نشریه روانشناسی معاصر
سال هشتم شماره 1 (بهار 1392)

The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between perfectionism، as a personality trait، and the brain structure. A total of 49 volunteers (23 women، 26 men) participated in this study by filling a Farsi version of the Positive and Negative Perfectionism Scale (FPANPS) and attending an MRI session. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) method was used to analyze the MRI data. The images were segmented to gray matter، white matter and cerebrospinal fluid. A template was produced by averaging segmented gray matters، and the images were normalized to be matched with the template. Then، a statistical model was used to find regions in the brain which had significant correlations with positive or negative perfectionism. The results demonstrated significant correlations between negative perfectionism with thalamus، and left posterior parietal cortex (precuneus) structures، where higher perfectionism score was statistically correlated with gray matter density. The results also showed that the assessment of any correlation for positive perfectionism needs larger sample size. Previous studies have shown that precuneus is activated by thinking about duties and obligations and it is also related to depression. On the other hand، thalamus has been found to be related to obsessive-compulsive disorder. The results may help to clear the neurological foundations of perfectionism and its relationship with other disorders.

Sex differences in intelligence is one of the most important topics in contemporary psychology. Some findings indicate that there are sex differences in intelligence and some others believe that there is no sex differences in general intelligence. Some authors believe that this conflict can be resolved by fluid intelligence، which is conceived as the core of intelligent behavior. The aim of this study was to compare fluid intelligence in female and male high school students based on classic and item-response theories. A total of 884 high school students (446 males، 438 females) ranging in age from 15 to 17، were tested by Scale 3 (form A) of Cattell''s Culture Fair Intelligence Test (CFIT). Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for female and male students were 0. 87 and 0. 85 respectively. Statistical testing showed that: 1) the raw mean score of female students on fluid intelligence was significantly higher than that of male students، 2) comparison of the abilities of the two groups based on IRT model showed that the abilities of female students on 25 percentile and below were lower than that of male students، and the abilities of the two groups between the 25 to 55 percentiles were identical، the abilities of female students between the 55 to 85 percentiles were higher than that of male students، and the abilities of male students on 90 percentile and above were higher than that of female students.

The main purpose of this study was to present an account of the development and examine psychometric properties of Sexual Knowledg and Attitude Scale (SKAS) including construct validity، convergent and discriminant validity، internal consistency، and test-retest reliability. Eight hundred and thirty seven Iranian men and women (385 men، 451 women) participated in this study، voluntarily. All participants were asked to complete the SKAS، The Golombok-Rust Inventory of Marital State Questionnaire (GRIMS)، The Romantic Relationship Scale (RRS)، and the Mental Health Inventory (MHI-28). The results of explarotary factor analysis supported a single general factor of sexual knowledg and attitude and a two factor structure including Sexual Knowledg and Sexual Attitude. The convergent and discriminant validity of the SKAS were supported by an expected pattern of correlations between the scale and the measures of marital problems، romantic dependency، romantic insecurity، psychological well-being، and psychological distress. All correlation coefficients between the mean scores on the SKAS and scores of the marital problems، romantic dependency، romantic insecurity، psychological well- being، and psychological distress were statistically significant. Coefficient alpha estimates of internal reliability were between. 84 and. 94 for the SKAS subscales. Test-retest reliability of the SKAS was also calculated at the range of. 76-. 87. All correlations were statistically significant. It was concluded that the SKAS can be considered as a reliable and valid scale to measure sexual knowledg and attitude in Iranian samples.

The purpose of this research was to investigate the efficacy of attachment based therapy on decreasing parental stress in mothers of preschool children with externalizing behaviors and decreasing this type of behavioral problems in these children. 25 mother-child dyads were selected via available sampling from three nursery schools. Mothers completed the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) and the Parenting Stress Index (PSI). The intervention program for the experimental group included eight individual and weekly 60-minute sessions and mothers of the control group received an educational package focusing on increasing cognitive skills of the children. The result showed parental stress of mothers in experimental group significantly decreased in both children and their mothers. Also، the externalizing problems of children (including oppositional behavior، aggression and hyperactivity- attention deficit) decreased in the experimental group. Considering the attachment based components of the intervention package، it seems that decreasing parental stress and behavioral problems of children was due to an increase in maternal sensitivity and improving mother- child interaction patterns.

The aim of this study was to investigate and compare the ability of Contingency Naming Test in predicting math achievement. For this purpose 80 fourth grade students with math difficulties and 80 fourth grade normal students (without math difficulties) were selected. The following tests were then administered: The Iran Key Math Test (IKMT)، the Contingency Naming Test (CNT)، Digit Span (DS) subtests of the Wechsler Intelligence Test (WIT) and the Stroop Test (ST). From the CNT we obtained measures of response time، the number of self-corrections، the number of errors and efficiency scores. Stepwise Multiple Regression analysis results revealed that the number of errors and response time in two-attribute task and efficiency scores in one and two-attribute tasks had more ability in explaining math achievement. Also the number of errors of CNT and interference score of stroop test (inhibition of proponent response) had a significant relationship. The other results showed that the CNT in comparison with inhibition and working memory tests had more ability in predicting math achievement. The results can be helpful in the identification and planning of neuropsychological interventions for students with math difficulties.

Whistle- blowers are people who expose misconducts or unethical behaviors that exists in the organization. It seems that personality is one reason why some employees are more incline than others to engage in whistle-blowing behavior Measurement of personality with narrow band form can''t detect significant relations properly، so in the current research we apply facet measure of two personality dimensions which contain many subscales. The main purpose of this research was to investigate the relation between whistle-blowing and personality (two scales of extraversion and neuroticism). To this goal، 1228 participants from a big holding in Tehran were selected using random sampling method from the total Population. Questionnaires which were used in this research included two scale of Eyseneck Personality Profiler namely Extraversion، Neuroticism (EPP) and Whistle-blowing Questionnaire (WBQ). The results showed that there was a significant positive correlation between self expression and aggression with whistle-blowing; and a negative significant correlation between Low self-esteem، anxiety، guilt & dependence with whistle-blowing. So، it seems that there are some relationships between some personality characteristics and ethical behavior of whistle-blowing، and these results can be used in selecting personnel in organizations. Hence it may be possible to select individuals with specific personality traits so that the ethical code of conduct in the organization is with held and counter productive behavior within the organization may be inhibited.

This study examined the mediating role of dispositional optimism on the relationship between academic stressors and reactions to stressors among male and female students. A sample consisting of 300 students (112 males، 188 females) were administrated the Student-Life Stress Inventory (SLSI) and the Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R). Structural equation modeling was used to assess the mediating effects of optimism on the relationship between academic stressors and reactions to stressors among male and female students. In the global model، results indicated that there was a significant positive correlation between academic stressors with reactions to stressors، a significant negative correlation between academic stressors with optimism and a significant negative correlation between optimism with reactions to stressors. In the global model، results also indicated that the relationship between academic stressors and reactions to stressors was mediated by optimism. The results of the sexual specificity of structural relations showed that structural relations were equal for both sexes. All regression weights in the global model were statistically significant and model'' predictors accounted for 80 of the variance in reactions to stressors. These findings show that in both sexes when individuals encounter academic stressors، the difference in reactions to stressors may be accounted for by the difference in the degree of optimism.

The present study investigated the effect of inducing self-compassion and self-esteem on regulating shame and guilt by the experimental method. Eighty students of University of Tehran (26 males، 54 females) completed the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS)، the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES)، and the Shame-Proneness and Guilt-Proneness subscales of Test of Self-Conscious Affect (TOSCA). Then the experience of shame and guilt were reconstructed for participants by reminding and writing slightly about an experience of personal fault. After that their emotions were measured by the scale of shame and guilt and the scale of unpleasant emotions. Then participants exposed to experimental treatment by random assignment to four groups of self-compassion induction، self-esteem induction، writing control group and control group. Again their emotions were measured by the scale of shame and guilt and the scale of unpleasant emotions. The results showed that participants of inducing self-compassion group reported lower shame and other unpleasant emotions rather than those who were in inducing self-esteem group. The two interventions reduced the same amount of guilt in participants. The present study provided additional evidence for different effectiveness of self-compassion and self-esteem in regulating unpleasant emotions related to fault experience. These results are discussed in terms of the differences in the nature of experiencing shame and guilt.