オウム真理教の犯罪行動についての社会心理学的分析  [in Japanese] A social psychological analysis of AUM shinrikyo's criminal behavior  [in Japanese]

The purpose of this study is to consider psychological process of AUM members who committed crimes, such as scattering poison gas to murder and others. Four defendants of AUM were interviewed and 76 former members of the group completed questionnaires designed to examine their experiences and lives including three of the interviewees. The following results were obtained: 1) Aum believers were absolutely obedient to their guru as authority, 2) Psychological manipulation by their guru toward the members who committed crimes was stronger than manipulation toward the innocent members, 3) The higher the status of the members, the higher manipulation level, 4) Their crimes were due to obedience to authority arising from perceiving dogma's superiority and fear of being killed themselves.