IAFOR > The Asian Conference on Ethics, Religion & Philosophy (ACERP) > ACERP2019

ACERP2019

Conference Theme: "Value and Values"

March 21-23, 2019 | Toshi Center Hotel, Tokyo, Japan

The conference theme, Value and Values, refers to two of the fundamental questions of human enquiry – why and how we do what we do. Focussing on them takes us back to the basics of academic enquiry. The focus on the Value of our area of study invokes questions of why our field is important for us, for society, for humanity; asking us to consider why we research, teach, and engage with other research and researchers in our area; and what the benefit of our work might be, to ourselves, to society, to the world.

Focusing on values, on the other hand, addresses our deeply held beliefs and integrity, and suggests our intentions, how we approach our work, and demands that the process of our enquiry be as important as the product. Our core values may be universal, but are coloured by our social, cultural, religious, political and personal contexts.

How can the study of psychology and the behavioral sciences, as well as those of ethics, religion and philosophy, inform each other, inform other fields, and inform our lives, from the way we lead our individual lives, to the ways in which governments engage with their citizens, and with those from other countries and regions?

In a world which is seeing a rise in authoritarianism, nationalism, and populism, this conference asks us to consider “value and values”, inviting scholars from around the world to come together and engage in challenging, rigorous debate across the lines and borders of religion, creed and nation.

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ACERP/ACP2019 Photo Report

Above: Organising Committee member, Professor Dexter Da Silva (left) welcomes delegates to the conference. Leading educational psychologist, Professor Mimi Bong (centre) speaks on what leads people to study and why. Governance guru, Nicholas Benes (right), delivered a keynote on “The next 50 years”, looking at the many challenges that lie at the intersection of ethics, philosophy, psychology, and values that may affect the worth of what we own, the enjoyment we derive from living, and even our survival as a species.

Above: Dr George Chryssides (top left), one of the world’s leading authorities on religion and new religions, asks “Are Religious Values Paramount?” in his irreverent and wide-ranging keynote address, before Professor Satoru Nishizawa (top right), Chairman of the Japanese Society for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, delivered a powerful presentation on the “Psycho-Social Characteristics of Child Abusing Parents and Families”. Renowned historian and Buddhist priest, Dr Brian Victoria (bottom left), speaks on values at the intersection of religion and tolerance, before law professor Dr Frank Ravitch (bottom centre) of Michigan State University delivered a powerful plenary with a focus on law, religion and politics in the US. Professor David Putwain (bottom right), Chair of the Psychology of Education Section of the British Psychology Society, delivered a keynote on “The Value of High-stakes Exams: Do Teachers Help or Hinder?”.

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Speakers

  • Brian Victoria
    Brian Victoria
    Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies, UK
  • Meera Chakravorty
    Meera Chakravorty
    Jain University, India
  • Toshiya Hoshino
    Toshiya Hoshino
    The United Nations
  • Nicholas Benes
    Nicholas Benes
    The Board Director Training Institute of Japan, Japan
  • Mimi Bong
    Mimi Bong
    Korea University, South Korea
  • David Putwain
    David Putwain
    Liverpool John Moores University, UK
  • Satoru Nishizawa
    Satoru Nishizawa
    Yamanashi Prefectural University, Japan
  • Dexter Da Silva
    Dexter Da Silva
    Keisen University, Japan
  • Frank S. Ravitch
    Frank S. Ravitch
    Michigan State University College of Law, United States
  • George D. Chryssides
    George D. Chryssides
    The University of Birmingham, UK
  • Monty P. Satiadarma
    Monty P. Satiadarma
    Tarumanagara University, Indonesia

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Programme

  • The Psycho-Social Characteristics of Child Abusing Parents and Families
    The Psycho-Social Characteristics of Child Abusing Parents and Families
    Keynote Presentation: Satoru Nishizawa
  • “The Value of Internationalising Psychology” or “The Value of Indigenous Psychologies”
    “The Value of Internationalising Psychology” or “The Value of Indigenous Psychologies”
    Featured Panel: Meera Chakravorty, Dexter Da Silva (Moderator), Satoru Nishizawa & Monty Satiadarma
  • Why Do You Study? Complex Answers to a Simple Question
    Why Do You Study? Complex Answers to a Simple Question
    Keynote Presentation: Mimi Bong
  • Are Religious Values Paramount?
    Are Religious Values Paramount?
    Keynote Presentation: George Chryssides
  • The Value of High-stakes Exams: Do Teachers Help or Hinder?
    The Value of High-stakes Exams: Do Teachers Help or Hinder?
    Keynote Presentation: David Putwain
  • The Next 50 Years
    The Next 50 Years
    Featured Presentation: Nicholas Benes
  • Is Religious Tolerance Always Desirable: The Case of Shinto and Buddhism
    Is Religious Tolerance Always Desirable: The Case of Shinto and Buddhism
    Featured Presentation: Brian Victoria
  • The Religious and Ethical Void of Trumpism & the Oddity of Trump Support Among Some Evangelical Christians
    The Religious and Ethical Void of Trumpism & the Oddity of Trump Support Among Some Evangelical Christians
    Keynote Presentation: Frank S. Ravitch

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Organising Committee

The Conference Programme Committee is composed of distinguished academics who are experts in their fields. Conference Programme Committee members may also be members of IAFOR's International Academic Board. The Organising Committee is responsible for nominating and vetting Keynote and Featured Speakers; developing the conference programme, including special workshops, panels, targeted sessions, and so forth; event outreach and promotion; recommending and attracting future Conference Programme Committee members; working with IAFOR to select PhD students and early career academics for IAFOR-funded grants and scholarships; and overseeing the reviewing of abstracts submitted to the conference.

  • Brian Victoria
    Brian Victoria
    Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies, UK
  • Dexter Da Silva
    Dexter Da Silva
    Keisen University, Japan
  • Frank S. Ravitch
    Frank S. Ravitch
    Michigan State University College of Law, United States
  • Joseph Haldane
    Joseph Haldane
    The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Japan
  • George D. Chryssides
    George D. Chryssides
    The University of Birmingham, UK
  • Monty P. Satiadarma
    Monty P. Satiadarma
    Tarumanagara University, Indonesia

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ACERP2019 Review Committee

  • Professor Ian Shelley Alabanza, University of Saint Joseph, Macau
  • Dr Naima Benkari, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman
  • Professor Meera Chakravorty, Jain University, India
  • Professor Sylvester Chima, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
  • Dr Douglas Kivoi, The Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis (KIPPRA), Kenya
  • Professor Juan Rafael Macaranas, De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, Philippines
  • Dr Neeti Shikha, Symbiosis International University, India
  • Dr Mirko Tasic, Webster University, Thailand
  • Dr Amarachi Ukoma, Ebonyi State University, Nigeria
  • Professor Ray Younis, ACU, Australia

IAFOR's peer review process, which involves both reciprocal review and the use of Review Committees, is overseen by conference Organising Committee members under the guidance of the Academic Governing Board. Review Committee members are established academics who hold PhDs or other terminal degrees in their fields and who have previous peer review experience.

If you would like to apply to serve on the ACERP2019 Review Committee, please visit our application page.

Apply to Join the Review Committee

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IAFOR Grant & Scholarship Recipients

Our warmest congratulations go to Wen-Pin Leow, Yukari Jessica Tham and Stephanie Hilary Xinyi Ma, who have been selected by the conference Organising Committee to receive grants and scholarships to present their research at The 9th Asian Conference on Psychology & the Behavioral Sciences (ACP2019) and The 9th Asian Conference on Ethics, Religion & Philosophy (ACERP2019).

Wen-Pin Leow

Stuart D. B. Picken Grant and Scholarship Recipient

Embodied Value: A Disability Reading of 1 Corinthians 12
Wen-Pin Leow, University of Oxford, United Kingdom

Wen-Pin Leow is an Ertegun Scholar at the University of Oxford where he is pursuing a masters degree, researching constructions of disability in early Christianity. Prior to this, he graduated with a Master of Theology from the University of Aberdeen where his research focused on the intersection between critical spatial studies, cognitive linguistics, and Hebrew poetry. He is passionate about the inclusion of people with disabilities into society. Currently, he is the school supervisor of a school for children with moderate to severe special needs, and also chairs a taskforce for establishing another school for children with autism spectrum disorder.

Yukari Jessica Tham

IAFOR Scholarship Recipient

Development of a Japanese Version of the Justice Sensitivity Inventory
Yukari Jessica Tham, The University of Tokyo, Japan
Takaaki Hashimoto, The University of Tokyo, Japan
Manfred Schmitt, Universität Koblenz-Landau, Germany
Kaori Karasawa, The University of Tokyo, Japan

Yukari Jessica Tham is a graduate student in social psychology at the Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology at the University of Tokyo, Japan. She is studying the role of fairness in social dilemma, and her research proposal earned her the Young Researcher’s Scholarship Award of the Japanese Society of Social Psychology in 2018. Jessica received her bachelor’s degree in commerce from Hitotsubashi University, Japan, in 2018. Due to her experiences studying commerce as both an undergraduate student and as a research assistant, as well as studying psychology at the University of British Columbia, Canada, she has developed an interest in justice and fairness; game theory and social dilemma; and organizational citizenship behavior.

Stephanie Hilary Xinyi Ma

IAFOR Scholarship Recipient

A Wait-List Randomized Control Trial for a Novel Intergenerational Art-Based Intervention: Project Artisan
Stephanie Hilary Xinyi Ma, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Andy Hau Yan Ho, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Stephanie Hilary Xinyi Ma is a Psychology Master student at the School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. As an advocate for wellbeing, community empowerment, and creative ageing, her research interest involves enhancing the lives of individuals, specifically through participatory arts. Since receiving her Bachelor (Hons) Degree in Psychology, she has engaged in various research projects on national innovation, cultural attachment, and the psychosocial needs of chronically ill populations including childhood cancer survivors, patients with coronary heart disease, and diabetes. Her recent research includes a population-based study on arts engagement and wellbeing among older adults, as well as ARTISAN, an intergenerational art-based intervention in Singapore.

IAFOR's grants and scholarships programme provides financial support to PhD students and early career academics, with the aim of helping them pursue research excellence and achieve their academic goals through interdisciplinary study and interaction. Awards are based on the appropriateness of the educational opportunity in relation to the applicant's field of study, financial need, and contributions to their community and to IAFOR's mission of interdisciplinarity. Scholarships are awarded based on availability of funds from IAFOR and vary with each conference.

Click here to learn out more about IAFOR grants and scholarships.

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Virtual Presentations

The International Academic Forum (IAFOR) is a research organisation, conference organiser and publisher dedicated to encouraging interdisciplinary discussion, facilitating intercultural awareness and promoting international exchange, principally through educational exchange and academic research.

Virtual presentations afford authors the opportunity to present their research to IAFOR’s far-reaching and international online audience, without time restrictions, distractions or the need to travel. Presenters are invited to create a video of their presentation, which is then uploaded to the official IAFOR Vimeo channel and remains online indefinitely. This is a valuable and impactful way of presenting in its own right, but also an alternative means for those delegates who may be unable to travel to the conference due to financial or political restrictions. The same publishing opportunities apply to virtual presenters, with final papers being included in the ACERP Conference Proceedings.

 This video archive is best viewed on a desktop computer with a strong Internet connection. 
View ACERP2019 Virtual Presentations

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IAFOR Research Centre (IRC) – “Innovation and Value Initiative”

The IAFOR Research Centre (IRC) is housed within Osaka University’s School of International Public Policy (OSIPP), and in June 2018 the IRC began an ambitious new “Innovation and Value Initiative”. Officially launched at the United Nations in a special UN-IAFOR Collaborative Session, the initiative seeks to bring together the best in interdisciplinary research around the concept of value, on how value can be recognised, and measured, and how this can help us address issues and solve problems, from the local to the global.

Learn more about the Innovation and Value Initiative

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Brian Victoria
Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies, UK

Biography

Brian Victoria is a native of Omaha, Nebraska and a 1961 graduate of Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln, Nebraska. He holds a MA in Buddhist Studies from Sōtō Zen sect-affiliated Komazawa University in Tokyo, and a PhD from the Department of Religious Studies at Temple University.

In addition to a second, enlarged edition of Zen At War (Rowman & Littlefield, 2006), Brian's major writings include Zen War Stories (RoutledgeCurzon, 2003); an autobiographical work in Japanese entitled Gaijin de ari, Zen bozu de ari (As a Foreigner, As a Zen Priest), published by San-ichi Shobo in 1971; Zen Master Dōgen, coauthored with Prof. Yokoi Yūhō of Aichi-gakuin University (Weatherhill, 1976); and a translation of The Zen Life by Sato Koji (Weatherhill, 1972). In addition, Brian has published numerous journal articles, focusing on the relationship of not only Buddhism but religion in general, to violence and warfare.

From 2005 to 2013 Brian was a Professor of Japanese Studies and director of the AEA “Japan and Its Buddhist Traditions Program” at Antioch University in Yellow Springs, OH, USA. From 2013 to 2015 he was a Visiting Research Fellow at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies in Kyoto, Japan. His latest book, Zen Terror: The Death of Democracy in Prewar Japan is forthcoming from Rowman & Littlefield in September 2019. Brian is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies and a fully ordained Buddhist priest in the Sōtō Zen sect.

Keynote Presentation (2021) | Zen Terror: Killing Compassionately?

Previous Presentations

Featured Presentation (2019) | Is Religious Tolerance Always Desirable: The Case of Shinto and Buddhism
Featured Presentation (2018) | Shinto: Window on Universal Religion
Featured Presentation (2017) | Military Conscription, Slavery and the Modern State
Featured Panel Presentation (2017) | Battles of Ideas: Identity and Alienation
Meera Chakravorty
Jain University, India

Biography

Meera Chakravorty is a Professor in the PhD Program in Cultural Studies at Jain University, Bangalore, India. She has published and presented extensively, has served as a member of the State Commission on Women and has been active in the movement for Social Justice for three decades.

Featured Panel Presentation (2019) | “The Value of Internationalising Psychology” or “The Value of Indigenous Psychologies”
Toshiya Hoshino
The United Nations

Biography

His Excellency Professor Toshiya Hoshino is presently Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations in New York.

Previous to his role at the UN, Professor Hoshino was on the faculty at the Osaka School of International Public Policy (Osaka University), serving as Dean from 2011​ to ​2014, before being appointed Vice-President (International) of the University from 2014​ ​to 2016.

From August 2006 to August 2008, he served as a Minister-Counselor in charge of political affairs at the Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations (UN). At the UN, he was a principal advisor to the Chair of the UN Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) when Japan assumed its chairmanship. He graduated from Sophia University, Japan, completed a Master’s at the University of Tokyo, and received his Doctorate (PhD) from Osaka University.

His previous positions​ have​ include​d​: Senior Research Fellow at the Japan Institute of International Affairs; Guest Scholar at the School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University; Fellow at Stanford Japan Center, Stanford University; Visiting Fellow, Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University; and ​Special Assistant (Political Affairs) at the Embassy of Japan to the United States.

He is a specialist in UN peace and security policies (conflict prevention, peacemaking, peacekeeping and peacebuilding), human security and humanitarian issues, security in the Asia-Pacific region and Japan-US relations.

Special Presentation
Nicholas Benes
The Board Director Training Institute of Japan, Japan

Biography

Nicholas Benes is head of the government-approved nonprofit public-interest organization the Board Director Training Institute of Japan (BDTI). He has served as an investment banker at JP Morgan, founded an M&A advisory firm and has nine years of experience as an independent director on a number of Japanese corporate boards. He holds a JD-MBA degree and is an inactive member of the bar in California and New York. In 2010, he led a task force that laid the groundwork for Abenomics’ Third Arrow. In 2013, he proposed that the creation of a corporate-governance code be included in the LDP’s growth strategy. More recently, he persuaded the government to focus on the vital theme of stewardship by corporate pension funds.

Featured Presentation (2019) | The Next 50 Years
Mimi Bong
Korea University, South Korea

Biography

Mimi Bong is Professor of Educational Psychology and the Associate Director of the Brain and Motivation Research Institute (bMRI) of Korea University. Bong has been studying motivation of adolescents in school settings and published over 60 articles and book chapters on related topics over the past 18 years. Her work appears in journals such as Journal of Educational Psychology, Educational Psychologist, Educational Psychology Review, and Contemporary Educational Psychology, among others.

Bong was recognized as the 8th most productive educational psychologist for the period of 1997-2001 and received the ‘Richard E. Snow Award for Early Contributions in Educational Psychology’ from the American Psychological Association/Division 15. She is the Associate Editor of American Educational Research Journal for the Teaching, Learning, and Human Development section and has served or currently serves on the editorial boards of Child Development, Contemporary Educational Psychology, Educational Psychologist, Educational Psychology Review, Educational Researcher, Journal of Educational Psychology, Journal of Experimental Education, and Theory into Practice.

Previous ACERP Presentations

Keynote Presentation (2019) | Why Do You Study? Complex Answers to a Simple Question
Download Presentation Slides
David Putwain
Liverpool John Moores University, UK

Biography

Professor David Putwain is the Director for the Centre of Educational Research in the School of Education at Liverpool John Moores University and Chair of the Psychology of Education Section of the British Psychology Society. He taught in schools and 6th Form colleges from 1994 to 2003. After completing a PhD in 2006, Dave joined Edge Hill University working initially in the Department of Social and Psychological Sciences, where he established an undergraduate programme in Educational Psychology, and subsequently in the Faculty of Education. David joined Liverpool John Moores University in May 2016. His research interests focus on how psychological factors influence learning and achievement with a particular focus on student motivation, emotion, engagement, and the classroom environment.

Keynote Presentation (2019) | The Value of High-stakes Exams: Do Teachers Help or Hinder?
Satoru Nishizawa
Yamanashi Prefectural University, Japan

Biography

Professor Nishizawa is a Clinical Psychologist and Professor of Social Work at Yamanashi Prefectural University. He is Chief Editor of the Japanese Journal of Child and Neglect, and a Board Member of several groups, including the Japanese Society for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, the Center for Child Abuse Prevention, Tokyo, and the Association for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, Osaka. He is also Professional Advisor for the Department of Family and Child Services, Tokyo Prefectural Government. He has published several books on Child Abuse, the most recent of which is Challenge for Child Abuse: Toward an Integrative Approach, published (in Japanese) in 2013. He was educated at Osaka University in Japan and San Francisco State University in the United States.

Keynote Presentation (2019) | Psychological Characteristics of Perpetrators in Domestic Violence Cases: Preoccupied Attachment Style, Unmet Dependency Needs, and “Amae”
Featured Panel Presentation (2019) | “The Value of Internationalising Psychology” or “The Value of Indigenous Psychologies”
Dexter Da Silva
Keisen University, Japan

Biography

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, Australia, and for more than 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., MA), and the University of Western Sydney (PhD). He has presented and co-presented at conferences in Asia, Australia, Europe and the United States, co-edited two books on Motivation in Foreign Language Learning, 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 of On CUE Journal, past president of the Asian Psychological Association, regular reviewer for conferences, proceedings, journal articles and book chapters, and regularly co-chairs and participates in the Organising Committee of conferences on Motivation, Language Learning and Teaching, and Psychology and the Behavioral Sciences.

Featured Panel Presentation (2019) | “The Value of Internationalising Psychology” or “The Value of Indigenous Psychologies”

Previous Presentations

Featured Presentation (2018) | Psychological Literacy: The Most Important Literacy for the 21st Century
Featured Panel Presentation (2017) | Battles of Ideas: Identity and Alienation
Featured Presentation (2015)
Featured Presentation (2014)
Featured Presentation (2012)
Frank S. Ravitch
Michigan State University College of Law, United States

Biography

Frank S. Ravitch is Professor of Law and Walter H. Stowers Chair in Law in Religion at the Michigan State University College of Law. He also directs the MSU College of Law's Kyoto Japan Program. He is the author of Freedom’s Edge: Religious Freedom, Sexual Freedom, and the Future of America (Cambridge University Press, 2016) (Nominated for a Prose Award); Marketing Creation: The Law and Intelligent Design (Cambridge University Press 2012), Masters of Illusion: The Supreme Court and the Religion Clauses (NYU Press 2007); Law and Religion: Cases, Materials, and Readings (West 2004)(2nd Ed. 2008) (3rd Ed. 2015 with Larry Cata Backer), School Prayer and Discrimination: The Civil Rights of Religious Minorities and Dissenters (Northeastern University Press, 1999 & paperback edition 2001). He is co-author, with the late Boris Bittker and with Scott Idleman, of the first comprehensive treatise on Law and Religion in more than one hundred years, Religion and the State in American Law (Cambridge University Press 2015) (this project was supported by a generous grant from the Lilly Endowment). He is co-author of Employment Discrimination Law (Prentice Hall, 2005) (with Pamela Sumners and Janis McDonald).

Professor Ravitch's articles, which have appeared in a number of highly regarded journals, have primarily focused on law and religion in the US and Japan. He has also written about civil rights law and disability discrimination. He has authored a number of amicus briefs to the US Supreme Court and has given numerous academic presentations nationally and internationally. In 2001, he was named a Fulbright scholar and served on the law faculty at Doshisha University in Japan. He has also made dozens of public presentations explaining the law to school groups, community groups, and service clubs, and has served as an expert commentator for print and broadcast media.

Professor Ravitch's current projects include a book on the Japanese Legal System (co-authored with Colin Jones), a chapter on law and religious tradition, and a project focusing on Law, Religion, and Authoritarianism. He speaks English and has basic conversational skills in Japanese and Hebrew.

Keynote Presentation (2023) | Ships in the Night: Expansion of the Separation of Politics and Religion in Japan as the U.S. Supreme Court Abandons the Separation of Church and State

Previous Presentations

Keynote Presentation (2022) | Religion and COVID 19 in the U.S.: The Good, the Bad, and the Shocking
Keynote Presentation (2020) | Religious Complicity and LGBTQ Rights
Keynote Presentation (2019) | The Religious and Ethical Void of Trumpism & the Oddity of Trump Support Among Some Evangelical Christians
Keynote Presentation (2018) | Law, Religion and Authoritarianism: From State Shinto to Religio-Trumpism
Featured Presentation (2017) | Freedom’s Edge: Balancing Religious Freedom and Equal Access to Facilities and Services for Transexuals
Featured Panel Presentation (2017) | Free Speech and Hate Speech – History, Story, Narrative
George D. Chryssides
The University of Birmingham, UK

Biography

Dr George D. Chryssides is Honorary Research Fellow in Contemporary Religion at the University of Birmingham, after being Head of Religious Studies at the University of Wolverhampton, UK, from 2001 to 2008. George Chryssides obtained a First Class Honours MA degree in philosophy at the University of Glasgow, and a First Class Honours Bachelor of Divinity in systematic theology. He subsequently undertook postgraduate research at the University of Oxford, obtaining his doctorate in 1974.

From the 1980s, George Chryssides’ main interest has been new religious movements, on which he has authored numerous books and scholarly articles. Recent publications include Historical Dictionary of Jehovah’s Witnesses (2008), Heaven’s Gate: Postmodernity and Popular Culture in a Suicide Group (2011), Historical Dictionary of New Religious Movements (2012), The Bloomsbury Companion to New Religious Movements (co-edited with Benjamin E. Zeller,2014), and Jehovah’s Witnesses: Continuity and Change (2016). He is a regular presenter at national and international conferences.

Keynote Presentation (2022) | Successful Prophecy? Jehovah’s Witnesses, Covid-19 and the War in Ukraine
Monty P. Satiadarma
Tarumanagara University, Indonesia

Biography

Dr Satiadarma is a clinical psychologist who has taught psychology at Tarumanagara University since 1994. He was one of the founders of the Department of Psychology at Tarumanagara, as well as the Dean of Psychology, Vice Rector and Rector of the university. He graduated with a degree in Psychology from the University of Indonesia, Art Therapy from Emporia State, Kansas, Family Counselling from Notre Dame de Namur, California, and Clinical Hypnotherapy from Irvine, California. He has published a number of books and has a particular interest in educational psychology and music & 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.

Featured Presentation (2022) | Perceived Stress of Students During Online Learning

Previous Presentations

Featured Panel Presentation (2019) | “The Value of Internationalising Psychology” or “The Value of Indigenous Psychologies”
Featured Panel Presentation (2018) | Psychological Literacy
IAAB Presentation (2017) | Life Changes, Identity Loss and Psychological Problems
Spotlight Presentation (2016) | Fairness and Happiness
Spotlight Presentation (2015) | The Lucifer Effect in Indonesian Educational Settings
Featured Presentation (2014)
Featured Presentation (2013)
Featured Presentation (2012)
The Psycho-Social Characteristics of Child Abusing Parents and Families
Keynote Presentation: Satoru Nishizawa

I have worked with abused and neglected children for 40 years as a child psychotherapist. In the course of my work, I sometimes need to have counseling with their parents. I trained as a psychotherapist in California, and this experience gave me an impression that Western countries, or at least the US, give more importance to rendering appropriate family environment to abused/neglected children through foster care or adoption than making a huge effort to treat psychological problems of biological parents. However, Japanese culture puts more weight on biological parents-children relationship, which asks professionals concerned to understand deeply the psychosocial features of abusive parents and give an appropriate treatment to them.

In the field of child abuse prevention, the phenomenon of transgenerational transmission has been pointed out to understand the dynamics of child abuse. It means a child who has been maltreated by his/her parents grows up to be an abusive/neglectful parent. The problem remaining is why it happens. What do psychological factors of abused children make them mistreat their own children?

I have developed “Parental Abusive Attitude Inventory” to find psychological characteristics of abusive parents and implemented it to about 600 mothers of nonclinical population who raised 1.5 and 3-years old children. This research suggested the three psychological factors relating to transgenerational transmission; “permissiveness of corporal punishment as a way of discipline”, “cognition of being victimized by their own children”, and “carried over childhood unmet dependency needs”.

The research had a limitation that the subjects are only mothers, and fathers were excluded because of the research design. In order to overcome this limitation, I implemented a survey of 8 fathers who abused and/or neglected their children to death. This survey suggested the perpetrators’ need to be mighty rulers to their children resulting from their sense of helplessness/impotence generated in their life histories and social relationships.

In this speech, I will present the psychological features of abusive/neglectful parents based on the research and my clinical experience with them, and discuss the way of psycho-social intervention targeting these characteristics. Also, I would like to discuss with the participants of the conference whether these findings of Japanese studies would be applied to other Asian cultures.

Read presenter biographies.

“The Value of Internationalising Psychology” or “The Value of Indigenous Psychologies”
Featured Panel: Meera Chakravorty, Dexter Da Silva (Moderator), Satoru Nishizawa & Monty Satiadarma

In these turbulent and rapidly changing times, there is a clear need for a deeper understanding of human thinking and behavior deriving from different sociocultural upbringings and contexts. We need Psychology, the study of human cognition and behavior, and the Teaching of Psychology, to be further internationalised. Indigenous Psychological theories and ideas need to be fully incorporated into our teaching, research and practice of Psychology, in order for a more socioculturally-oriented Psychology to fulfil its mission and responsibility of serving humanity in an ever-increasingly globalising world.

The panel will briefly talk on the importance of internationalising Psychology and comment on emic concepts from their socio-cultural contexts.

Read presenter biographies.

Why Do You Study? Complex Answers to a Simple Question
Keynote Presentation: Mimi Bong

The past two decades have witnessed remarkable growth in achievement goal theory and research, establishing the construct as one of the central determinants of motivation and performance. While the efforts by many researchers to achieve greater conceptual clarity and methodological precision have yielded many fruitful results, several unresolved issues remain. One such issue has to do with different performance-approach goals and their effects. In this talk, I will first introduce how Korean middle school students talk about their achievement goals, or the reasons that they are striving to achieve at school. Evidence will be presented that adolescent learners pursue not only academic goals but also social goals. Given the ongoing debate regarding the types and effects of performance goal, I will then introduce findings from recent experiments that demonstrate contrasting effects of ability and normative performance goals on anxiety, interest, and performance in difficult problem-solving tasks. I will conclude my talk with educational implications of the achievement goal theory and research findings.

Read presenter biographies.

Download Presentation Slides
Are Religious Values Paramount?
Keynote Presentation: George Chryssides

Key documents on human rights tend to give religious values a privileged status, for example the US First Amendment, the European Convention on Human Rights, and the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights. The presentation considers why religious values are held to be particularly important, and discusses a number of case studies which suggest that such values may not always be paramount. Religious values should not be dismissed because they seem absurd, uncomfortable, or inconvenient, but should only receive privileged treatment if they are sincerely held, form part of a system, and govern important aspects of the believer’s life. They may be limited by rights of property, potential human harm, and respect for culture. Religion is essentially a social phenomenon, therefore emphasis should be placed on the role of the community in determining the legitimacy of its religious beliefs and values.

Read presenter biographies.

The Value of High-stakes Exams: Do Teachers Help or Hinder?
Keynote Presentation: David Putwain

High-stakes school exit examinations are a feature of many educational systems. The results of such examinations are used to select students for transition into higher-level education and/or training, for entry into the workplace, and for accountability purposes to judge the quality of schools and individual teachers. The results of high-stakes school exit examinations can have a profound impact on the life trajectory of students. It is not surprising, therefore, that teachers communicate the value and importance of such qualifications to their students; how can success or failure impact on one’s life chances. What impact might these communications have on students? Does it increase pressure; does it motivate and engage students to work hard; does it ultimately relate in any way to exam performance? This presentation will use findings from a 10-year programme of research undertaken in relation to the secondary school leaving qualification in England, the General Certificate of Secondary Education, to address these questions. The key finding is that students differ in the way that they interpret messages about the importance and value of their examinations. Exam value messages can be interpreted in a positive way, to inspire motivation and engagement, or a negative way to trigger threat and worry. The way that messages are interpreted determines whether they relate to educational gains or losses. We will close the presentation by considering the reasons why students interpret messages differently and what the implications are for educators of students preparing for high-stakes school exit examinations. How can we ensure they are a help rather than a hindrance.

Read presenter biographies.

The Next 50 Years
Featured Presentation: Nicholas Benes

If we think about the last 50 years of history and the next 50 years, what challenges lie at the intersection of ethics, philosophy, psychology, and values that may affect the worth of what we own, the enjoyment we derive from living, and even our survival as a species? Certainly, global warming, weather and climate change, toxic pollution, and the extinction of species are a few of them. Over-population, income/wealth inequality, technological inequality, cyber-warfare and risk, global violence, human migration, and the risk of pandemics are some others. Are these things linked to each other? What do they have in common as a root cause? Is it time to re-think how we structure our economies, our governments, and how we live our lives….or will these challenges be addressed by the magic of markets? If not, how can they be addressed?

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Is Religious Tolerance Always Desirable: The Case of Shinto and Buddhism
Featured Presentation: Brian Victoria

In a world still characterized by contention, even violent conflict, between religions and their adherents, “religious tolerance” remains a much promoted value, an ideal to be strived for. This is as it should be, for in an increasingly globalized world, the day in which a single religion can claim the exclusive right to provide the spiritual nourishment for the entire population of a nation is fast drawing to a close. Thus, organized religions are required to compete, yet tolerate, and ideally cooperate, with one another to an ever increasing degree. But is there a down side, a danger, to this mutual tolerance? This presentation suggests there is, a danger vividly demonstrated by the relationship between Shinto, the indigenous, animistic religion of Japan, and Buddhism, a later religious import. The question is addressed of how the mutual influence these two religions exerted on each other over their 1,500 years of interaction should be valued.

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The Religious and Ethical Void of Trumpism & the Oddity of Trump Support Among Some Evangelical Christians
Keynote Presentation: Frank S. Ravitch

The rise of Donald Trump in U.S. Politics has accelerated a decline in public discourse over culture war issues; a decline that was already underway at a slower pace even before Trump. It has also emboldened religious conservatives and those opposed to LGBT rights, immigration, religious minorities, the environment and reproductive freedom. Trumpism is demonstrably authoritarian, resistant to facts, and heavily based on lies and memes that become self-justifying almost through sheer repetition in social media and right wing media. Yet, in all of this Trump has found an odd, and remarkably loyal, ally, namely, a large swath of socially conservative Evangelical Christians. They seem to ignore Trump’s obvious moral indiscretions, lies, and lack of care for the poor because they believe he can deliver them judges and victories on culture war issues. The hypocrisy of this has been repeatedly noted by commentators and scholars. Yet, it is part of a larger religious and ethical void created by Trumpism and needs to be understood in that broader socio-legal-religious context. In fact, data is emerging that suggests the social conservatives backing Trump may have made a faustian bargain that will cost them future generations or increasingly alienated young evangelicals who see the hypocrisy of their elders quite well. That same sort of bargain may help explain the support for Trump in other parts of society as well.

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Brian Victoria
Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies, UK

Biography

Brian Victoria is a native of Omaha, Nebraska and a 1961 graduate of Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln, Nebraska. He holds a MA in Buddhist Studies from Sōtō Zen sect-affiliated Komazawa University in Tokyo, and a PhD from the Department of Religious Studies at Temple University.

In addition to a second, enlarged edition of Zen At War (Rowman & Littlefield, 2006), Brian's major writings include Zen War Stories (RoutledgeCurzon, 2003); an autobiographical work in Japanese entitled Gaijin de ari, Zen bozu de ari (As a Foreigner, As a Zen Priest), published by San-ichi Shobo in 1971; Zen Master Dōgen, coauthored with Prof. Yokoi Yūhō of Aichi-gakuin University (Weatherhill, 1976); and a translation of The Zen Life by Sato Koji (Weatherhill, 1972). In addition, Brian has published numerous journal articles, focusing on the relationship of not only Buddhism but religion in general, to violence and warfare.

From 2005 to 2013 Brian was a Professor of Japanese Studies and director of the AEA “Japan and Its Buddhist Traditions Program” at Antioch University in Yellow Springs, OH, USA. From 2013 to 2015 he was a Visiting Research Fellow at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies in Kyoto, Japan. His latest book, Zen Terror: The Death of Democracy in Prewar Japan is forthcoming from Rowman & Littlefield in September 2019. Brian is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies and a fully ordained Buddhist priest in the Sōtō Zen sect.

Keynote Presentation (2021) | Zen Terror: Killing Compassionately?

Previous Presentations

Featured Presentation (2019) | Is Religious Tolerance Always Desirable: The Case of Shinto and Buddhism
Featured Presentation (2018) | Shinto: Window on Universal Religion
Featured Presentation (2017) | Military Conscription, Slavery and the Modern State
Featured Panel Presentation (2017) | Battles of Ideas: Identity and Alienation
Dexter Da Silva
Keisen University, Japan

Biography

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, Australia, and for more than 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., MA), and the University of Western Sydney (PhD). He has presented and co-presented at conferences in Asia, Australia, Europe and the United States, co-edited two books on Motivation in Foreign Language Learning, 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 of On CUE Journal, past president of the Asian Psychological Association, regular reviewer for conferences, proceedings, journal articles and book chapters, and regularly co-chairs and participates in the Organising Committee of conferences on Motivation, Language Learning and Teaching, and Psychology and the Behavioral Sciences.

Featured Panel Presentation (2019) | “The Value of Internationalising Psychology” or “The Value of Indigenous Psychologies”

Previous Presentations

Featured Presentation (2018) | Psychological Literacy: The Most Important Literacy for the 21st Century
Featured Panel Presentation (2017) | Battles of Ideas: Identity and Alienation
Featured Presentation (2015)
Featured Presentation (2014)
Featured Presentation (2012)
Frank S. Ravitch
Michigan State University College of Law, United States

Biography

Frank S. Ravitch is Professor of Law and Walter H. Stowers Chair in Law in Religion at the Michigan State University College of Law. He also directs the MSU College of Law's Kyoto Japan Program. He is the author of Freedom’s Edge: Religious Freedom, Sexual Freedom, and the Future of America (Cambridge University Press, 2016) (Nominated for a Prose Award); Marketing Creation: The Law and Intelligent Design (Cambridge University Press 2012), Masters of Illusion: The Supreme Court and the Religion Clauses (NYU Press 2007); Law and Religion: Cases, Materials, and Readings (West 2004)(2nd Ed. 2008) (3rd Ed. 2015 with Larry Cata Backer), School Prayer and Discrimination: The Civil Rights of Religious Minorities and Dissenters (Northeastern University Press, 1999 & paperback edition 2001). He is co-author, with the late Boris Bittker and with Scott Idleman, of the first comprehensive treatise on Law and Religion in more than one hundred years, Religion and the State in American Law (Cambridge University Press 2015) (this project was supported by a generous grant from the Lilly Endowment). He is co-author of Employment Discrimination Law (Prentice Hall, 2005) (with Pamela Sumners and Janis McDonald).

Professor Ravitch's articles, which have appeared in a number of highly regarded journals, have primarily focused on law and religion in the US and Japan. He has also written about civil rights law and disability discrimination. He has authored a number of amicus briefs to the US Supreme Court and has given numerous academic presentations nationally and internationally. In 2001, he was named a Fulbright scholar and served on the law faculty at Doshisha University in Japan. He has also made dozens of public presentations explaining the law to school groups, community groups, and service clubs, and has served as an expert commentator for print and broadcast media.

Professor Ravitch's current projects include a book on the Japanese Legal System (co-authored with Colin Jones), a chapter on law and religious tradition, and a project focusing on Law, Religion, and Authoritarianism. He speaks English and has basic conversational skills in Japanese and Hebrew.

Keynote Presentation (2023) | Ships in the Night: Expansion of the Separation of Politics and Religion in Japan as the U.S. Supreme Court Abandons the Separation of Church and State

Previous Presentations

Keynote Presentation (2022) | Religion and COVID 19 in the U.S.: The Good, the Bad, and the Shocking
Keynote Presentation (2020) | Religious Complicity and LGBTQ Rights
Keynote Presentation (2019) | The Religious and Ethical Void of Trumpism & the Oddity of Trump Support Among Some Evangelical Christians
Keynote Presentation (2018) | Law, Religion and Authoritarianism: From State Shinto to Religio-Trumpism
Featured Presentation (2017) | Freedom’s Edge: Balancing Religious Freedom and Equal Access to Facilities and Services for Transexuals
Featured Panel Presentation (2017) | Free Speech and Hate Speech – History, Story, Narrative
Joseph Haldane
The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Japan

Biography

Joseph Haldane is the Chairman and CEO of IAFOR. He is responsible for devising strategy, setting policies, forging institutional partnerships, implementing projects, and overseeing the organisation’s business and academic operations, including research, publications and events.

Dr Haldane holds a PhD from the University of London in 19th-century French Studies, and has had full-time faculty positions at the University of Paris XII Paris-Est Créteil (France), Sciences Po Paris (France), and Nagoya University of Commerce and Business (Japan), as well as visiting positions at the French Press Institute in the University of Paris II Panthéon-Assas (France), The School of Journalism at Sciences Po Paris (France), and the School of Journalism at Moscow State University (Russia).

Dr Haldane’s current research concentrates on post-war and contemporary politics and international affairs, and since 2015 he has been a Guest Professor at The Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP) at Osaka University, where he teaches on the postgraduate Global Governance Course, and Co-Director of the OSIPP-IAFOR Research Centre, an interdisciplinary think tank situated within Osaka University.

A Member of the World Economic Forum’s Expert Network for Global Governance, Dr Haldane is also a Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Philology at the University of Belgrade (Serbia), a Visiting Professor at the School of Business at Doshisha University (Japan), and a Member of the International Advisory Council of the Department of Educational Foundations at the College of Education of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (USA).

From 2012 to 2014, Dr Haldane served as Treasurer of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (Chubu Region) and he is currently a Trustee of the HOPE International Development Agency (Japan). He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society in 2012, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 2015.

George D. Chryssides
The University of Birmingham, UK

Biography

Dr George D. Chryssides is Honorary Research Fellow in Contemporary Religion at the University of Birmingham, after being Head of Religious Studies at the University of Wolverhampton, UK, from 2001 to 2008. George Chryssides obtained a First Class Honours MA degree in philosophy at the University of Glasgow, and a First Class Honours Bachelor of Divinity in systematic theology. He subsequently undertook postgraduate research at the University of Oxford, obtaining his doctorate in 1974.

From the 1980s, George Chryssides’ main interest has been new religious movements, on which he has authored numerous books and scholarly articles. Recent publications include Historical Dictionary of Jehovah’s Witnesses (2008), Heaven’s Gate: Postmodernity and Popular Culture in a Suicide Group (2011), Historical Dictionary of New Religious Movements (2012), The Bloomsbury Companion to New Religious Movements (co-edited with Benjamin E. Zeller,2014), and Jehovah’s Witnesses: Continuity and Change (2016). He is a regular presenter at national and international conferences.

Keynote Presentation (2022) | Successful Prophecy? Jehovah’s Witnesses, Covid-19 and the War in Ukraine
Monty P. Satiadarma
Tarumanagara University, Indonesia

Biography

Dr Satiadarma is a clinical psychologist who has taught psychology at Tarumanagara University since 1994. He was one of the founders of the Department of Psychology at Tarumanagara, as well as the Dean of Psychology, Vice Rector and Rector of the university. He graduated with a degree in Psychology from the University of Indonesia, Art Therapy from Emporia State, Kansas, Family Counselling from Notre Dame de Namur, California, and Clinical Hypnotherapy from Irvine, California. He has published a number of books and has a particular interest in educational psychology and music & 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.

Featured Presentation (2022) | Perceived Stress of Students During Online Learning

Previous Presentations

Featured Panel Presentation (2019) | “The Value of Internationalising Psychology” or “The Value of Indigenous Psychologies”
Featured Panel Presentation (2018) | Psychological Literacy
IAAB Presentation (2017) | Life Changes, Identity Loss and Psychological Problems
Spotlight Presentation (2016) | Fairness and Happiness
Spotlight Presentation (2015) | The Lucifer Effect in Indonesian Educational Settings
Featured Presentation (2014)
Featured Presentation (2013)
Featured Presentation (2012)