Characteristics 特点 I would like at this point to briefly consider some of the characteristics of belief systems and the role that they play in psychic economy. Belief systems are general social phenomena which constitute a significant and central aspect of culture. Society directs a considerable amount of its energy to the maintenance and support of institutions and structures which represent and stabilize its common beliefs. Belief systems are important for the organization and vitality of the group. They are also important for young people growing up into the society, becoming participating members of the group and sharing in its culture. Answering to this continuing need in social structures, there is an emergent need in young people for ideological commitment which is born out of the uneasiness of vague inner states and the conflicts of emergent but unresolved identity. Thus society provides belief systems, or what Erikson calls "ideologies," in response to the inner need of youth for ideological commitment. Erikson, (1962, 1959) has described the importance of the role of ideology in the shaping of the identity and in the structuring of social institutions. 在此，我想简单地考虑一下信仰系统的一些特点及其在心理经济中的作用。信仰体系是一种普遍的社会现象，它构成了文化的一个重要的核心方面。社会把相当多的精力用于维护和支持 代表和稳定其共同信念的 制度和结构。信仰体系对于群体的组织和活力非常重要。信仰体系对于年轻人成长为社会的一员，成为群体的成员并分享其文化也很重要。为了满足社会结构中的这种持续需求，年轻人出现了一种对意识形态承诺的需求，这种需求来自于模糊的内心状态的不安 以及 正在出现但尚未解决的身份认同的冲突。因此，社会提供了信仰体系，也就是埃里克森所说的"意识形态"，以回应青年对意识形态承诺的内在需要。埃里克森(1962，1959)曾描述过意识形态在塑造身份和构建社会制度中的重要作用。 Belief systems refer to a variety of contents—whether these be religious, political, scientific, or others. One tends to think primarily in terms of religious systems of belief since religious belief is the prime analogue of this type of cognitive process. But from a formal perspective, prescinding from content, the belief system organizes the understanding of some aspect of reality in terms of a coherent explanation. The explanation is not supported scientifically at all points by explicit evidence—but adherence to the explanation is urged on other grounds. It is this aspect of the cognitive organization that distinguishes belief systems from scientific theories—or, correlatively, belief from knowledge. The belief system, therefore, requires assent from those who accept it, not on the basis of evidence which demonstrates its validity, but on the basis of inner needs which the belief system satisfies and responds to. Most characteristic in this regard are religious belief systems, precisely in that they answer to some of the most basic and fundamental needs and insecurities in man. Religious beliefs respond to man's insecurities about the meaning of life and the confrontation with death. The questions are met with a vacuum of evidence and lie beyond the reach of scientific method. The religious belief system supplies an answer, but an answer that is accepted on emotional grounds and in response to inner needs. 信仰体系指的是各种内容——无论是宗教的、政治的、科学的，还是其他的。人们往往主要从宗教信仰系统的角度来思考，因为宗教信仰是这类认知过程最好的类似物。但从形式上看，从内容上预判，信仰系统以一种连贯的解释来组织对现实的某一方面的理解。这个解释并不是在所有的点上都有明确的证据进行科学的支持——但却以其他理由敦促人们坚持这个解释。正是认知组织的这一方面将信仰系统与科学理论区分开来——或者说，与此相关的是，信仰与知识。因此，信仰系统，不是基于证明其有效性的证据，而是基于信仰系统所满足和回应的内在需要，要求接受它的人赞同。在这方面最有特色的是宗教信仰体系，恰恰是宗教信仰体系回应了人的一些最基本、最根本的需求和不安全感。宗教信仰回应了人对生命意义和面对死亡的不安全感。这些问题遇到的是证据的真空，是科学方法所不能及的。宗教信仰体系提供了一个答案，但这个答案是基于情感理由和内心需求而接受的。 Rokeach (1960) has made it clear that such belief systems can be characterized by varying degrees of closedness or openness. The more closed the belief system, the more one sees a rigidity in adherence to it, the greater becomes the insistence on maintaining the totality of the belief system with all its parts, the greater the degree of intolerance to other beliefs. In the same work, Rokeach has distinguished rigidity from dogmatism, the former having to do with the resistance to change in single beliefs, the latter referring to resistance to change in the belief system as such. He points out, however, that the more dogmatic a person is, the more at risk is the total belief system rather than single beliefs. The degree of dogmatism or of closedness is associated with a need to adhere to the belief system as a whole whose respective parts are interdependent. No single part of the whole can be challenged or questioned without posing a threat to the whole system. This attitude is based on the intensity of the inner needs which generate and sustain the belief system. The underlying intensity of need and insecurity can be very great indeed, and to this extent the individual needs the support and security of a complete, totally integrated, unshakeable and unquestionable view of his world and its meaning. If doubt is cast on any portion of the belief system, this means that doubt can be cast on any other portion, and this threatens the individual's inner stability. This threat can reach psychotic proportions, as we have seen, in which it is equivalently a threat of inner disintegration, loss of self, and psychic death. Rokeach(1960)曾明确指出，这种信仰体系的特点可以是不同程度的封闭性或开放性。信仰体系越是封闭，人们就越能看到对它的僵化坚持，越是坚持维护信仰体系及其所有部分的整体性，对其他信仰的不容忍程度就越大。在同一部著作中，Rokeach曾将僵化与教条主义区分开来，前者与单一信仰的变革阻力有关，后者则是指信仰体系本身的变革阻力。但他指出，一个人越是教条主义，面临风险的是整个信仰体系而不是单一信仰。教条主义或封闭性的程度与需要坚持信仰系统的整体有关，而信仰系统的各个部分是相互依存的。整体中的任何一个部分都不能受到挑战或质疑，否则会对整个系统构成威胁。这种态度是基于产生和维持信仰系统的内在需求的强度。潜在的需求强度和不安全感确实可以非常大，在这个程度上，个体需要一个完整的、完全整合的、不可动摇的、不可质疑的对他的世界及其意义的看法的支持和保障。如果对信仰体系的任何一部分产生怀疑，就意味着对其他任何一部分都可能产生怀疑，这就威胁到了个体内心的稳定。这种威胁可以达到精神病的程度，正如我们所看到的那样，在这种情况下，它等同于一种内部解体、自体丧失和精神死亡的威胁。