ABSTRACT
The present study examined gender-wise differences in the use of apology strategies employed by Persian and American English interlocutors in two popular Persian and American TV film-series. To this aim, 347 apology utterances across 600 min of both Persian and American TV film-series were selected for analysis. The apology utterances produced by males and females in the two film series were observed, classified, and coded based on the apology strategies taxonomy propounded by Eslami-Rasekh (2004) [59]. The acquired data were analyzed through descriptive statistics and Binomial tests to depict the frequency and type of apologies concerning female-female, female-male, male-female, and male-male interactions. The frequency of the males' apologies to the females and males suggested no statistically significant differences between the two communities. In addition, the findings manifested both similarities and differences in the realization and distribution of the apology speech act between males and females in the targeted cultures. For example, the apology strategies were more commonly used by the males than the females. Illocutionary Force Indicating Devices were the most frequent apology strategies employed by the Persian and American males in both languages. In the Persian film series, 'Acceptance of responsibility' and 'Offer of repair' were the other frequent apology strategies which differed significantly between the males and females. In the American film series, 'Explanation', 'Acceptance of responsibility', and 'Refusing responsibility' were the strategies found to be significantly different between the males and females. Generally, it was realized that males were more inclined to apologize in the examined film series despite the prevalent stereotype that women apologize more frequently than men.
ABSTRACT
This study validates the Persian version of the Langer Mindfulness Scale (LMS). The original scale consists of 21 items and 4 subscales; namely, novelty producing, novelty seeking, engagement, and flexibility. In this study, four samples including 2271 individuals in total participated. Confirmatory factor analysis was employed to test the factorial structure of the Persian version. The results verified a two-factor structure including novelty producing and novelty seeking for the scale and the two subscales of engagement and flexibility were omitted due to marginal fit. The questionnaire showed satisfying psychometric properties in terms of reliability. Furthermore, convergent and discriminant validity of the instrument was examined via investigating the relationship between the Persian LMS with the WHOQOL instrument and negative and positive affect scales. The findings revealed a significant positive relationship between the Persian LMS and positive affect, physical health, psychological health and environmental health. No significant correlations were found between the LMS, social relationships and negative affect.
