Journal of Psychology
Year:2002 | Volume:6 | Issue:1 (21)|Papers Count:7

During the last several decades, interactive video games have emerged as one of the most popular forms of entertainment, particulary among adolescents. The first electronic video games were introduced in the 1972s. By the 1980 s, researchers had begun to evalute the impact of playing video games in many areas and focus of attention has been on those negative aspects such as addiction, physical symptoms, aggression and social isolation. The computer games may fulfill needs normally met through social interaction, and so lead to social isolation and reduce of social skills. Social skills are necessary for emotional and behavioral adjustment and successful functioning at home, school, work and social setting. It can be especially challenging for adolscents to establish and maintain competent social interactions because of the many developmental changes that occure. The following reserch has been studied the relationship between the video- computer games and adolescents sociol skills among 258 male students. The Teenage Inventory of Social Skills (TISS) and a demographic questionniare have been completed by participants. The multiple regression revealed that playing video-computer games at home and / or playing alone were correlated inversely with social skills.

This research has studied the effect of cognitive training on locus of control, achievement motivation and academic performance of Shahed high school students in Shahin Shahr (Esfahan). A random sample of 100 high school students (50 girls and 50 boys) were selected and randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The pre-test and post-test design was used. First, subjects in both groups in the pre-test phase answered to the Ratter Locus of Control and Hermans Achievement Motivation Questionnaires. Then, experimantal group received 9 weekly sessions (60 minutes each) of cognitive training. At the end of training, subjects from both experimental and control groups fill out the Locus of control and the Achievement Motivation questionnaires as the post-test. Also, the participants' grade point average from the first and the second academic terms were used as the pre and post-test, showing their academic performance. The results indicated that cognitive training had a significant effect on increasing the degree of internal locus of Control, and achievement motivation scores for the experimental group, but its effect on their academic performance has not reached the significant level.

The objectives of this survey were to examine: a) the lifetime prevalence of pain symptoms, b) the prevalence rate of pain over the past 6 months, c) the prevalence rate of chronic persistent pain, and d) to provide more thorough and detailed information on the dimensions of chronic pain among the population of under study. 512 (298 male and 214 female) residents of Gorveh and Eilam areas who came to hospitals to visit one of their hospitalized relatives participated in the study. Results showed that seventy two percent of the sample reported a pain experience in some points of their lives. The mean age of onset of lifetime pain was 24.89 (SD=9.37) years and the mean time of duration of this type of pain was 7.67 (SD=1l.97) months. Twenty-six percent of the total sample reported some sort of pain that had lasted a whole day or moreover the past 6 months. The average age of these subjects was 33.02 (SD=1l.94) years and the mean duration of their pain was 21.33 (SD=26.30) months. The prevalence rate of chronic persistent pain in the sample was 9%. Of the 133 subjects who reported pain experience during the past 6 months, 87% had reported seeing a doctor for their pain condition at some time, 14% reported at least one surgery for pain relief. More than two-thirds (68%) of the prevalent cases (i.e. 133 subjects) had reported using some form of medication for their pain condition at the time of survey. Results of t-tests revealed that chronic pain has negative impacts on all aspects of patient's general health condition. Results suggested that pain is quite common among the adult population in these areas. Results also revealed that a considerable proportion of the population who suffered from common pain or chronic persistent pain have experienced pain which was severe enough to cause usage of medication for its control. Given the high prevalence of pain, it is possible to postulate that pain may be a significant cause of distress for the considerable proportion of the population.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of REBT anger management group training in reducing aggressive behaviors of high school students. Twenty four high school students who had high marks in the aggressive questionnaire, were selected randomly. Then they were randomly divided into two experimental and control groups. The experimental group received ten sessions of REBT anger management training. The hypotheses were: 1. Aggressive behavior tends to decrease using REBTanger management group training. 2. There is a relationship between students demographic features and their aggressive behaviors. t-test and MANOVA. The results of t-test and MANOVA indicate that REBT anger management group training significantly decrease aggressive behaviors of high school students (p<0/001). The second hypothesis was not confirmed.

In order to study the effectiveness of metacognitive strategies' instruction on students, a program was designed. The main feature of this program is its emphasis on awareness in the learning process, which helps the students identify, choose aim, conduct and monitor their learning process. The participants were 90 1st grade highschool male students. Subjects were devided in 3 equal groups. The experimental group received metacognitive instruction in 500 minutes. For measuring student's comprehension two tests - one for pretest and one for post-test- were designed with a similar difficulty. Each test consisted of 3 parts (biology, literature and text correction). The scores of pre-test and post-test in all groups were analyzed by repeated measurement ANOVAS. The analysis showed significant difference. The experimental group's scores were increased in the post-test, while the control group's mean scores was decreased in the post-test. This difference between the pre-test and the post-test showed that metacognitive strategies improve students' comprehension.

This research is a clinical trial study carried out to investigate the effect of the continuous consultation model on the quality of life of coronary artery disease clients. In this study a short form questionnaire was used before and after the intervention in the two groups of study on the experimental and control groups. Required estimated number of the sample was 70 divided equally into two groups using the random allocation method. The continuous consultation model was applied on the experimental group for a period of six months, while the control group was treated as usual. The results showed that the mean score of the emotional domains of the quality of life which were 44 and 39 in the experimental and control groups respectively before the study, was increased to 50.7 in the experimental but decreased to 41 in the control group after the study. The mean score of the physical domains of the quality of life, which were 43 and 42 in the experimental and control groups before the intervention, was increased to 60.1 in the experimental group while decreased to 39.7 in the control group. In addition the total score of the quality of life, which was 42 and 40.5 in the experimental and control groups respectively before the intervention, was increased to 55.4 in the experimental group while decreased to 34.9 in the control group. T-test showed a significant difference between different domains of the quality of life of the two groups indicatingthe positive effect of the continuous consultation model.