The Relationship between Religious Orientation, and Gender with a Cognitive Distortion

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between religious orientation (intrinsic–external) and cognitive distortions. Methods: General design of this study considered as a descriptive and correlational method. Universal population in this research consist all students of the Urmia Azad University, which were studying during 2012 and 2013 (n = 250). All respondents filled the Alports religious and cognitive distortions questionnaires. The answers were analyzed with step by step regression and correlation method. Results: The research showed a significant relationship between the religious orientation and cognitive distortions (p < 0.005) (p < 0.001). Conclusion: The results suggest that religious orientation is an important factor in cognitive distortions and individuals with intrinsic religious orientation have less cognitive distortion.