Investigating the Relationship of Irrational Beliefs with Anxiety and Their Effect in Two Different Academic Systems in Iran (Under graduate Collage students of Payam Nour University and Islamic Azad

ABSTRACT: Irrational beliefs have close relationship with anxiety and can make the person more anxious and distort his perception or understanding. Rational - Emotive – Behavioral theory of Ellis is one of the most recognized cognitive methods that introduce various kinds of irrational beliefs – as the main factor of human problems. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship of irrational beliefs with anxiety in two different academic systems of Iranian college students at undergraduate (BA) level and its effects on their achievement. In this study, anxiety state of college students at BA level in Azad and Payam Nour University (PNU) of Ghorveh, Kurdish area of Iran, in academic year of 2011 – 2012 is considered and compared. To carry out the research the questionnaire of irrational belief of Jones which includes 100 questions and Kattel anxiety were applied. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficient and T–test were used to analyzing. The results suggest that there is a positive and significant relationship between irrational beliefs and anxiety among two different systems of Iranian college students to the effect that irrational beliefs and anxiety are more common among girls than boys. Furthermore, the study suggests that irrational and anxieties have negative effect on students’ academic achievement. An irrational belief is almost the same in both universities, but anxiety in PNU was greater than Azad students. These results can be related to different systems and procedures of teaching.