Journal of Research in Behavioral Sciences
Year:2009 | Volume:7 | Issue:2 (14)|Papers Count:8

Aim and Background: Self-handicapping has been defined as a strategic manipulation of a situation in a way that an individual can claim that obstacles to his/her performance account for a possible failure.Research has shown that some people behave in a way to create impediments to successful achievement, especially when this is important to them. To the best knowledge of authors only one validated scale is developed for measurement of this behavior and that its psychometric properties have not been examined in Iran. As such, the aim of this study is to introduce the scale and evaluate its psychometric properties.Method and Materials: This research is a descriptive-correlational study with a cluster random sample of 650 undergraduate students from Shahid Beheshti University. Original SH scale (25 items) and Rosenberg Self-esteem Inventory (10 items) were administered. Collected data were analyzed using Pearson correlation, Chronbach Alpha, and exploratory factor analysis.Findings: Exploratory factor analysis supported a 3-factor (23 items from 25 original items) solution named as "negative mood" (NM), "effort" (E), and "excuse making" (EM). Base on the theory, sum score of "negative mood" & recoded "effort" composes behavioral self-handicapping, and sum score of "negative mood" and "excuse making" reflexes claimed self-handicapping. Chronbach's Alpha for the factors ranged from 0.60 to 0.72 and was 0.77 for the total scoreale. Test retest reliability was 0.84, supporting the reliability of the scale. Correlation between self-handicapping & self-esteem inventory was found to be -0.54 which provides further support for the validity of the scale.Conclusions: A 23-item self-handicapping scale was psychometrically evaluated in a student population.This version of the scale called" SHS-IR", shows satisfactory psychometric properties. Further research is needed to examine its application in different populations.

Aim and Background: Efficacy of Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy and Traditional Cognitive Behavior Therapy in reduction of over generality in autobiographical memory test of patients with Major Depressive Disorder in 2007 is considered in this study.Method and Materials: This clinical-experimental study was carried out on 90 patients randomly selected from 160 cases refering to Tehran University Consulting Centers, Shahed University and Saba Rehabilitation Clinic and met DSM-N criteria for Major Depressive Disorder. They were divided into 3 equal groups including CBT (Cognitive Behavior Therapy), MBCT (Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy)] with CBT, and TAU (Treatment As Usual). The first and second groups received psychological treatment while the third ones received medications. They were between 18 and 45 years old with two depression episodes and evaluated through the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-N (SCID) and self-report by Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II), in two pre and posttests. Data were analyzed by Co-variance analysis.Findings: MBCT with CBT group have significantly increased specific and categorical memory and combined and CBT groups decreased depression symptoms.Conclusions: Elements from MBCT and CBT in comparison to CBT made was more effective in Autobiographical memory test specifity.

Aim and Background: Psychological climate perceptions have received considerable attention in the organizational literature and have been used to predict a variety of important individual and organizational outcomes such as job satisfaction, burnout, job involvement, organizational citizenship behavior, psychological empowerment, job control and job performance. The aim of this study was to investigate relationships between perceived psychological climate with job control.Method and Materials: In a cross-sectional correlative study, a sample of 459 employees were selected through simple random sampling from the Snowa industrial factory whole staff. The instruments used in the study included psychological climate questionnaire and job control questionnaire. The validities of both questionnaires were confirmed by confirmatory factor analyses and the reliabilities of the two questionnaires were confirmed measuring the Cronbach's Alpha. Data were analyzed using pearson correlation coefficient and stepwise regression analysis.Findings: The results showed significant relationships (P<0.01) between all of the psychological climate components (autonomy, cohesion, trust, pressure, support, recognition, fairness and innovation) with job control. The results of the stepwise regression analyses showed that the components of autonomy, support, cohesion and innovation have significant predictive power for predicting job control and its domains.Conclusions: This study describes a process through which employees' perceptions of work environment (psychological climate) can predict their job control. This research shows how an environment that is perceived as psychologically safe and meaningful by employees is related to greater job control in the organization.

Aim and Background: There are various methods for treatment of depression. This study was aimed to examine and compare the efficacy of three therapeutic techniques namely group cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy, drug therapy with fluoxetin and drug- therapy with the herbal medicine named hypiran in treatment of depression in women.Method and Materials: In an experimental study, a total number of 45 female patients with major depression were randomly selected. They had been already screened with the depression-measurement questionnaire and further diagnosed by a psychiatrist to suffer from major depression. Patients were assigned to three experimental groups namely cognitive- behavioral, Fluoxetin and Hypiran groups. The three groups were assessed both before and after the intervention, and after the follow up period as well. Data were analyzied using one-way ANOVA, ANCOVA and post- hoc tests.Findings: Comparing changes in the mean scores, there was found significant differences between the efficacy of the three therapeutic techniques (P<0.01). Schefe's test also revealed that group cognitive behavioral therapy was more effective than Hypiran (P<0.01). The follow-up assessments showed that the efficacy of the therapeutic techniques were still in force even after 100 days. Of course significant differences were found between the perseverance of efficacies of the different therapeutic techniques (P<0.01).Conclusions: All the three mentioned therapeutic techniques were proved effective in treatment of depression. Cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy was found to be more effctive than hypiran in the post intervention phase and than the both other techniques in the follow-up assessment.

Aim and Background: This study was aimed to investigate the possibility of predicting success or failure in marital relationships according to adult attachment styles and religious attitudes.Method and Materials: This was a case-control study. The sample consisted of 49 divorce-seeking and 52 intact couples. The divorce-seeking and intact couples were respectively selected through convenient and cluster randomized sampling methods. All couples were evaluated by Shaver- Hazan's Adult Attachment Inventory and Azarbayejani's Religious Orientation Questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics as well as discriminate analysis.Findings: The results confirmed that secure attachment style and religious attitudes have the power to predict success of the marital relationship. The results confirmed the detailed model presented in this study.Conclusions: Findings revealed the fact that success or failure in marital relationship can be predicted by the variables of adult attachment and religious attitudes. The results of the prediction shows that when the couples have higher secure attachment style and lower avoidant and ambivalent attachment styles and also have firmer religious attitudes, the probability of success in their marital relationship will be higher.

Background and Aim: Moral psychology studies investigate cognitive and emotional systems involved in moral judgments. This research also examines the effect of emotion manipulation on reaction times to moral dilemmas.Method and Materials: This was a causal relational study executed on eighty five randomly selected 18-25 year old students from Shahid Beheshti University. To investigate moral judgment, 2 personal and impersonal moral dilemmas were administered and for emotion manipulation, 3 groups of neutral, positive and negative valence pictures were applied. This research was performed in 3 stages to evaluate moral judgment and 2 stages for emotion manipulation. To examine the results, ANOVA was done.Findings: The results showed significant differences in reaction times to personal moral dilemmas between the first and the third stages as well as between the first and the fifth ones. However, such differences were not significant for impersonal dilemmas. In addition, results revealed out that negative emotion induction, increases the reaction times toward moral dilemmas.Conclusion: It seems that the effect of environmental factors on decision making especially moral decision making is related to the kind of emotion inducted and also kinds of cognitive or emotional decisions.

Aim and Background: Achieve coherent identity is effective in many dimensions of life and many factors are effective in it. for this, Study about effective factors at identity status in students is necessary and aim of this study is Prediction of identity statuses in high school female I male students which relate with other sex friend based in their demographic and psychological characters in Tehran city.Method and Materials: The design of research was crossection with correlational method in population of high school students that was studying in 1385 in Tehran city that ralate with other sex friend. The sample in this study contained 200 students (101 males and 99 females) that they choosed by avalailable sampling. Data achived with 2 quastionaire: Extended Objective Measure Ego Identity Status and Sternberg love scale and analysed their with descriptive and inferential statistic (multiple analyses of regression).Findings: The results showed for achieved identity any of variables didn't show meaningful relationship. Gender variable with moratorium identity (P<0.01, F=13.857), birthday, passion intimacy and gender variables with foreclosure identity, (P<0.01, F=4.595) intimacy and passion variables with diffusion identity were meaningful (P<0.01, F=16.648).Conclusions: The results showed, some of demographic and psychological characters are effective in identity statuses.

Aim and Background: This study was conducted to compare the parenting stress in exceptional children's mothers (ECMs) and normal children's mothers (NCMs).Method and Materials: A total number of 738 mothers were enrolled in a retrospective comparative causal relationship study. They were mothers of 7 to 12 year old boy students (386 normal students and 352 exceptional ones) who had been selected through randomized multi-stage cluster sampling in Qom city primary schools. Data were collected using Abedin's Parenting Stress Index (short form) and analysed by multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA).Findings: Mean total score of Parenting stress in ECMs was significantly higher than that of NCMs. Considering the subscales, ECMs had significantly higher scores on subscales of parental distress, parent-child dysfunctional interaction and difficult child characteristics when compared with NCMs.Conclusions: ECMs experience higher levels of parenting stress than NCMs do.