Rachel Sing-Kiat Ting

IS SUFFERING GOOD? AN EXPLORATIVE STUDY ON THE RELIGIOUS PERSECUTION AMONG CHINESE PASTORS

Human suffering is a major concern to the fields of psychology and theology; however, the effect of suffering is controversial to many. In this study, nine Chinese pastors, who had experienced religious persecution to the extent of confinement, were interviewed about their experiences during the persecution, the effect related to their suffering, and their ways of coping. The transcripts were coded into major themes by adapting a hermeneutic phenomenology method with a committee approach. Results showed that the suffering in religious persecution involved losses of personal freedom, physical trauma, spiritual isolation, and collapse of social support. Eight themes emerged as unique ways to respond and cope during the suffering–-experiencing Gods presence, letting go and surrender to God, identification with the passion of the Christ and His disciples, preparing to suffer, normalizing their suffering, worshipping and reciting Scriptures, fellowships and family support, and believing in a greater purpose. The first three of the coping methods significantly predicted positive affect. The pastors also reported transformation after the suffering, which can be categorized into four themes–-switching the focus from self to the churches, embracing the humility and limits within oneself, increased trust in Gods provision, and redefining their views on suffering. This study sheds light on post-traumatic growth and religious coping. Christian counselors are also encouraged to explore the meaning and emotion of suffering in therapy, as well as to utilize culturally sensitive coping mechanisms.

Narratives of Suffering: A Psycholinguistic Analysis of Two Yi Religious Communities in Southwest China

In China, there are 56 ethnic groups, among which Yi people are the seventh largest ethnic group who reside mainly in the most isolated and deprived regions. They are being marginalized with labels such as ‘AIDS/HIV,’ ‘drug addicts,’ ‘violent,’ ‘lazy’ and so on. This study adopted a psycholinguistic approach to examine cognitive processing of emotional information through an analysis of the narratives of suffering in two religious communities, Yi-Bimo and Yi-Christian, in Southwest China. It was predicted and found that in time of adversity, these two religious groups expressed their emotions differently in their narratives of suffering. The Yi-Bimo group tended to express their emotion through implicit codes such as talking about emotionally loaded events without naming their emotions, whereas the Yi-Christian group utilized a significantly more extensive lexicon of emotions. Their cognitive attribution of suffering was also shaped by their social ties and religious approaches. The Yi-Bimo group tended to rely on supernatural reasons to explain their suffering, whereas the Yi-Christian group made more use of internal attributions and life review. In terms of help-seeking methods, these two groups did not differ in their utilization of strong-ties relationship, but Yi-Christians included more weak ties as their resources. The Yi-Bimo utilized significantly more external interventions (e.g. rituals) than the Yi-Christian, while the latter utilized significantly more internal manipulations (e.g. prayer) than the former. In conclusion, as a cultural system, religion coevolves with the ecological niche and cognitive styles that have pervasive impact on the emotional expressions of the local community. * Author Note: Rachel Sing-Kiat Ting, China University of Political Sciences and Law, Beijing, China; Louise Sundararajan, Rochester, New York; Qingbo Huang, Institute of Population Studies, Peking University, Beijing, China. This paper is supported by Fuller Travis Research Initiative Grant on Psychology of Religion in China. Ethical approval was obtained through the first author’s institute. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Rachel Sing-Kiat Ting, 12, Jalan Lun, Sibu 96000, Sarawak, Malaysia. Tel: 1 (881) 053-3531; Email: racheltsk@cupl.edu.cn.

Celebrating Life and Death: Resiliency among Post-Earthquake Tibetans' Religious Community

When the Sichuan earthquake occurred in 2008, some “Chinese psychological experts” brought harm to the local survivors by immediately focusing on the pathological effects of trauma and on diagnosing PTSD. Since then, more awareness of a culturally-sensitive approach to psychological relief work during emergencies and disasters has been raised locally and internationally. In 2010, when an earthquake shook the Tibetan community of Yushu in Qinghai, China, my on-site involvement in long-term voluntary relief work there allowed me to gather anthropological data on the survivors’ healing process as they dealt with loss and poverty. In this paper, I have used a case-study approach to illustrate elements of resiliency within the community of Tibetan survivors. Four distinctive vignettes are narrated to highlight the Tibetan “open-hearted” attitude as a way to celebrate life and embrace grief. The first case illustrates a “good death” of a terminally ill Tibetan survivor and how her sky burial modeled a cosmology and spirituality of “celebrating death.” The next 3 cases are stories of “celebrating life” with emerging themes of resilience, including receiving support from extended families, living life for a deceased, and finding happiness in helping others. This study suggests that modern psychologists have much to learn from the life-celebrating and resilience of this ethnic community in China. When providing psychological relief aid, a new paradigm of care is needed, and religion could play a pivotal role in recovering the strengths of the suffering individuals.

A pilot study on the functional performance and acceptability of an innovative female condom (Wondaleaf ® ) in Malaysia

Background Female condom (FC) has been available for over 30 years, but it still lacks wide acceptability. To overcome misdirection and invagination occurring in FC and to provide a wider area of protection, Wondaleaf® (WL), a new-generation adhesive FC, was recently invented. This pioneering study sought to assess the acceptability and functional performance of WL among Malaysian women. Methods A mixed method survey was conducted in three cities of Malaysia, recruiting sexually active heterosexual women, aged 18–50, by snowball sampling method. Participants were provided with WL and initially surveyed to rate its performance in five coital usages over 2 months. After that, the participants underwent a second survey to rate their satisfaction and acceptability toward WL. Descriptive statistics on clinical failure rates were tabulated with correlational analysis performed to identify major variables contributing to WL’s functional performance and acceptability. Results Out of the 51 enrolled participants, 31 women completed the required surveys. WL’s total clinical failure rate was 2.60% (out of 155 condom uses) with above-average ratings of functional performance. The ease of use significantly correlated with ratings of no slippage and no misdirection. The confidence in WL’s safety features significantly correlated with a sense of empowerment and protection. Conclusion WL has a relatively low risk of clinical failures and an overall favorable acceptability among Malaysian women. However, this study also showed that its future usage largely depends on partner acceptability. It may have the potential of complementing the existing barrier toward contraceptive use. Further studies are needed to understand the global acceptability of WL.

Narratives of Suffering

This chapter narrates the suffering events from two Yi ethnic religious communities using both case study and group comparison approaches. It presents the qualitative coding results of the interview transcripts from the two research sites—Meigu (Sichuan) and Luquan (Yunnan). The major types of suffering from both sites include financial difficulties, physical illness of self and family, death of close family members, physical pains, structural oppression, and more. To show the similarity and difference between these two communities in terms of their current predicaments and historical trauma, a cross-sectional comparison on the frequency of suffering events between the samples from Meigu and Luquan, respectively, is reported.

Emotions of Suffering

This chapter goes into more detail on the connection between culture, cognition, and emotion, according to the theoretical framework of ecological rationality (Sundararajan, Understanding emotion in Chinese culture: Thinking through psychology. New York, NY: Springer, 2015). It reports the results from psycho-linguistic analysis of the emotional expressions of suffering. Consistent with the ecological rationality hypothesis, which predicted that forms of emotion expression would differ across religious communities, and also consistent with the cognitive differences between the two groups reported in previous chapters, Yi-Christians were found to use relatively more emotional words, whereas Yi-Bimo dwelt relatively more on details of emotion-laden events. Informed by Peircean semiotics, the authors interpret these results in terms of the health implications of religion as a sign system. More specifically, to the extent that their religion capitalizes on external resources (rituals, religious experts, clan, etc.) for the maintenance of its integrity as a sign, the Yi-Bimo are more vulnerable to rapid urbanization, which is destructive of community and inimical to traditional religious symbols—now branded “superstitions” (mi xin). These factors may have contributed to the Yi-Bimo’s relative susceptibility to the pernicious consequences of globalization, such as AIDS and drug addiction.

Help-Seeking in Suffering

This chapter examines the help-seeking behaviors of the two Yi communities. Religious communities that used to serve as buffers against stressors for Yi people were undermined for a period of time in China. Hence the research team approached the religious leaders in focus group interviews, to inquire about the availability of various resources in their respective religious traditions. Thematic analysis of the interviews, on help-seeking behaviors in time of suffering, revealed that strong-ties and weak-ties are resources differentially utilized by the two Yi communities. Results from the psycho-linguistic analysis suggested that Yi-Bimo tended to seek help from strong-ties, and depend on the manipulation of external resources in time of suffering, whereas Yi-Christians drew their strength from both church members and family, as well as internal resources such as faith and prayer.

Suffering and Worldviews

This chapter addresses the worldviews in the traditional Yi-Bimo religion and Christian doctrines, especially as regards the explanation of suffering. It uses vignettes from the Yi-Bimo and Yi-Christian groups to illustrate their cognitive attribution of the causes of suffering. It reports the results from focused group study with religious leaders from both sites. Yi-Bimo priests believe misfortunes stem from supernatural causes, whereas Yi-Christian pastors believe human suffering has a divine purpose. Themes based on coding of the transcripts of the semi-structured interviews with members of the Yi-Bimo and Yi-Christian groups are presented. Results from the psycho-linguistic analysis suggest a difference in causal attribution due to a difference in cognitive style between the two groups—Yi-Bimo tend to prefer a perceptual and concrete approach, whereas Yi-Christians lean toward a conceptual and abstract way of thinking.

Culture, Cognition, and Emotion in China's Religious Ethnic Minorities

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Toward a Reflexive Indigenous Psychology

price are net prices, subject to local VAT. Prices indicated with * include VAT for books; the €(D) includes 7% for Germany, the €(A) includes 10% for Austria. Prices indicated with ** include VAT for electronic products; 19% for Germany, 20% for Austria. All prices exclusive of carriage charges. Prices and other details are subject to change without notice. All errors and omissions excepted. R.S.K. Ting & L. Sundararajan Culture, Cognition, and Emotion in Chinas Religious Ethnic Minorities Voices of Suffering among the Yi