Revista de Psihologie Aplicată Vol. 11, Nr. 2

Autor(i) Articol Cuvinte cheie Abstract

Szentagotai, A., David, D. Address of correspondence: Aurora Szentagotai, Babes Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, 37 Republicii Str., Cluj-Napoca, Romania, email: auroraszentagotai@psychology.ro

Supresia gândurilor ca strategie de control emoţional în depresie

thought suppression, depression, ironic effects

Thought suppression is a mental control strategy that we use to alter our thoughts, emotions, motives or other psychological states, according to consciously represented goals. The outcomes of suppression attempts illustrate the efficiency of this strategy, but also its failure under numerous circumstances. Experimental results regarding suppression have had a considerable effect on recent conceptualizations of emotional problems, particularly in the case of disorders characterized by the recurrence of unwanted thoughts, such as depression, generalized anxiety disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, phobia and obsessive-compulsive disorder. The aim of this study was to assess the suppression of personally relevant thoughts in individuals diagnosed with depression (N=40). Our results indicate that suppression attempts are in fact associated with an increase in the frequency of unwanted thoughts, supporting the role of suppression in psychopathology. Beyond theoretical clarifications, an informed perspective on mental control and psychopathology could prove useful from the point of view of transferring fundamental research data into applied research in order to develop new therapeutic strategies for various psychological disorders.

Gavreliuc, D., Gavreliuc, A., Cîmpean, M. Address of correspondence: Alin Gavreliuc, West University of Timișoara, 4 Vasile Parvan Bvd. Room 242, 300223 Timișoara, Romania, e-mail: agavreliuc@socio.uvt.ro

Implicit presuppositions and relational patterns in the Romanian educational area

social axioms, personality dynamics, secondary socialization

This paper is dealing with social axioms topic in the educational area, examining the way in which different subscales of social axioms could be related with several personality dimensions, like self-determination, independence-interdependence, self-monitorization, and machiavellism. The research has been conducted on a sample composed by 524 participants (260 from universities and 264 from secondary school) in the Western part of Romania. Our study has underlined higher scores for social cynicism, religiosity and fate control, and moderate scores for reward for application. Social cynicism of teachers from universities is significant higher than the one of teachers from secondary schools. This outcome suggests acquiring of deceptive and disengagement patterns through secondary socialization in “school”. At the same time, it could be observed a positive correlation between social cynicism and self-monitorization and social cynicism and Machiavellism, on the one hand, and a negative correlation between social cynicism and independence, on the other hand. The teachers at the university level prove to be more interdependent and machiavellic than the teachers from secondary schools. The results suggest a tendency to modulate the people from educational Romanian system in a dependent and duplicity manner, at the same time in the relational and in the institutional register.

Revista de Psihologie Aplicată Vol. 11, Nr. 2

Autor(i) Articol Cuvinte cheie Abstract

Tatu, A.D., Sulea, C. Address of correspondence: Anamaria Diana Tatu, e-mail: tatu.anamaria@gmail.com

Femeia modernă, între sănătate şi aparenţe: implicaţii ale managementului impresiei la tinerele care frecventează saloanele de bronzat

impression management, social desirability, fear of evaluation, self-esteem, self-monitoring

The purpose of this study was to analyze, within the frame of the impression management theory, the relation between young women’s concern for tan, personal dimensions and implications for physical health. Specifically, we have been looking for: analyzing the differences between self-monitoring and fear of negative evaluation between both groups of participants; the relation between self-monitoring and social desirability, as well as the relation between fear of negative evaluation and self esteem at young women in an non-experimental design. The groups of participants had been represented by one of 30 young women that have never used tanning booths and another of 30 that had been using it frequently. The results have shown a higher fear of negative evaluation at young women that use the tanning booths. Regarding the young women in general, it has been observed a negative relation between self-monitoring and social desirability, as well as between self esteem and fear of negative evaluation. The conclusions of the study underlines the fact that young women who use tanning booths do not try to control others’ impressions more than young women who do not use tanning booths do, but they tend to be more vulnerable at others’ evaluations. As for young women in general, it has been discovered that when they do not establish a personal and specific objective out of controlling others’ impression, they will show much more desirable behaviors, and those that are socially anxious and fear what others will think of them, are actually less confident in their own resources and capacities.

Vintilă, M., Marklinder, I., Nydahl, M., Istrat, D., Kuglis, A. Address of correspondence: Mona Vintilă, Universitatea de Vest din Timişoara, Catedra de Psihologie, Bvd. Vasile Pârvan nr.4, cab.505, 300223 Timişoara, email: mona.vintila@socio.uvt.ro

Health awareness and behaviour of the elderly: between needs and reality. A comparative study

community health, health promotion, eating behavior

Social factors such as social cohesion, the role of the voluntary services and social engagement cannot be influenced by traditional preventive and health promotion initiatives. There is a need for innovative strategies in health promotion. Taking account of the variety of approaches observable in European countries, the idea has arisen of starting a multinational project to develop new solutions to the problem of implementing healthy lifestyles in the local communities of different countries. The project involves 10 partners from six countries: Germany, Great Britain, Sweden, Austria, Latvia and Romania. The following results present an analysis of some comparative data of the Swedish and Romanian communities. Attitudes about health and behavior in terms of maintaining health are very different in Romania and Sweden. These differences very likely reflect the level of information on health, nutrition, physical activity and sources of information. The study highlighted some differences in the eating habits of the two groups of subjects.

Revista de Psihologie Aplicată Vol. 11, Nr. 2

Autor(i) Articol Cuvinte cheie Abstract

Avram, E., Armaș, I. Address of correspondence: Eugen Avram, University of Bucharest, Deparment of Psychology, E-mail: eugenavram@yahoo.com

Riscul inundaţiilor şi încrederea socială

flood, citizen, subjective vulnerability

The citizens in Danume Delta are living with the latent and permanent concern about a flood. In this study we were interested to reveal significant aspects of citizens’ attitudes in relation with the probable natural risk, in particular the anticipations of flood occurrence, the behavior during the event, evaluations of consequences, support factors and subjective vulnerability (vulnerability out of danger). A non-probabilistic convenient sample of 143 participants was investigated in a field investigation based on an open-ended questionnaire containing both demographic variables and perceptions about the probable risk. Content analysis revealed concrete aspects of subjects’ perceptions (correlations between attitudes, differential perceptions).

Doriţa, O., David, E., Durlă, A., Ile, C., Lela, R., Muntean, A., Rămneanţu, A. Address of correspondence: Dobriţa Oana, e-mail: oana_dobrita87@yahoo.com

Relaţia conflictului muncă-familie cu satisfacţia în muncă, satisfacţia maritală şi satisfacţia privind viaţa

work-family conflict, family-work conflict, job satisfaction, marital satisfaction, life satisfaction

In the present paper we investigated the relationship between work-family and family-work conflicts on one hand, and the level of satisfaction regarding job, family (marital) and life. A secondary objective was to assess the role of job vs. marital satisfaction in obtaining a higher level of life satisfaction, as well as potential gender differences in relation to this aspect. Measures of above mentioned variables were collected from 120 participants (60 males and 60 females) based on a convenient non-probabilistic sample. Data analysis revealed that work-family conflict in particular is a better predictor than family-work conflict in establishing the level of job and marital satisfaction. Similarly, gender moderates the role of job vs. marital satisfaction in predicting general life satisfaction. While males seem to put much more emphasis on job satisfaction, females rely both on marital and job satisfaction when it comes to predict their level of life satisfaction.

Revista de Psihologie Aplicată Vol. 11, Nr. 2

Autor(i) Articol Cuvinte cheie Abstract

Pintea, S., Zaharia, A., Macavei, B. Address of correspondence: Sebastian Pintea, Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, 37 Republicii Str., Cluj-Napoca, Romania. E-mail: sebastianpintea@psychology.ro

Rolul iluziei controlului și al credinţelor iraţionale în deciziile antreprenoriale

entrepreneurial decision, illusion of control, irrational beliefs, need for achievement, need for justice, market entry game

Presently, the entrepreneurial issue is approached in various fields of science, like economy, psychology, sociology, anthropology. The study proposed here attempts to expand the cognitive psychology perspective to include the entrepreneurial behavior, by focusing on irrational beliefs as potential predictors of entrepreneurial decision. Studies conducted so far show that (1) the entrepreneurial decision is a behavior that almost always involves considerable risk, and (2) behaviors supposing taking risks are associated with the presence of irrational beliefs. Consequently, our first objective is to investigate the relationship between illusion of control and the entrepreneurial decision. The second objective consists of exploring the relationship between entrepreneurial decision and irrational beliefs (need for achievement, need for justice, need for comfort). Results confirm the relation of illusion of control to the entrepreneurial decision, emphasizing the effect such cognitive bias has on experimentaly simulated entrepreneurial decision. Furthermore, the study provides empirical evidence for the involvement of two distinct irrational beliefs in the entrepreneurial decision: need for achievement and need for justice.