ACP2014


“Individual, Community and Society: Conflict, Resolution and Synergy”

March 27–30, 2014 | Osaka International Conference Center, Osaka, Japan

Conflict is an integral part of the human condition. The universal struggle between our personal selves – who we are as unique, separate and different from others, with our specific blend of experiences, abilities, attitudes, aspirations, needs and wants – and our social selves, intricately connected to, and interdependent on, others – our loved ones, our friends and favoured groups, our communities and cultures – leads inevitably to internal as well as interpersonal conflict.

Conflict among our communities and societies is also natural, given that these groups are founded on commonality – of geography, values, attitudes, beliefs, aspirations – and differentiated from others based on these. Diversity, however, though it may lead to conflict, plays an important role in the flourishing of communities and societies. One of the challenges of modern society is harnessing the synergy that emerges from the interaction of these differences.

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Conference Report

ACP2014 was held alongside ACERP2014 and attracted around 310 delegates from over 35 countries, offering a diverse variety of papers that encouraged interdisciplinary reflection and discussion around the conference theme of “Individual, Community & Society: Conflict, Resolution & Synergy”. ACP2014 provided the many researchers, academics, scholars and practitioners who attended with an excellent opportunity for intellectual discovery and the development of collaborative links and connections.

In his Keynote Presentation, “Blameworthy Character Invites Harsher Punishment: A Social Psychological Approach to Punitive Motives against Individuals and Groups”, Professor Minoru Karasawa from the Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University, Japan, addressed how our intuitive judgements of fairness is formed against unwanted or unlikeable characters within the context of criminal behaviour. As part of an interdisciplinary plenary session, our ACERP2014 Keynote Speaker, Professor Frank S. Ravitch of Michigan State University College of Law, USA, spoke on the constitutional and ethical struggles that lie within Japanese government officials’ visits to the controversial Yasukuni Shrine and gave delegates a fascinating legal insight into the challenging issue of separation of religion and state.

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Speakers

Keynote Speakers

Minoru Karasawa
Nagoya University, Japan

Minoru Karasawa received his Master’s degree from Kyoto University and Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles, both majoring in psychology. After teaching at Aichi Gakuin University and Kobe University, he has been at Nagoya University since 2006. Dr Karasawa’s primary research area has been social cognition, covering various issues such as social categorization, intergroup cognition and emotions, and the role of culture and language in social inferences. He is also heading a research project on the psychological mechanism underlying judgments of responsibility and punitive motives in legal contexts.He has been an Associate Editor of the Asian Journal of Social Psychology and the Editor of the Japanese Journal of Social Psychology. Academic associations that he has served as a board member include the Japanese Society of Social Psychology, the Japanese Group Dynamics Association, and the Japanese Society for Law and Psychology. He has been a member of the Science Council of Japan since 2006.

Frank S. Ravitch
Michigan State University College of Law, USA

Frank S. Ravitch is Professor of Law and the Walter H. Stowers Chair in Law and Religion at the Michigan State University College of Law, and Director of the Kyoto, Japan Summer Program. He is the author of several books: Marketing Intelligent Design: Law And The Creationist Agenda (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2011); Masters Of Illusion: The Supreme Court And The Religion Clauses (NYU Press 2007); Law And Religion, A Reader: Cases, Concepts, And Theory, 2nd Ed. (West 2008) (First Ed. 2004); Employment Discrimination Law (Prentice Hall 2005) (with Pamela Sumners and Janis McDonald); and School Prayer And Discrimination: The Civil Rights Of Religious Minorities And Dissenters (Northeastern University Press, 1999 & paperback edition 2001). Professor Ravitch has also published a number of law review articles addressing U.S. and Japanese constitutional law, law & religion, and civil rights law in leading journals. Moreover, he has written a number of amicus briefs addressing constitutional issues to the United States Supreme Court.

In 2001, Professor Ravitch was named a Fulbright Scholar and served on the Faculty of Law at Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan. Currently, he directs the Michigan State University College of Law Japan Summer program. Professor Ravitch regularly serves as an expert for print and broadcast media, and speaks on topics related to U.S. Constitutional Law, Japanese Law, and Israeli Law to a wide range of national, international and local organizations. He speaks English, Japanese, and Hebrew.


Featured Speakers

Jiro Takai
Nagoya University, Japan

Jiro Takai is professor of social psychology at Nagoya University, and received his PhD from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has served in the executive committees of the Japan Society for Social Psychology, the Japan Group Dynamics Society, the Japan Intercultural Education Society, the Communication Association of Japan, and the Japan-US Communication Association (affiliate of National Communication Association). Although he was born in Japan, he spent 15 years as a youth growing up in Canada, and has also spent two years living in the United States. Because of such a background, he has an interest in cross-cultural matters, particularly in the context of interpersonal communication as well as research interests in interpersonal competence, self-presentation and Multi-faceted self concept.

Monty P. Satiadarma
Tarumanagara University, Indonesia

Dr Monty P. Satiadarma is an academic and psychologist who has lectured around the world, and who continues to practice in his native Indonesia. He was the Dean of the department of psychology at Tarumanagara University from 1997-2005, and Rector of the University from 2008-2010.Dr Satiadarma has a particular interest in educational psychology, and in music and art therapy, methods with which he treated survivors of the Indonesian tsunami on behalf of the International Red Cross and the United Nations. He is a board member and area chair of the International Council of Psychology, and a founder and board member of the Asian Psychology Association.

Dexter Da Silva
Keisen University, Japan

Dr Dexter Da Silva is currently Professor of Educational Psychology at Keisen University in Tokyo. He has taught EFL at junior high school, language schools, and universities in Sydney, and for the past two decades has been living and teaching at the tertiary level in Japan. Professor Da Silva was educated at the University of Sydney (BA, Dip. Ed., M.A.), and the University of Western Sydney (PhD) He has presented and co-presented at conferences in Asia, Australia, Europe and the U.S., and written or co-written articles and book chapters on education-related topics, such as trust, student motivation, autonomy, and content-based language teaching. He is a past editor and current associate editor of On CUE Journal, regular reviewer for conferences and proceedings, and recent co-chair of the 2011 CUE Conference on Motivation.

Kurt Bickford
Clinical Psychologist & Independent Medical Examiner

For Dr Kurt R. Bickford the pursuit of higher education is really the pursuit of knowledge leading to competence in training others to maximize their own personal growth and development. While education at the earlier levels (high school through bachelor’s level) was often boring and uninteresting, advanced training became increasingly intriguing and rewarding. Dr Bickford has earned two Master’s degrees and a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology, with specialization training in a number of areas including neuropsychology, neurotherapy, hypnosis, family systems and couples work. In addition to professional standing as a licensed Clinical Psychologist, he is also a licensed Marriage, Family and Child Therapist, a credentialed Educational Psychologist, and credentialed teacher. He is also an Independent Medical Examiner for the State of California.

Dr Bickford has practiced in the profession of psychology at a variety of levels since 1974, including positions at California State Hospital (Pacific State), Veterans Administration Hospital (J. Pettis VA Hospital), San Bernardino County Department of Behavioral Health, community clinics, teaching, counseling and educational psychologist positions in four California school districts, and a private practice in Redlands, California for the past twenty-five years. This practice has evolved to include executive and Consciousness coaching, working with private industry, educational institutions and healthcare systems. Dr Bickford has also served as an expert witness for the Superior Court system in California. He continues to pursue advanced training from masters in the field, and is now teaching and training others in the understanding of human behavior, and the path of higher consciousness through a seminar series and a monthly radio show. He believes that all things start with the self/Self.

Tracy Covington
Loma Linda University Medical Center (LLUMC), USA

Dr Tracy J. Covington traveled an eclectic path, pursuing many interests before finding her passion in the field of psychology. Upon completion of a Master’s Degree followed by a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology, she began her career as an Assistant Professor and Staff Psychologist at Loma Linda University Medical Center (LLUMC), Department of Anesthesia, in Southern California. During her tenure at LLUMC, she enjoyed opportunities integrating psychological concepts with a diversity of chronic pain conditions and life threatening illnesses. This included the creation of Transitions, a clinical support group specific to young adults challenged by severe health conditions such as cancer. With her life and business partner, Dr Kurt Bickford, she developed a rehabilitation center for the treatment of chronic pain and stress conditions where she developed and utilized an inter-disciplinary approach, now a standard in the industry. Opportunities to share this treatment model and research were offered at both national and international levels. Her private practice of 23 years has been a composite of services including psychotherapy, applied physiology, executive and organizational coaching, collaboration on professional monthly seminars, a monthly radio show and a variety of publications emphasizing consciousness, psychology, temperament and the possibilities of the human endeavor. Dr Covington is a licensed Clinical Psychologist who is Board Certified in Biofeedback and a Diplomate in Pain Management.

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Organising Committee

ACP2014

Minoru Karasawa
Nagoya University, Japan

Minoru Karasawa received his Master’s degree from Kyoto University and Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles, both majoring in psychology. After teaching at Aichi Gakuin University and Kobe University, he has been at Nagoya University since 2006. Dr Karasawa’s primary research area has been social cognition, covering various issues such as social categorization, intergroup cognition and emotions, and the role of culture and language in social inferences. He is also heading a research project on the psychological mechanism underlying judgments of responsibility and punitive motives in legal contexts.He has been an Associate Editor of the Asian Journal of Social Psychology and the Editor of the Japanese Journal of Social Psychology. Academic associations that he has served as a board member include the Japanese Society of Social Psychology, the Japanese Group Dynamics Association, and the Japanese Society for Law and Psychology. He has been a member of the Science Council of Japan since 2006.

Jiro Takai
Nagoya University, Japan

Jiro Takai is professor of social psychology at Nagoya University, and received his PhD from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has served in the executive committees of the Japan Society for Social Psychology, the Japan Group Dynamics Society, the Japan Intercultural Education Society, the Communication Association of Japan, and the Japan-US Communication Association (affiliate of National Communication Association). Although he was born in Japan, he spent 15 years as a youth growing up in Canada, and has also spent two years living in the United States. Because of such a background, he has an interest in cross-cultural matters, particularly in the context of interpersonal communication as well as research interests in interpersonal competence, self-presentation and Multi-faceted self concept.

Dexter Da Silva
Keisen University, Japan

Dr Dexter Da Silva is currently Professor of Educational Psychology at Keisen University in Tokyo. He has taught EFL at junior high school, language schools, and universities in Sydney, and for the past two decades has been living and teaching at the tertiary level in Japan. Professor Da Silva was educated at the University of Sydney (BA, Dip. Ed., M.A.), and the University of Western Sydney (PhD) He has presented and co-presented at conferences in Asia, Australia, Europe and the U.S., and written or co-written articles and book chapters on education-related topics, such as trust, student motivation, autonomy, and content-based language teaching. He is a past editor and current associate editor of On CUE Journal, regular reviewer for conferences and proceedings, and recent co-chair of the 2011 CUE Conference on Motivation.

Monty P. Satiadarma
Tarumanagara University, Indonesia

Dr Monty P. Satiadarma is an academic and psychologist who has lectured around the world, and who continues to practice in his native Indonesia. He was the Dean of the department of psychology at Tarumanagara University from 1997-2005, and Rector of the University from 2008-2010.Dr Satiadarma has a particular interest in educational psychology, and in music and art therapy, methods with which he treated survivors of the Indonesian tsunami on behalf of the International Red Cross and the United Nations. He is a board member and area chair of the International Council of Psychology, and a founder and board member of the Asian Psychology Association.


ACERP2014

Stuart D. B. Picken
The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Japan

Stuart D. B. Picken is the founding chairman of the IAFOR International Advisory Board. The author of a dozen books and over 130 articles and papers, he is considered one of the foremost scholars on Japan, China, and Globalization in East Asia. As an academic, Professor Picken has devoted more than 30 years to scholarship in Japan, notably as a professor at the International Christian University in Tokyo, where he specialized in ethics and Japanese thought, and as International Adviser to the High Priest of Tsubaki Grand Shrine (Mie prefecture). He has also served as a consultant to various businesses, including Jun Ashida Ltd., Mitsui Mining & Smelting Corp., Kobe Steel, and Japan Air Lines. In November 2008, the Government of Japan awarded Professor Picken the Order of the Sacred Treasure for his pioneering research, and outstanding contribution to the promotion of friendship and mutual understanding between Japan and the UK. The honour is normally reserved for Japanese citizens and is a mark of the utmost respect in which Professor Picken is held by the Japanese Government. Although now resident in Scotland, Professor Picken maintains his interests in Japan, as Chair of the Japan Society of Scotland, and through his work with IAFOR. A fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society, he lives near Glasgow with his wife and two children.

Frank S. Ravitch
Michigan State University College of Law, USA

Frank S. Ravitch is Professor of Law and the Walter H. Stowers Chair in Law and Religion at the Michigan State University College of Law, and Director of the Kyoto, Japan Summer Program. He is the author of several books: Marketing Intelligent Design: Law And The Creationist Agenda (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2011); Masters Of Illusion: The Supreme Court And The Religion Clauses (NYU Press 2007); Law And Religion, A Reader: Cases, Concepts, And Theory, 2nd Ed. (West 2008) (First Ed. 2004); Employment Discrimination Law (Prentice Hall 2005) (with Pamela Sumners and Janis McDonald); and School Prayer And Discrimination: The Civil Rights Of Religious Minorities And Dissenters (Northeastern University Press, 1999 & paperback edition 2001). Professor Ravitch has also published a number of law review articles addressing U.S. and Japanese constitutional law, law & religion, and civil rights law in leading journals. Moreover, he has written a number of amicus briefs addressing constitutional issues to the United States Supreme Court.

In 2001, Professor Ravitch was named a Fulbright Scholar and served on the Faculty of Law at Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan. Currently, he directs the Michigan State University College of Law Japan Summer program. Professor Ravitch regularly serves as an expert for print and broadcast media, and speaks on topics related to U.S. Constitutional Law, Japanese Law, and Israeli Law to a wide range of national, international and local organizations. He speaks English, Japanese, and Hebrew.

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Conference Videos

Minoru Karasawa

Ordinary people typically think that it is fair to punish an individual, and a group, who has certain undesirable characters such as immoral proclivity. In this presentation, Dr Karasawa discusses why and how this intuitive judgment of fairness against unwanted character is formed. He points out that there are at least two different kinds of views that may govern punitive motives; that is, utilitarian judgments and the sense of retributive justice. He then present findings from social psychological studies that demonstrate different roles of these two views that lead to harsher punishment of immoral or inhuman criminal defendants. Dr Karasawa also points out the lay tendency to regard social groups and organizations (e.g., corporates) as entitative social agents, just like individual actors. This may lead to blaming the group as an independent and responsible entity in case of its wrongdoing, and thereby resulting in actual punitive behavior such as boycotting. Theoretical models as well as empirical evidence will be presented to elucidate psychological processes underlying the animating perception of group agents. Possibilities of interplay between psychological studies of person/group perception and those of morality judgments will be discussed.

Dr Minoru Karasawa’s primary research area is social cognition, covering various issues such as social categorization, intergroup cognition and emotions, and the role of culture and language in social inferences. He is also heading a research project on the psychological mechanism underlying judgments of responsibility and punitive motives in legal contexts. He has been an Associate Editor of the Asian Journal of Social Psychology and the Editor of the Japanese Journal of Social Psychology. Academic associations that he has served as a board member include the Japanese Society of Social Psychology, the Japanese Group Dynamics Association, and the Japanese Society for Law and Psychology. He has been a member of the Science Council of Japan since 2006.


Interview with Minoru Karasawa

In his Keynote Presentation at The Asian Conference on Psychology & Behavioral Sciences 2014 (ACP2014) Dr Minoru Karasawa spoke on the issue of fairness and bias when choosing punitive measures as a form of punishment. In this interview IAFOR Executive Director, Dr Joseph Haldane, sits down with Dr Karasawa to continue the discussion on the motives and morals involved in punishment.

Dr Karasawa’s primary research area has been social cognition, covering various issues such as social categorization, intergroup cognition and emotions, and the role of culture and language in social inferences. He is also heading a research project on the psychological mechanism underlying judgments of responsibility and punitive motives in legal contexts.


Jiro Takai

In his Featured Presentation Professor Jiro Takai discusses his research on interpersonal conflict resolution strategies. Conflicts abound in our everyday relationships, and their skillful management is the key to interpersonal harmony. In dealing with conflict, the perception is that we should directly confront the other party with the issues, followed by constructive, mutual communication, and negotiating a solution that leads to both parties being able to fully fulfill their respective goals. At the other end of effectiveness scale is the avoiding conflict style. Avoiding leaves the issue outstanding, with the other party not aware of doing you any injustice, and your dissatisfaction with him/her increasing until you snap. Avoiding, according to Rahim (2002), lacks self-concern, as well as other-concern, leaving nothing resolved, and surely ending up in a lose-lose situation. This talk will elaborate on why, when and how avoiding can actually be a wise choice in managing interpersonal conflict.

Jiro Takai is professor of social psychology at Nagoya University, Japan. He has served in the executive committees of the Japan Society for Social Psychology, the Japan Group Dynamics Society, the Japan Intercultural Education Society, the Communication Association of Japan, and the Japan-US Communication Association. His research interests include cross-cultural matters, particularly in the context of interpersonal communication as well as interpersonal competence, self-presentation and multi-faceted self-concept.


Interview with Jiro Takai

In his Featured Presentation Professor Takai explored the merits behind a variety of strategies and methods used in conflict management. In this interview IAFOR Executive Director, Dr Joseph Haldane, continues the discussion with Professor Takai on how avoiding conflict can be used as an effective conflict management technique. Jiro Takai is professor of social psychology at Nagoya University, and received his PhD from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He has served in the executive committees of the Japan Society for Social Psychology, the Japan Group Dynamics Society, the Japan Intercultural Education Society, the Communication Association of Japan, and the Japan-US Communication Association (affiliate of National Communication Association).


Frank S. Ravitch

For those familiar with Japan, the simple mention of the Yasukuni Shrine raises the specter of controversy.The Shrine is an edifice of the Meiji Era that sprung from humble beginnings into the site of international controversy. The shrine was originally created in 1879 to commemorate government soldiers killed in the Boshin War, but it has grown into a symbol of Japanese nationalism, militarism, and historical revisionism, which is controversial to many people within the pacifist culture in Japan, and to people in China, Korea and Taiwan. Among those enshrined there today are those involved in military expansionism and war crimes.This includes fourteen Class-A war criminals who were secretly enshrined without public knowledge.There are, of course, many enshrined there who did not commit war crimes, but the cultural meaning of the shrine is itself controversial within Japan, which has become a culture deeply rooted in pacifism. Moreover, to many Koreans, Chinese, Taiwanese and others, visits to the shrine by high-ranking government officials is an offense. Visits to the shrine by government officials create an ethical and cultural struggle for many Japanese, who are surprised to learn of international reaction to the visits, and yet feel deeply committed to avoiding conflict. Japan is a constitutional democracy, however, and whether or not visits to the Yasukuni Shrine by the government officials are offensive and ill advised, the question remains whether those visits are constitutional. Most courts to consider the question have held the visits are constitutional, but at least one court, the Osaka High Court, held the visits are unconstitutional. This talk explains why the Osaka High Court correctly interpreted the Japanese Constitution. Moreover, the talk addresses why this approach is consistent with the ethical commitments of many in Japan, who accept pacifism as part of the cultural dasein.

Frank S. Ravitch is Professor of Law and the Walter H. Stowers Chair in Law and Religion at Michigan State University College of Law. He is the author of several books on issues pertaining to law and civil rights. Professor Ravitch has also published a number of law review articles addressing U.S. and Japanese constitutional law, law & religion, and civil rights law in leading journals. In addition, he has also written a number of amicus briefs addressing constitutional issues to the United States Supreme Court.


Interview with Frank S. Ravitch

This interview features highlights of some of the bigger questions Dr. Joseph Haldane, IAFOR Executive Director, asked in a follow-up interview with Professor Frank S. Ravitch about his Keynote Presentation on Japanese government officials visiting Yasukuni Shrine. Professor Ravitch also discusses Japanese Constitutional Law, Yasukuni Shrine, a “Color-Bind” U.S. constitution and more.

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