Journal of Psychology
Year:2008 | Volume:12 | Issue:3 (47)|Papers Count:10

Depression is one of the most common symptoms in Multiple Sclerosis (M.S). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of Cognitive-Behavior Group Therapy on depression of patients with Multiple Sclerosis (M.S.) and also to examine its effect on somatic symptoms. The subjects consistedof 28 patients with M.S., who were randomly selected from the Isfahan M.S. Society, and were randomly assigned to experimental (n= 14) and control (n= 14) groups. The questionnaires were SCL-90-R and a Demographic Questionnaire. The experimental group received 6 weekly sessions of Cognitive- Behavior Group Therapy (CBT). While the control group received no intervention. The results of the covariance analysis showed that after 6 sessions of CST, the severity of depression was significantly lower in the experimental group than in the control group (Ps> 0.0 1), however, the difference of the two groups was not significant on somatization. It was concluded that, as a useful method of intervention, CST may be applied for the patients with M.S. and other neurological diseases.

The objective was to investigate the effects of different rated violent computer games regarding to the types of personality on cardiovascular reactions among Iranian adolescents. 209 participants (108 girls, 101 boys) were selected by cluster sampling among the first grade students of secondary schools in Tehran. The mean age was 12,7 (ranged from 12 to 15 years). The subjects were divided into 9 groups including a control group and 8 experimental groups which played selected electronic games for 40 minutes. Each participant's blood pressure and heart rate was recorded 10 minutes before beginning and 5 minutes to the end of the game on sedentary position and from the left wrist by blood pressure monitor. All the subjects filled out Eysenck Personality Inventory before the experiment. Data analyzing by ANOVA method revealed that cardiovascular reactions were moderated by playing different rated violent electronic games but they were not affected by different personality traits. Cardiovascular arousal in some of the games was affected by the rate of game challenging. These findings provide modest support for the aggression catharsis hypothesis.

In order to study the effect of watching horror films on the immune system, variations on the concentration of secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA) existing in saliva samples were studied. The subjects (consisted of26 female under-graduate students who were studying psychology and education) were selected. Before starting the experiment, all the participants were observed by physician and their physical health’s was approved. The participants were divided randomly into two experimental and control groups (n=13). A horror film was shown to the experimental group and a family-emotional film was shown to the control group. Based on the pre-test post-test design, before and after watching the films, their saliva samples were collected in two minutes time in the same situations. The saliva samples were analyzed by Nephelometer analyzer and the results were analyzed by the analysis of covariance. The results showed that there was a significant increase in the concentration ofslgA after watching the horror film in the experimental group. Also, the difference between the increase in the concentration ofslgA after watching a horror film in comparison to the concentration of sIgA before and after watching a family-emotional film in the control group was significant (p<0/05). It was concluded that watching horror film can affect the concentration of sIgA. As the results of other studies confirmed, watching horror films like acute stress can increase the concentration of sIgA in saliva.

The purpose of the present study was to develop and validate loneliness scale among university students. The sample consisted of 308 university students (174 females and 134 males). Factor analysis of final version scale revealed three factors; loneliness due to relationship with family, loneliness due to relationship with friends and affective symptoms of loneliness. Internal consistency and test-re test reliability coefficients were 0.91 and 0.84, respectively. The subspace reliabilities were acceptable. Convergent and divergent validity coefficients were appropriate. There was no significant statistical difference among the male and female students according to their loneliness score.

Self serving bias is persons tendency to attribute positive (affinnative) results to self and negative results to external causes. The purpose of this study was to determine the existence of self-serving bias in: (I) predicting marriage success according to matched and no-matched attributes and (2) optimistic judgment among the undergraduate students. Thus 212 individuals were randomly selected (107 girls, I05 boys) from Isfahan University. A hypothetical scenario (Vignette) including marriage fitness characteristics was presented to the participants. Data were analyzed by multiple regression method with effect categorizing coding and t-tests. The findings indicated that the subjects recognized a subset of matched attributes better than a subset of no-matched attributes (p< 0.001).Also, the subjects judged optimistically about the possible occurrence of positive and negative events (p< 0.001). The female subjects, judged more optimistic than the males did. Contrary to oriental cultures, it seems that self-serving bias is more common in Iranian culture.

The present literature indicates that chronic pain patients who report higher levels of anger, reported poor adjustment to pain adjustment. In this study, 149 chronic pain patients completed the following measures: mood, physical disability, anger, pain intensity, pain-related interference with daily activities and physical and mental components of quality of life. In addition, all patients were required to answer the following question: "Who (or what) do you think is responsible for the onset of your pain? Anger was prevalent among the study sample; Patients who scored higher in anger were more depressed and scored lower in the mental components of quality of life. In the present study, patients were classified according to their response to the question: "Who (or what) do you think is responsible for the onset of your pain?" The resulting three groups did not differ in pain intensity and mental and physical components of quality of life. However, patients who held the belief that their pain resulted from the intent or negligence of someone else (Group3) scored higher on depression and anger, compared to the patients in groups 1 and 2. Furthermore, patients in group 3 scored higher on physical disability and pain-related interference in daily activities, relative to patients in group 2. The patients in Groups 1 and 2 were not statistically different in any of the study variables.

Using a structural model, the present study investigated the contribution of academic engagement and performance approach goals in academic achievement among the girl students in third grade of high school. Multi-stage sampling was used for selecting 260 participants among Tehran high schools girl students in humanities. Two questionnaires were used: goal achievement scale and motivational strategies for learning questionnaire. In the present study, the average of students in five specific courses at the end of academic year was considered as index of student's scores academic achievement. The data was been analyzed by using structural equations model. The results indicated that causal effects of performance approach goals on task value, persistence on task, shallow and deep processing strategies was positive and on seeking help from peers was negative. Causal effects of deep processing strategies, task value and persistence on task on academic achievementwas positive and causal effects of shallow processing strategies and seeking help from peers on academic achievement was negative.