Abstract: In terms of social control,witchcraft is a release of social tension;and from social psychology,wizard/witch becomes the scapegoat to dispel social tension.Those who possess witchcraft and those not become secret cooperators,because they are under the same cultural background,maintaining the cognitive system of power of the society they are in.The fact that those who possess witchcraft mostly are women essentially expresses people’s cognition of the relationship between women and god,instead of a simple role mode between man and woman.Of course,this kind of cognition is likely to be made use of by those who are in power (mainly are men),thus it clearly tends to social differences of the two sexes in evolution.

Key words: scapegoat, social tension, cognitive system of power