Applied Psychology
Year:2010 | Volume:4 | Issue:2 (14)|Papers Count:8

Aim: The present study investigated the effects of mood induction by subliminally presenting stimuli of human faces depicting happy and sad expressions.The aim of this research was to explore fundamental unconsciousness determinants of these moods.Method: Research method was pretest-posttest with control group.45 undergraduate students of Shahid Beheshti University were randomly divided into three groups: happy mood, sad mood and neutral mood. After completing the Positive and Negative Mood Scale (PANAS), each group was presented with 20 pictures of human faces depicting sad, happy or neutral moods. In post-test, participants were asked to complete PANAS again.Results: Results showed that subliminally presented happy faces decreased negative mood and increased positive mood. The opposite effect was observed for subliminally presented sad faces.Conclusion: It can be concluded that subliminal perception of faces may be effective in experimentally induced mood change and therefore these results may be used by practitioners and clinicians to treat mood disorders in particular depression.

Aim: The aim of the present paper was to describe and explain the method of differential item function (DIF) within the framework of the item response theory (IRT) using the one parameter model with an emphasis on internal answer bias to the test.Method: As a first step, the theoretical foundations of the perspective was introduced and then in order to offer a practical application of the method, items of the English grammar subscale of the foreign language booklet in the National University Entrance Exam (NUEM) in the academic year 2005–06 was analyzed by two methods of comparing levels of difficulty values in two groups and likelihood ratio test. This was done by using BILOGMG software under the one parameter model.Results: Findings showed there was a significant difference in the amount of difficulty coefficient between the two groups on question number 8. This was confirmed by the fact that there was a better fitness when using the model including DIF compared with the model without DIF (p<0.05). In fact the probability of a correct response was higher for males than for females.Conclusion: The importance of investigating DIF in different tests is becoming increasingly important The methods for investigating DIF in classical test theory are not useful due to the variability in the indices obtained by this method. In contrast, techniques under the IRT context seem more plausible.

Aim: The aim of the present research was to investigate different styles of humour (positive, self defeating and aggressive) and to find out the relationship of these styles with general health of university students in Iran.Method: A correlational method was employed where 370 students were selected through relative stratified sampling and were asked to respond to the Humour Styles Questionnaire as well as the General Health Questionnaire.Results: Data was analyzed using Pearson’s correlation coefficient and student t-test. Results showed there was a correlation between humour styles and general health. Also there were significant differences between men and women in styles of humour.general health correlated positively with positive humour and negatively with self-defeating humour.Conclusion: Individuals who use self-defeating and aggressive humour in their interpersonal relationships may suffer from poorer general health than those who use positive humour. The humour style that is used by women is more positive and selfdefeating whereas the style used by men seems to be more aggressive.

Aim: This study examined the relationship between fluid intelligence, personality dimensions (Extroversion, Neurosis and psychosis) and emotional intelligence with academic success.Method: Research method of this study was descriptive and correlational.Participants were 112 high school students in the City of Dezful in southern Iran who were selected using multistage sampling. The following tests were administrated: Raven's Progressive Matrices (intermediate forms) Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (Eysenck and Eysenck, 1975) and Bar-On Emotional Intelligence Scale (Bar - On, 2000). Participants' GPA was used as a measure of academic success. Data were analyzed using Pearson correlation coefficient and multiple regression analysis.Results: Results showed that fluid intelligence, extroversion, emotional intelligence, intrapersonal intelligence and adaptability were positively correlated with academic success. Psychosis was negatively associated with academic success. Findings showed that there was a significant difference in academic success between boys and girls.Conclusion: Results showed that all three variables are related with academic success and these variables interact with each other so that they predict 32 percent of the variance related to academic success. It may be argued that quality of education may be raised paying more attention to students' characteristics and the emotional intelligence of learners.

Aim: The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of word processing with self-question strategies on improving spelling problems of primary school students with writing disorder.Method: An experimental method using pre-test and post-test with control group was employed. The statistical population consisted of third grade primary school students in Tehran. Twenty students with writing disorder were identified through relevant tests. Using multiple stage cluster sampling, they were randomly divided into two groups (one experimental group and one control group). After performing pretests in both two groups, the experimental group received computer based selfquestion strategies through 15 sessions of 45 minutes duration. The control group did not receive any intervention. Post-tests were administered immediately at the end of the last intervention session to both groups. The same tests were administered four months later in order to gather follow up data.Results: Data was analyzed using repeated measurement analyses.Data analysis indicated that the difference between the spelling scores of the experimental group and the control group was significant. Results showed that spelling problems in the experimental group decreased more than the control group.Conclusion: Word processing with self-question strategies can be used as an effective teaching technique in order to reduce the spelling errors of students with writing disorder.

Aim: The aim of the present study was to determine the amount of burnout (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and lack of personal accomplishment) in academic faculty members in Iran.Method: The research method was causal-comparative and the sample consisted of 156 (116 male and 40 female) faculty members in Shahid Beheshti University selected based on classified randomized sampling with proportional allocation. Data was obtained using the Maslach Burnout Inventory-Educators Survey (MBI-ES) (Maslach, Jackson & Leiter, 1996). A researcher made questionnaire was also used to obtain demographic data.t-test for independent groups and one way ANOVA were used to analyze the data.Results: Findings of this study showed that the degree of burnout in emotional exhaustion and depersonalization were lower than the norm. However, lack of personal accomplishment was higher than norm for teachers. Also, among demographic variables of age, sex, marital status, job experience, tenure status, major, and academic rank, only marital status had an effect: single members reported higher emotional exhaustion than their married counterparts.Conclusion: Although emotional exhaustion and depersonalization in faculty members is low but nearly 50 percent of them experience low personal accomplishment in their job.

Aim: The present study aimed to compare personality characteristics between athlete and nonathlete students.Method: The present study is a causal-comparative study.165 athlete and 170 nonathlete students of Karaj high schools selected through Multi-stage sampling method completed The California Psychological Inventory (Gough, 1990).Results: The results of MANOVA analysis showed that athletes obtained higher scores in Socialization than non-athletes. No difference was observed between the two groups in other subscales. In addition, results revealed significant differences between males and females in Capacity for Status, Sociability, Social Presence, Empathy, Good Impression, Well-Being, Intellectualization, Intellectual Efficiency, Achievement via Conformity, Achievement via Independency and Femininity / Masculinity subscales. Men generally scored higher on these scales than females.Conclusion: It appears that there are no significant relationships between personality characteristics and sport.