The Role of Moral Qualities of Pride, Greed and Jealousy in Predicting Neuroticism

According to Islamic teachings, moral vices are among the main threats to mental health. Using a descriptive method, the present paper investigates the role of moral qualities of pride, greed and jealousy in predicting neuroticism. To this end, 384 students were randomly chosen from Khomein "Azad Islamic" University and "multi-stage sampling" was used. Questionnaires on five characteristics of personality, Islamic scales of "greed–contentment", "pride–humbleness" and "jealousy" were used for gathering the data, which were analyzed by using Pearson correlation and stepwise regression. The results show that the components of "feeling of deprivation and inferiority", "deprivation and material need", "chagrin resulting from comparison", "the need for social support", "finding interest in divesting others of prosperity", and " material disinhibition" can predict part of the variance for neuroticism. Feeling of inferiority and lack of a secure inner base make the proud, greedy and jealous person in need of external world, environment and social relationships to express such qualities, which cause him/her seek compensation through cognitive, emotional and behavioral mechanisms, after having experienced several negative emotions.