The Role of Theory of Mind and Self-Compassion in Predicting Academic Optimism of High School Students

Jamshidi, Abasali; Mostafapour, Zahra

Volume 29, Issue 9 (12-2022) RJMS 2022, 29(9): 336-344 | Back to browse issues page

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Jamshidi A, Mostafapour Z. The Role of Theory of Mind and Self-Compassion in Predicting Academic Optimism of High School Students. RJMS 2022; 29 (9) :336-344
URL: http://rjms.iums.ac.ir/article-1-8519-en.html

The Role of Theory of Mind and Self-Compassion in Predicting Academic Optimism of High School Students

Abasali Jamshidi

, Zahra Mostafapour

Instructor of Department of Educational Sciences, Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran , Mostafapourzahra@pnu.ac.ir

Abstract: (347 Views)

Background & Aims: One of the important challenges of classroom is to focus students' attention on subjects and help them learn. One of the factors affecting the academic progress of students is the existence of variables such as theory of mind, self-compassion, and academic optimism that can affect learning. Academic optimism is an individual belief of that consists of three components: "Feeling of teacher's efficiency", "Trust in parents and students" and "Academic emphasis" which despite the economic and social level of students is related to academic progress. On the other hand, self-compassion includes taking care of oneself in the face of difficulties or perceived inadequacies; in such a way that painful and uncomfortable feelings are not avoided; rather, he approaches them with kindness, understanding, and a feeling of human commonality. The recent theoretical and research literature about the cognitive processes of understanding oneself and others, which is known as the ability of theory of mind, has been one of the major developments in evolutionary psychology during the last two decades. Therefore, according to the importance of the content mentioned above and the fact that no research has been found that includes all three components, the purpose of this research is to determine the relationship between the theory of mind and self-compassion with teachers' academic optimism and also to determine the level of predictability of optimism. The academic vision was based on the theory of mind and self-compassion.
Methods: This research is applied in terms of purpose and correlational in terms of descriptive method. The statistical population includes all students of the second secondary level in Eslamshahr who were working in the year 1400, which was equal to 1600 people, and the statistical sample size was 310 people selected by the simple random sampling method through the Kargesi Morgan table. To collect data, Stirenman's theory of mind questionnaire (1999), Neff's self-compassion (2003), and Baird et al.'s academic optimism (2010) were used. Pearson's correlation coefficient test and multivariate regression were used for statistical analysis of data.
Results: The results of the research showed that there is a positive and significant relationship between the overall score and subscales of the theory of mind and self-compassion with academic optimism. The results of the regression analysis show that among the components of the theory of mind, the overall score of the theory of mind is a variable that entered the regression model and was able to explain about 7% of the changes related to academic optimism, and also among the components Self-compassion, subscale of self-judgment, is the first variable that entered the regression model and together with self-kindness variable and human commonalities variable, it was able to explain about 11% of the variance of academic optimism.
Conclusion: In general, it can be said that the theory of mind and self-compassion are important and effective factors in increasing the level of academic optimism in students, so paying attention to these factors is very important in achieving educational goals. One of the achievements of psychology and the field of mental health in recent years is highlighting the role of well-being, altruism, compassion towards oneself and others, and care in the mental and physical development of humans. In other words, mental stress and pressure are the opposite of human health and mental health. However, it is important to note that it is not possible to eliminate stress and psychological pressure in today's world. However, increasing mental abilities and creating effective capacities in improving mental health can be a good facilitator in enduring daily stresses and pressures. The theory of mind acts as an umbrella that covers people's understanding of their states of compassion for themselves and others. People like to understand the beliefs of others because they can predict, explain, and adjust their behavior and it can increase self-compassion and academic optimism. Also, according to the findings of the current research, it can be concluded that by providing training and exercises related to the promotion of the theory of mind as well as strategies for increasing self-compassion, the level of academic optimism has increased, and as a result, it can be accepted that there is a relationship between theory of mind and self-compassion. There is a relationship in predicting academic optimism. This research, like other research, has limitations. The results of the current research, it was limited to the community that participated in the research and cannot be generalized to other research communities. The existence of limited sources in the field of the role of theory of mind on academic optimism, especially experimental research inside and outside the country, did not allow the comparison of research results with other research done accurately. Since the parents' association is a great opportunity in the field of solving the educational and educational challenges of schools, it uses this golden opportunity to inform parents about their roles and skills in increasing the quality of self-compassion and training courses. The theory of mind was held and continued in Madras to realize the above effects.

Keywords: Theory of Mind, Self-Compassion, Academic Optimism

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Type of Study: Research | Subject: Clinical Psychiatry