Journal of Psychology
Year:2001 | Volume:4 | Issue:4 (16)|Papers Count:10

The present study is concerned with the effects of cognitive and motivational self regulation techniques training on academic improvement and the possible reduction of psychological problems in Iranian students. 272 Human science students at Shahid Beheshti University in Tehran were reandomly divided into four groups (2 experimental and 2 control groups). Two groups were given training for eight weeks on the theoretical and practical aspects of motivational and cognitive self regulation techniques and two groups were given no training at all.Evaluation of subjects' academic improvement was done by comparnig their mean grades in two academic terms. In addition a questionnaire measuring subjects academic problems was administered. Subjects' anxiety was measured using Cattells Anxiety Scale and the use of cognitive and motivational techniques was measured using the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ). Two groups completed these questionnaires twice (befor and after training) and two groups only once, after the completion of training. Thus, one experimental and one control group with pre and post test and one experimental and control group with only post test took part in the study. Results showed that as far as academic problem were concerned, those subjects who were given training, reported fewer problems than those who were not given any training. Pre-testing was shown to have a significant effect on subjects' level of reported anxiety. In other words, although a significant difference existed between the experimental and the control groups, the least amount of anxiety was observed in the experimental post-test only group. Significant differences in the used of cognitive and motivational techniques was found between the control and experimental groups on the following aspects: self-regulation, self-efficacy and intrinsic value. Finally, it was found that cognitive and motivational techniques training had no significant effect on subjects' academic improvement. Results are discussed in term of the implications for academic programming and training in Iran in the light of present limitations and problems and directions for future research in the field.

This research focused on the personality traits and coping strategies in deperessed female students. In the first phase, 45 depressed students were recognized based on their scores on the Beck questionnaire from the two universities in Qom. In the second phase, depressed students were randomly divided into three equal subgroups. The first and the second subgroups were treated, respectively, by the Coping Therapy (CT) and Progressive Relaxation Therapy (PRT) and the third one was considered as the cantorl group. Subjects completed the "16 PF Questionnaire" and "Folkman- Lazarus Coping Strategies Questionnaire". Results showed that CT, not only reduced the depression level as much as the PRT, but also, it highly reduced the anxiety level. Furthermore, the CT influenced the most personality factors. In particular, the CT model could change successfuly the coping strategies including "Escape- Avoidance" and "Accepting Responsibility" in depressed students, this advantage was not found for the PRT.

Recent research on educational integration suggests that the most benefit of educational integrated programes is that such programes provides opportunities for social contact and interaction between normal and exceptional students.Therefore, the present study was designed to investigate the attiudes of sixty students (girls) who were studied in three integrated high-school in comparison with the attitudes of sixty students (girls) who were studied in three non-integrated high schools in Mashad toward hearning impaired students and their educational integration. For this purpose Beh-Pajooh's Attitude Scale (1991) was adapted and administered in group settings. The findings indicated that (a) between the attitudes of secondary students who had social contact with hearing impaired students in integrated high-schools in comparison with non-integrated students' attitudes there were no significant differences, (b) a similar result was found on attitues toward their educational integration, (c) there found significant differences between attitudes of first and fourth graders toward hearing impaired student in integrated high-schools.

Continuous Performance Test (CPT) is the most widely experimental instrument used for the measurement of "monitoring" as well as the assessment of attention deficit with hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Numerous versions of CPT have been devised for clinical and experimental applications. The Farsi vesrion of CPT wich is administered by computer, includes 150 Farsi numbers as stimuli, 30 (i.e. 20 percent) of which are cousidered as "goal stimuli". The inter-stimuli interval is 150 msec. The reliability coefficient of various sections of CPT examined over a 20-day test-retest interval on 43 male primary school students range from 5911 to 9342. In addition, all validity coefficients of CPT were found to be statistically significant at p<001. The criterion validity coefficients of CPT were measured by comparing a normal group of students (n=30) with a group of students diagnosed as saffering from ADHD (n =25). The results indicated significant differences between performance of the two groups in various parts of CPT.

In this study, reliability of the Students' Evaluation of Academic Staff Questionnaire, which is one of the most important and frequent style of evaluation of academic staff in Iranian universities was investigated. 9562 completed questionnaires by Semnan University students (male and female) related to the first semester (1999-2000) were analyzed in two ways: 1- All of the questionnaires, 2- Randomely one subject in each of the academic departments. Cronbach-alpha was used for evaluation of reliability rate of the results. It was found that reliability and accuracy of the questionnaire are seriously doubtful. Some basic steps in correction of its reliability were also suggested.