theory (Pyzscynski, Solomon & Greenberg, 2003). Main results. The group one and group two did not differ in terms of cognitive dissociation, but both scored above atheists and agnostics. Nevertheless, the group one scored significantly higher in somatoform dissociation (conversion and psychosomatic symptoms), paranormal belief, syncretism and transliminality compared to the other groups. There was no difference between the groups for reports of childhood traumatic experiences. The Dissociative Experiences Scale correlated positively and significantly, though in different degrees of magnitude, with paranormal belief, transliminality, the composite measure of psychosomatic symptoms (somatization, depression and anxiety combined), an original scale of conversion symptoms and various forms of childhood traumatic experience. However, when controlling for the effects of transliminality, the correlation between dissociation and belief disappeared, indicating a possible mediator effect of transliminality on the relationship between the other two variables. Dissociation (somatoform and cognitive) was not high on the leaders of the groups visited, but a history of apparent somatization was observed in some of these cases. High scorers on the dissociative experiences scale denoted regressive and impulsive behaviors, and reported more spontaneous anomalous experiences. Discussion. We suggest the existence of two types of dissociation: tendential and contextual. It is also suggested the existence of a number of psychosocial mechanisms of mimicry, role playing and impression management which may be wrongly interpreted as dissociative phenomena. Paranormal beliefs, religious syncretism, new age mentality and dissociative tendencies are hypothesized to be influenced by broader socio-historical variables such secularization and globalization, consumer relations, liquid identities and a compensation for disorganized attachment patterns developed in childhood. The regressive and impulsive personality of high scorers is described in terms of narcissistic defense mechanisms, flexibility of boundaries between conscious and unconscious processes, and a tendency to extend childhood fantasy into adult life. The increase in paranormal belief with age is explained as a result of mortality salience (terror management theory), but also in terms of a generational conflict, as atheism showed to be more frequent among adolescents and young adults in disagreement with their families

Trần Hưng Đạo, le fameux général de la dynastie des Trần (13e siècle) qui fut l’un des premiers théoriciens de la guerre de guérilla et repoussa à trois reprises les invasions mongoles, est devenu au fil d’un long processus historique, l’un des principaux héros nationaux, une divinité de premier plan et un fleuron du patrimoine et de l’identité nationale du Vietnam. Dans cette thèse l’auteure analyse la manière dont au fil des époques et des crises politiques que le pays a connues, notamment dans sa lutte contre les impérialismes chinois, français et américain, cette figure historique a été construite à la fois comme héros, divinité et symbole identitaire. Prenant appui sur le recueil d’archives et l’enquête ehnographique, l’étude montre comment intérêts politiques et religieux, locaux et étatiques se combinent pour élaborer une mythologie et des cultes qui satisfont des objectifs collectifs et individuels changeant au fil des époques. Elle offre aussi un aperçu de l’évolution contemporaine du système religieux vietnamien dans le contexte d’une ouverture croissante du pays sur le monde et sur l’économie de marché. / Trần Hưng Đạo, a famous general of the Trần dynasty (13th century), who was a theorician of the guerilla war and who pushed three times the Mongol invaders out of the Ðai Viêt, has become, over a long historical process, one of the most important national hero, a prominent deity of the pantheon and a major symbol of the Vietnam’s cultural heritage and national identity. In her PhD dissertation, the author analyses how this historical figure has been progressively constructed as a national hero and an omnipotent deity over the country’s struggles against Chinese, French and American imperialisms. On the basis of researches in archive and of ethnographic fieldwork, the study shows how political and religious spheres, local and state interests combine to develop a mythology and cults that meet changing collective and individual goals. The study also provides an overview of the contemporary evolution of the vietnamese religious system, in the context of an increasing openness of the country to the world and the market economy.

The past two decades have seen a surge of research publications in the psychology of religion, with most studies affirming the salutary effects afforded by religious functioning. However, current mental health researchers have advocated for more nuanced examinations of religious constructs and more careful analysis of potentially harmful aspects of religiosity. Particularly absent from the psychological literature are the mental health effects religious beliefs may exert on parishioners. Researchers note that this is surprising given the general psychological tenet that beliefs are inextricably bound-up with affective states and general mental health. Responding to the admonition of researchers in the field, this study proposes and tests an initial model of psycho-spiritual abuse. The proposed model of psycho-spiritual abuse hypothesizes that religious beliefs such as the theological doctrine of original sin, fundamentalist ideology, lack of self-forgiveness, and negative God-representations, in addition to familial upbringing, may negatively impact an individual’s view of self, thus fostering psychological distress. In particular, this study considers scrupulosity disorder, depression, and shame to be the primary psychiatric maladies engendered by psycho-spiritual abuse. Two hundred thirty five parishioners from 18 Christian faith groups across the United States participated in an online survey consisting of standardized measures of original sin, fundamentalism, self-forgiveness, god image, perceived parental rearing, scrupulosity, depression, and shame. A canonical correlation analysis was conducted because it allows for the simultaneously testing of the relationship between the criterion variables (i.e., scrupulosity, depression, and shame) and predictor variables (i.e., original sin, religious fundamentalism, self-forgiveness, parental rearing perceived as rejecting, emotionally warm, and overprotective, as well as accepting, presence, and challenging God-representations) of interest. Results reveal that greater degrees of belief in the theological doctrine of original sin as well as greater adherence to religious fundamentalist ideologies are directly and indirectly associated with scrupulous and depressive symptomatology as well as with shame-prone feelings and actions in unhealthy ways. Results also indicate that God-representations also play an essential role in scrupulosity, depression, and shame in hypothesized ways. Hence, such results further implicate the centrality of religious ideologies in the expression of psychopathology. Additionally, results seem to suggest that the direct familial contribution to the expression of psychopathology among parishioners appears to be weaker (i.e., secondary) than that of religious beliefs; this statement is based on the fact that perceived parental rearing practices were secondary contributors to the synthetic variable of psycho-spiritual beliefs in both Function 1 and 2. Finally, these results suggest that the primary mechanism through which religious beliefs as well as familial upbringing impact parishioner psychological well-being is the resulting view of the self they engender. Therefore, results suggest that the proposed model of psycho-spiritual abuse is sound. / text

Introdução e justificativa. A dissociação pode ser definida como a temporária desconexão (patológica ou não patológica) entre módulos psíquicos e / ou motores que se encontram, em geral, sob o controle voluntário ou acesso direto da consciência, do repertório comportamental usual e / ou do autoconceito (Krippner, 1997). As pesquisas internacionais têm sustentado sua recorrente associação com determinadas crenças e experiências alegadamente paranormais e / ou de cunho religioso. Tais crenças e experiências estão também frequentemente correlacionadas com outras variáveis ligadas à dissociação como sintomas depressivos e ansiógenos, queixas somáticas, trauma infantil e transliminaridade. O fato de algumas pessoas apresentarem características psicológicas que as predispõem a tais ocorrências sugere a importância de se compreender melhor como nelas se dá a formação da identidade, seu desenvolvimento cognitivo, emocional e social, de modo a permitir uma abordagem mais ampla de outros aspectos envolvidos nessas alegações e na assunção de várias dessas crenças. A revisão da literatura indica grande quantidade de estudos quantitativos e poucos estudos de natureza qualitativa, com a consequente ausência de aprofundamento em aspectos biográficos e sociais. Até o momento, não existem estudos brasileiros sobre as relações entre dissociação, crença paranormal e transliminaridade. Objetivos. Investigar as relações existentes entre dissociação (e seus tipos específicos), crença e formação da identidade em grupos religiosos e não religiosos de participantes brasileiros; Pesquisar os possíveis fatores etiológicos das experiências dissociativas e das crenças e experiências paranormais, bem como suas interações, a partir do estudo de variáveis psicopatológicas e psicossociais diversas; Investigar o papel dos processos inconscientes na formação e manutenção das crenças e experiências paranormais; Verificar a extensão e o impacto dos processos dissociativos e das crenças e práticas paranormais e religiosas na formação da identidade e na história de vida, com especial atenção ao desenvolvimento afetivo / emocional e social do indivíduo; Aprofundar a compreensão do contexto grupal e social de inserção dos participantes, de modo a averiguar como tal contexto contribui na construção de suas crenças e experiências, e de como estas afetam ou determinam, em contrapartida, esse mesmo contexto; Pesquisar empiricamente o nível de adesão a crenças religiosas tradicionais e outras categorias de crença paranormal em grupos religiosos e não religiosos de participantes brasileiros. Método. De modo a permitir certa generalização para os dados obtidos na pesquisa, bem como, paralelamente, um aprofundamento nos processos individuais e coletivos de construção da identidade, utilizou-se de uma proposta de investigação tanto quantitativa quanto qualitativa. Por meio de questionário sociodemográfico e escalas, compôs-se a frente quantitativa do estudo. No que diz respeito à frente qualitativa, empregou-se entrevistas biográficas abertas, questionário semi-dirigido sobre experiências anômalas / paranormais e observações de campo. Pressupondo-se que determinados contextos religiosos são aparentemente mais receptivos e estimuladores de vivências dissociativas, e que afiliações religiosas mais tradicionais ou mesmo grupos ateístas tenderiam a estimular menos esse tipo de experiências, os participantes do estudo foram divididos em três grupos, com vistas a uma análise mais detalhada dessas diferenças: grupo um (espíritas, umbandistas e membros de círculos esotéricos e ocultistas), grupo dois (outros religiosos e pessoas sem afiliação definida) e grupo três (ateus e agnósticos), abrangendo um total de 1450 respondentes para a frente quantitativa. O único critério de exclusão foi a idade (18 anos ou mais). O número de entrevistas biográficas (22) e de observações de campo (31) foi determinado com base no critério de saturação. No caso das entrevistas, considerou-se também certo equilíbrio em termos de gênero, idade e número de participantes acima e abaixo da nota de corte utilizada para diferenciar high e low scorers em dissociação. Para efetuarmos a análise dos dados, recorremos às hipóteses propaladas na literatura psicológica e sociológica recente acerca das crenças e experiências paranormais e de sua relação com os fenômenos dissociativos, buscando avaliar até que ponto nossos dados confirmavam ou não tais modelos hipotéticos. Nossas avaliações também tiveram como pano de fundo trabalhos que versam sobre os processos de construção psicossocial da identidade no mundo contemporâneo e sobre as transformações mais recentes na família e na religião (Bauman, 2005, 2007; Castells, 1999; Giddens, 2002; Paiva, 2007; Poster, 1979), bem como sobre novas formas de subjetivação e sofrimento psíquico (Roudinesco, 2006), incluindo contribuições de teorias psicodinâmicas atualmente em voga, em particular a teoria do apego (Granqvist & Kirkpatrick, 2008) e a teoria da gestão do terror (Pyzscynski, Solomon & Greenberg, 2003). Principais resultados. O grupo um e o grupo dois não diferiram em termos de dissociação cognitiva, mas ambos pontuaram acima dos ateus e agnósticos. Não obstante, o grupo um obteve média significativamente maior em dissociação somatoforme (sintomas conversivos e psicossomáticos), crença paranormal e transliminaridade comparativamente aos demais grupos. Não houve diferença entre os grupos para os relatos de experiência traumática na infância. A escala de experiências dissociativas correlacionou positiva e significativamente, embora em diferentes graus de magnitude, com a crença paranormal, a transliminaridade, a medida composta de sintomas psicossomáticos, a escala de sintomas conversivos e várias formas de experiência traumática na infância. Todavia, quando controlados os efeitos da transliminaridade, a correlação entre dissociação e crença se desfez, apontando para um possível paper mediador da transliminaridade na relação entre as duas variáveis. A dissociação (somatoforme e cognitiva) não foi elevada nos líderes dos grupos visitados, mas se observou histórico de aparente somatização em alguns casos. Indivíduos com escores elevados na escala de experiências dissociativas denotaram personalidade regredida e impulsiva, além de relatarem mais experiências anômalas espontâneas. Discussão. Sugere-se a existência de dois tipos de dissociação, uma tendencial, outra contextual. Sugere-se também a existência de uma série de mecanismos psicossociais de mimetismo, desempenho de papéis e gerenciamento da impressão que podem passar por fenômenos dissociativos, embora não o sejam. Relaciona-se o fenômeno da crença paranormal, do sincretismo religioso e da dissociação a variáveis sócio-históricas mais amplas, como a procura por sensação nas sociedades contemporâneas, certas consequências do processo de secularização, as relações de consumo, identidades líquidas e uma compensação frente a padrões de apego familiares desorganizados. Relaciona-se a personalidade regredida e impulsiva dos high scorers a formas de defesa narcísicas, a uma maior flexibilidade da barreira entre consciência e inconsciente e a uma manutenção da infância e da fantasia na vida adulta. Associa-se o aumento das crenças paranormais e religiosas com a idade à saliência da morte (teoria da gestão do terror), e certos aspectos da psicodinâmica adolescente ao ateísmo, que se mostrou mais frequente entre adultos jovens e adolescentes em conflito com suas famílias / Introduction and rationale. Dissociative experiences can be defined as reported experiences and observed behaviours that seem to exist apart from, or appear to have been disconnected from, the mainstream, or flow, of ones conscious awareness, behavioural repertoire, and/or self-identity (Krippner, 1997). Research has long sustained a positive relationship between dissociation and paranormal beliefs and experiences. Allegations of paranormal phenomena are also frequently correlated with dissociation-related variables such as depression and anxiety symptoms, somatic complaints, childhood trauma and transliminality. The fact that some people have psychological characteristics that predispose them to such occurrences suggests the importance of studying their identity formation and cognitive, emotional and psychsocial development in order to gain insight into other aspects involved in the assumption of paranormal beliefs. The literature on paranormal beliefs indicates large amount of quantitative studies and few qualitative data, with a consequent gap in biographical and cultural aspects. The majority of studies have also neglected contextual and social variables which are better understood through interviews and ethnographic observations. There is virtually no Brazilian studies on the subject of dissociation, paranormal belief and transliminality. Objectives. 1) To investigate the relationship between dissociation, paranormal belief and associated variables, including its possible impact on the life history and identity of Brazilian respondents from different religious and non-religious groups; 2) To identify some of the possible etiological factors underlying the presumed association between dissociativ eexperiences and paranormal beliefs, from the study of several psychosocial and psychopathological variables; 3) To investigate the role of unconscious and psychodynamic processes in the formation and maintenance of paranormal beliefs and experiences; 4) To improve the understanding of the social context underlying religious and non-religious dissociative practices, in order to ascertain how such a context assist in the construction of certain experiences or beliefs, and, on the other hand, how these beliefs and experiences affect or determine the same context; 5) To explore the level of adherence to traditional religious beliefs and other categories of paranormal belief in religious and non-religious groups of Brazilian participants; 6) To compose a Brazilian sample that could map the associations between the aforementioned variables, aiming to a comparison with data from other sociocultural contexts. Methods. A quali-quantitative approach was proposed. Through socio-demographic questionnaires and psychological scales, it was designed a quantitative online questionnaire. Regarding qualitative techniques, the study employed 1) biographical interviews, 2) semi-structured interviews concerning the phenomenology of paranormal / anomalous experiences and 3) field observations. Assuming that certain religious contexts are apparently more receptive to dissociative experiences, and that more traditional religious affiliations or even atheist groups tend to discourage such experiences, the participants were divided into three groups, with a view to a more detailed analysis of these differences: group one (also called dissociators: spiritualists, umbandists, members of esoteric groups, catholic carismatics and pentecostals); group two (members of other religious affiliations and people without defined philosophical or religious affiliation) and group three (atheists and agnostics), covering a total of 1450 respondents. The only exclusion criterion was age (18-years-old or above). The number of biographical interviews (22) and field observations (31) was determined on the basis of data saturation criterion. For the qualitative interviews, a balance was seek in terms of gender, age and number of participants above or below the cutoff (>= 20) used to differentiate high and low scorers on the Dissociative Experiences Scale. To perform data analysis, we considered some of the most important sociological and psychological hypotheses concerning the relationship between dissociation and paranormal beliefs and experiences, assessing the extent to which our data confirmed or not such hypothetical models. We were also based on works dealing with the psychosocial construction of identity in the contemporary world and the most recent changes in family and religion (Bauman, 2005, 2007, Castells, 1999; Giddens, 2002; Paiva 2007; Poster, 1979), as well as new forms of subjectivity and 7 psychological distress (Roudinesco, 2006), including contributions from psychodynamic theories currently in vogue, particularly the Attachment theory (Granqvist & Kirkpatrick, 2008) and the Terror Management Theory (Pyzscynski, Solomon & Greenberg, 2003). Main results. The group one and group two did not differ in terms of cognitive dissociation, but both scored above atheists and agnostics. Nevertheless, the group one scored significantly higher in somatoform dissociation (conversion and psychosomatic symptoms), paranormal belief, syncretism and transliminality compared to the other groups. There was no difference between the groups for reports of childhood traumatic experiences. The Dissociative Experiences Scale correlated positively and significantly, though in different degrees of magnitude, with paranormal belief, transliminality, the composite measure of psychosomatic symptoms (somatization, depression and anxiety combined), an original scale of conversion symptoms and various forms of childhood traumatic experience. However, when controlling for the effects of transliminality, the correlation between dissociation and belief disappeared, indicating a possible mediator effect of transliminality on the relationship between the other two variables. Dissociation (somatoform and cognitive) was not high on the leaders of the groups visited, but a history of apparent somatization was observed in some of these cases. High scorers on the dissociative experiences scale denoted regressive and impulsive behaviors, and reported more spontaneous anomalous experiences. Discussion. We suggest the existence of two types of dissociation: tendential and contextual. It is also suggested the existence of a number of psychosocial mechanisms of mimicry, role playing and impression management which may be wrongly interpreted as dissociative phenomena. Paranormal beliefs, religious syncretism, new age mentality and dissociative tendencies are hypothesized to be influenced by broader socio-historical variables such secularization and globalization, consumer relations, liquid identities and a compensation for disorganized attachment patterns developed in childhood. The regressive and impulsive personality of high scorers is described in terms of narcissistic defense mechanisms, flexibility of boundaries between conscious and unconscious processes, and a tendency to extend childhood fantasy into adult life. The increase in paranormal belief with age is explained as a result of mortality salience (terror management theory), but also in terms of a generational conflict, as atheism showed to be more frequent among adolescents and young adults in disagreement with their families

Many studies have been made on leaders in a school situation and on the desirable traits which go together to make for good leadership qualities. However, very few have dealt with the relationship between leaders, church affiliation, and religious beliefs, which is the main purpose of this study.