Journal of Psychology
Year:2001 | Volume:5 | Issue:2 (18)|Papers Count:5

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of achievement goals (task-goal, ego-goal) and level of ability on the help seeking behaviors and attitudes. One hundred and fourteen secondary students with different levels of skill ability in mathematics (low, medium and high) were chosen. The subjects worked on 6 difficult mathematic problem in either a task-goal or an ego-goal condition. Results indicate that students were more likely to request help in a task-goal condition and explained help seeking as guided by mastery learning and achievement. In the ego-goal condition students were less likely to request help seeking and explained help seeking in terms of task difficulty. The results clarify that level of ability effect the styles of help seeking behaviors, but doesn't affect its frequency. Furthermore, help seeking would help students to resolve their later mathematical problems independently and more successfully.

This study examine the effect of behavioural parent training and medication on the hyperactivity symptoms in children with Attention- Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Eight primary schools from four regions of Shiraz were chosen randomly.Considering the teachers and parents' ratings on the Child Symptoms Inventory (CSI), 67 pupils were primarily diagnosed as hyperactive children. They were referred to psychiatrist for diagnosis. Only 30 of 67 pupils consult to the psychiatrist and 26 of them were diagnosed as hyperactive. These 26 children, Plus 7 children who have been previously diagnosed as hyperactive by psychiatrist, were divided into three groups namely Parent Behavioural Training (PBT) group, Medication group and Control group. Medication group took Methylphenidate (Ritalin) for 35 day. The PBT group attended behavioural modification class for 6 weekly sessions of 90 minutes. The control group did not receive any sort of therapy. Teachers and parents rate the CSI and the demographic questionnaire in three stages: before and after therapy, and in a follow- up. The results indicate that, based on the parents' ratings, parent behavioural training at the post-treatment and the follow-up stages, has reduced the amount of subjects' hyperactivity. However on the base of the teachers' ratings no significant difference between the PBT group and the control group was found. The results showed that both teachers and parents agreed about the higher effects of medication on decreasing the hyperactivity symptoms at the post-treatment stage, but teachers and parents disagreed about the amount of effect of medication on subjects' hyperactivity symptoms in the follow-up stage; While teachers' ratings showed no significant difference between the medication group and the control group at the follow-up stage, for the parents' ratings the difference between the medication group and the control group, was significant.

Symptom Checklist-90- Revised (SCL-90-R) is a widely used scale for the measurement of psychopathology. According to the research findings, SCL-90-R items tap various symptoms of only one general psychopathological dimension rather than measuring differentially and exclusively multiple dimensions.Therefore, SCL-90-R measures the general psychological distress or general psychopathology. In the present paper, the construction and validation of a short form of the SCL-90-R entitled SCL-25 is reported in details. Data analyses reveal that SCL-25 is a reliable and valid scale for the assessment of general psychopathology.

Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI), is a new interdisciplinary field, researching the effects of psychological factors in neural and immune systems, and their interactions. Most researchers believe that severe emotions and chronic stressors often result in liberation of neural hormonal mediators, Which are important causes of stress - induced immune suppression. Furthermore, some working on PNI, have attempted to study the effects of severe emotions on cognitive (abstractive) activities of subjects. In spite of controversial data in this field, in ) order to study the effect of computer games on hormonal alterations (cortisol), 16 students with age average 12.6 yrs. Were selected randomly among a residential secondary school population. They were assigned in four groups based on Solomon design. Two experimental groups played computer games 27 days, 1 hr, daily. The blood samples were gathered based on Solomon design and analysed in a laboratory for cortisol levels. The results were analysed statistically for significant differences by ANOVAs. The results indicated that the computer games increased cortisol amounts in the morning (  α =0.01) and in the evening ( α =0.04) significantly. The findings have implications for the effect of the computer games on children based on cortisol critical psychophysiological influences.

The purpose of this study was to explore relationships between type A behavior pattern and coronary heart disease. 108 male University students completed the 48-item Multidimensional Type A Behavior Scale (MTABS). The scale was derived from existing scales measuring aspects of type A behavior. Factor analysis of responses supported the four dimensional construct of the MTABS (Impatience - time urgency, Anger - hostility, competitiveness, Achievement striving). Suitable reliability and validity was found. Systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, and heart rate were measured before and during a 5 min. serial subtraction task. Regression analysis indicates different relation between four dimension of type A behavior pattern and cardiovascular responses - i.e. Anger - hostility had greater portion in explanation of blood pressure and heart rate during the experience of stressful task findings confirmed the multidimensional construct of type A behavior, individual differences in this pattern and differential relationship between components of type A behavior with cardiovascular responses.