Abstract

View of the afterlife has been ignored by cultural psychologists, though it is an important factor of a culture. The aim of this study is to categorize afterlife views. And we tried to explore its inner structure of each type. In study 1, we drew out four categories through Grounded Theory Approach. First, on "the types for the view of the afterlife", we classified 9 types, namely, 'extinction type', 'the present world-oriented transmigration type', 'the other world-oriented transmigration type', 'the other world type', 'heavenly home type', 'heaven/hell type', 'heaven(purgatory/hell type', 'multi layer transference type' and 'obscurity type'. Second, on "the relations between this world and the next", we grasped two subcategories, namely, 'temporal relation(karma, faith determinism, absolute predestination)' and 'spatial relation'. Third, on "the intentional and emotional aspects", we extracted 'degree of interest', 'firmness' and 'emotional color'. Fourth, about "folk psychology of the afterlife views", we could classify two psychologies, namely, 'psychology on its origin' and 'psychology on its effect'. In study 2, depending on results from study 1, we constructed questionnaire which measures the types and features of the view of the afterlife. And we analyzed the component ratio and each inner-structure of the types for the view of the afterlife. Finally, we discussed the limitation of this study and the directions for future study.