International Journal of Psychology
Volume:7 Issue: 1, Winter-Spring 2013

The goal of this correlation research was to investigate the mediating roles of cognitive emotion regulation and social support for reducing the impact of job stressors on the job burnout on the basis of Hill’s stress theory and Maslach et al.’s model of job-person fit. For this purpose, 285 accessed employees from 4 supportive organizations in Shiraz, 47% female and 53% male volunteers were selected to fill out the questionnaires. To gather data, four questionnaires regarding four latent variables (job stressors, cognitive emotion regulation, social support, and job burnout) with a total of 55 items and 14 observed subscales were used. SPSS 16 for descriptive statistics and Structural Equation Modeling (Lisrel 8.54) were applied to test the model. Data analysis showed that on one hand, job stressors had a dramatic direct effect on burnout with a significant correlation of 0.80. Moreover, there was a considerably significant correlation between job stressors and job burnout with a correlation coefficient of 0.46 due to the mediating role of cognitive emotion regulation; however, social support had no significant effect on job burnout directly or as a mediating variable in this study. To conclude, this survey illustrated that the theory about individual’s perception of stressful events in Hill’s model was supported. Furthermore, in this research the theory about the impact of social support was rejected, however, the model of job-person fit was substantially confirmed.

Attentional dysfunction has been shown as a core deficit in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Attention and concentration affect children with autism in many ways. Impairment in these areas influences learning, memory, daily living skills, and cognitive ability. For instance, the abilities to inhibit responses, discriminate relevant from irrelevant information, utilize system of rules, and solve problems, which are dependent on a child''s memory and concentration. Therefore, in the present study, the possibility of deficit in attention in 15 high functioning children with autism spectrum disorder aged between 6-13 years old were evaluated. The assessment procedure included sustained attention using a Continuous Performance Test; and shifting attention using a Wisconsin Card Sorting Task involving different categories for sorting; focusing and selective attention, using the Stroop Test; working memory, using Digit Span, Coding-Digit Symbol and Arithmetic subtests of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC-R). The results indicated that attentional impairments in high functioned autistic children, where they were observed, are at the conceptual level, with implications for executive functions and the monitoring of novel information, and for the ability to organize information along with monitoring ongoing events and making rapid adjustments.

As a fundamental concept in Flow Theory, flow experience is characterized by a balance between challenge and skills. Together with intense focus, control, and interest, these experiences lead to enhanced performance on a given task. Only in the last few years have teachers and researchers begun to test the relevance of flow experiences to second language acquisition. Whether, to what extent, and with what effects undergraduate students learning English as a foreign language (EFL) also experience flow is yet unknown. The purpose of the present study was to examine possible flow experiences perceived by undergraduate EFL students while reading different texts in English. A secondary aim of the study was to examine possible associations between flow experiences and reading comprehension ability. A sample of two EFL reading classes including 54 sophomore learners (40 women and 14 men) with the age range of 19 to 22 years participated and provided the necessary data on flow experiences on a flow perception instrument. Their on-task flow experience was measured through a standard flow perceptions questionnaire (The FPQ) administered immediately after the completion of each reading task. To complement this data, selected participants also provided follow-up interview data on reasons for not experiencing in reading. The analyses of reported flow experiences indicated that the learners did experience some levels of flow during the performance of all reading tasks. Mean reading comprehension scores were significantly associated with scores on perceived on-task flow experiences. The findings imply that, in optimally balanced design and teaching of reading tasks, helping students to read with flow will arouse their interest in what they read and ultimately lead to more successful reading comprehension in English as a foreign language.

Religion is an inseparable part of human life and it plays a key role in promotion of health. The present study aimed to construct and validate a measure for Religion Practice According to Islamic Believes; RPAIB. The studied sample consisted of 375 undergraduate students from Shahid Bahonar University at Kerman who were selected using stratified random sampling. Data were collected using the religious beliefs questionnaire. Factor analysis of RPAIB revealed support for construct validity of RPAIB in a three factors solution whereby CCRB, CRO, SRRMR were extracted as using PCA method and Varimax rotation. The RPAIB- was satisfactory in terms of psychometrical aspects including construct validity and internal consistency. Due to the perceived lack of instruments with satisfactory psychometrical properties, RPAIB can be used as a valid and reliable inventory to measure the religion believes.

The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship of academic procrastination with self-esteem and life satisfaction. Two hundred and six students from Sistan and Baluchestan University were selected through the simple random method and completed the measures of Academic Procrastination, Self-esteem and Students’ Life Satisfaction. Correlational analysis indicated that procrastination was significantly related to self-esteem and so its dimensions; namely, academic achievement, social evaluation and appearance. There was a significant negative correlation between procrastination and life satisfaction. Multiple regression analyses indicated that self-esteem and life satisfaction were significant predictors for academic procrastination. Self–esteem was a greater predictor than life satisfaction for academic procrastination. Self-esteem accounted for 12.6% of the variance of academic procrastination (Beta=.29, p<.001) and in the second step life satisfaction accounted for 2.8% of the variance of academic procrastination (Beta=-.19, p≤.01). The male students showed higher mean scores on academic procrastination than female students. There was not any significant difference on procrastination scores with regard to age and academic field. Eventually, it is concluded that self–esteem was a positive and life satisfaction a negative predictor for academic procrastination.

This study compared the working memory performance and its subsystems (phonological loop, visuo-spatial sketchpad and central executive) between literate and illiterate adults. The study was based on a descriptive methodology, using a causal-comparative method. The sample consisted of adult students in the final course of Nehzat Savad Amouzi Organization (NSAO) in Kurdestan, made up of 67 individuals who constituted the literate group and were matched with 67 other students who constituted the illiterate group. The 67 adults in each group were matched for age, gender, job, and intelligence. Based on the last works (Hassanpoor, H. H. 2003, Dutke, S., & Mike, R. 2006, Lee et al. 2007, Swanson, H. L. 1992 & Oberauer, K, et al. 2003) we used a test for each working memory subsystems and administered individually. For investigating the differences between the two groups, multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used. The results of the MANOVA analysis indicated that there was a significant difference (p ≤ 0.001) between the groups in working memory performance and all its subsystems. This study suggests that, literacy could be the main factor in improving the working memory performance in adulthood.

This study investigated the relationship between benevolent leadership with task performance, organizational citizenship behavior and affective commitment. Participants included 242 employees from a service organization who completed Benevolent Leadership Scale (Karakas, 2009), Task Performance (Williams and Anderson, 1991), Organizational Citizenship Behavior Scale (Podsakoff, Mackenzie, Moorman, & Fetter, 1990), and Affective Commitment Scale (Meyer and Allen, 1991). The results showed that there are significant simple and multiple relationships between subscales of benevolent leadership (ethical sensitivity, spiritual depth, positive engagement, and community responsiveness), and task performance, organizational citizenship behavior and affective commitment. In addition, the results of stepwise regression technique showed that ethical sensitivity, spiritual depth, and positive engagement have the most significant effect on criterion variables.