Self - Knowledge Processes and Rational and Experiential Information Processing Systems in Iran and The United States

everal constructs and measures of the processes of self–knowledge operate at different levels of integ- ration and abstractness to facilitate and modulate self–regulating processes. Emotional intelligence and Alexi- thymia, as two constructs of reductionistic self-know-ledge, contribute respectively to the existence and to the absence of emotional self-awareness. These two expe- riential and reflective components of self–knowledge provide a more holistic and integrative view of self-know-ledge than the emotional intelligence and Alexithymia con- structs do. Therefore, these two facets should positively correlate with all the dimensions of rational and expe- riential information processing systems. The data from Iran and the United States showed that these two facets of self-knowledge are positively associated with all compo- nents of the rational and experiential information process- ing systems. The Emotional intelligence and Alexithymia did not display such relationships. In both cultures, the two facets of self-knowledge also predicted some mea- sures of mental health that are beyond the information processing systems. These results point toward the inter- twined, dynamic, integrative, and temporal nature of self-knowledge processes and suggest a need for developing scales, which are more efficient in measuring these proces- ses and in studying the similarities and differences in self-knowledge among cultures.