2.1 Health-Related Behaviour

Question 1

Why can health behaviours be a problem?

Answer 1

Behaviours like smoking, excess alcohol intake and poor diet very often result in illness which puts a strain on healthcare providers. Eg. expensive, time consuming, lots of comorbidities

Question 2

Briefly describe ‘Classical Conditioning’ and give an example in humans

Answer 2

Behaviours become linked to unrelated stimuli such as the environment, time and emotions
Eg. smoking in a work break

Question 3

Give two ways a behaviour be changed using Classical Conditioning

Answer 3

Associate a health behaviour with something negative
Eg. Drinking alcohol with nausea
Break the unconscious response
Eg. elastic band around cigarette packet

Question 4

Briefly describe ‘Operant Conditioning’ and give an example

Answer 4

People act on the environment and behaviour is shaped by the consequences
Eg. Keep doing positive behaviours if rewarded- sticker after working hard for kids

Question 5

Give a limitation of using conditioning to change health behaviours

Answer 5

Conditioning uses very simple stimulus-response associations and does not take into account other cognitive processes or social context

Question 6

Briefly describe ‘Social Learning Theory’

Answer 6

People learn by watching others and seeing what behaviour is rewarded.

Question 7

What are the 3 prompts of the Health Belief Model?

Answer 7

Beliefs about health threat- how harmful
Beliefs about health-related behaviour- response from others
Cues to action- social pressure, emotions

Question 8

How well does the Theory of Planned Behaviour predict actions of Health Behaviour?

Answer 8

Works well at predicting intentions but poor at predicting outcomes

Question 9

Why is the stages of change model useful?

Answer 9

The way people feel about health behaviours is not static

Question 10

What is a Health- Related Behaviour?

Answer 10

Any action that may promote good health or lead to illness eg. exercise, smoking