A2 Flashcards
what is genetic predisposition and how does it link to health?
Genetic predisposition: genetic predisposition is a increased likelihood of getting a disease or illness based on a person’s genetic makeup.
Link to Health
Example: About 5%- 10% of breast cancer cases are thought to be hereditary. BRCA 1 & BRCA 2 is associated with breast cancer. On average a woman with BRCA 1 or BRCA 2 gene mutation has up to a 7 in 10 chance of getting breast cancer by age 80.
what are neurotransmitters?
Neurotransmitters: chemical messengers that transmit a signal from neuron across a synapse to a target cell.
They move around the body by synaptic transmissions.
Examples: dopamine and serotonin
what did Gottesman et al (2010) find in identical twins?
In identical twins, if one twin gets schizophrenia there is a 1 in 2 chances of the other twin getting it, even if the twins live separately.
Gottesman et al (2010) – Children with one parent with schizophrenia has a 7% risk of diagnosis of schizophrenia, compared to 1.12% diagnosis in the general population. This increases when both have the disorder – 27.3%. This is evidence for a genetic link. However, as it is not 100% there must be other factors.
what are roles of cues and what is a example of them?
Healthy and unhealthy behaviour can be influenced by certain stimulus. These stimulus can make a individual associate a behaviour with that certain cue. For example, if a individual smokes there are certain cues they will associate with smoking. The pleasurable reward from smoking (relaxation), can cause the individual to associate smoking with the pleasure. A lighter can act like a cue during smoking, you associate the lighter with the pleasure you feel when you smoke.
how can we use operant conditioning to encourage behaviour?
Positive reinforcement: external feedback can provide positive reinforcement, achieving goals and tasks can also positively reinforce an individual, self-talk is effective to replace feedback.
Negative reinforcement: avoiding unpleasant outcomes. For example, eating unhealthy food can cause guilty feelings so eating healthy avoid these unpleasant feelings.
how can modelling and imitation be used?
A role model models a behaviour, this then has a effect on the individuals subsequent behaviour. Parents are powerful role models for health-related behaviours they communicate values and attitudes for the individual to imitate. Certain behaviour can influence people more.
what is vicarious reinforcement and how can it be used?
This is when a observer watches a role model’s behaviour being rewarded.
vicarious reinforcement is a form of social learning, we learn from observing others, vicarious reinforcement is used when that role model we are observing is rewarded for a behaviour.
how can peers be role models?
Peers: health programs in school often use popular students to become role models for others. They create and reinforce healthy lifestyle values. They model positive health related behaviours for others to imitate. Their advantage is they are credible.
how can healthcare professionals be role models?
Healthcare professionals: nurses are usually expected to model health behaviour that are targets of health education. They are in contact with people who are more likely to benefit from education about healthy lifestyle and train future nurses.
how can celebrities be role models?
Celebrities: celebrities are sometimes used for campaigns promoting healthy behaviour, they use their media to transmit the behaviour so it is modelled. Celebrities are imitated because they have higher status, glamour and we want to be like them.
what are the effects of peers as role models?
A peer is someone who is same in terms of age, interests etc.
1)We identify with them because they are similar to us, we are more likely to model our behaviour on theirs.
2)They have an effect on social norms. They establish that it is normal to. So other people in the group imitate their behaviours.
what is an example of relieving ourselves from stress, anxiety and boredom?
For example, overeating is a common response to stress/anxiety/boredom. It is a kind of self-medication, it is using food to make you feel better. It becomes something to do to help cope with the negative feelings. These short-term coping strategies can reduce symptoms of stress, anxiety and boredom. But they can create health issues, like obesity.
what are 3 examples we can do to make behaviour less sever or painful?
We do certain behaviours to reduce other health issues. 3 good examples of this behaviours:
1)Being physically active
2)Eating a diet of fruit and vegetables
3)Taking prescribed medication
These are associated with health and recovering from illnesses.
what is cognitive dissonance and how can we fix it?
Cognitive dissonance is where you disagree with yourself. It’s the psychological discomfort you feel when making a decision. Dissonance also happens when your engaging in an unhealthy behaviour.
There are two main ways to fix cognitive dissonance: change the behaviour or change the belief.
what do health professionals do and what can affect that?
Healthcare professionals make decisions about diagnosis and treatments of physical and psychological ill health. They are affected by various individual bias. Two examples of bias are: racial bias and gender bias.
