Essentials of psychology Flashcards
Characteristics of risk perception
Combination of social and cognitive factors
Depends on social context
We are over optimistic about personal risk
How do we see the world in a biased way?
See things/differences that aren’t there/incorrect interpretations
Miss things - can’t always see bigger picture
What is a schema?
Cognitive structure that represents knowledge about a subject
What is a place schema?
How to behave/think in particular places
What is a role schema?
Knowledge about what different categories of people can/can’t do
What is a doctor schema?
Patient centred care
Implications of schemas
Implications on treatment
Medical science applied objectively
Can bias our cognitions/behaviour during consultations
What is inattention blindness/deafness?
Working memory has limited capacity so we unconsciously ignore information we deem to be irrelevant or that doesn’t fit with our explanations
What is a placebo?
Inactive/inert treatment
Characteristics of placebo treatment
Improvement in health - must be controlled to observe true outcome
Powerful body of expectation
Why is psychology useful in medicine?
Offers multiple perspectives on health
Key part of multidisciplinary and the biopsychosocial approach
Communication is vital
What is psychology?
A scientific study of mental processes and behaviour
Aims to understand/describe/predict/modify how people behave/think/feel/interact
Biological factors of obesity
Genetic susceptibility
Hormone imbalance
Psychological factors of obesity
Eating
Exercise
Habits
Cognitions
Social factor of obesity
Family/peers
Costs
Culture
Advertising/availability
What is the biological approach?
Studies biological basis of behaviour, e.g. stress and responses
Lots of different units - neuropsychology /psychophysiology/ evolutionary psychology/ behavioural genetics/ psychopharmacology
What is the psychoanalytic approach?
Behaviour as a function of interests, experiences and unconscious processes
What is the behavioural approach?
Observable, measurable behaviour study, seen as learned response to environmental stimulus via conditioning and modelling
What is the cognitive approach?
Complex behaviour not explained in terms if stimulus-response
Cognition - behaviour as a function of internal mental processes
Analogy of humans as computers
Initial perception of information is an active process
e.g. attention/perception/language/reasoning
What is developmental psychology?
Lifespan perspective
What is social psychology?
Placing people’s behaviour in social context
What is educational psychology?
Teaching and learning
What is organisational psychology?
Workplace behaviour
What is clinical psychology?
Mental and behavioural problems
What is health psychology?
Psychological and behavioural processes in health, illness and healthcare
What is lifestyle medicine?
Lots of issues we face are due to people’s lifestyles
What is behavioural medicine?
Development and integration of behaviour, psychosocial and biomedical knowledge to help treat disease
Multidisciplinary team
