Health, Coping and Stress Flashcards
Health belief model: Health behaviours are predicted by four factors
- Perceived susceptibility to the health threat
- Perceived seriousness of the health threat
- Benefits and barriers of undertaking particular health behaviours
- Cues to action
Protection motivation theory of health: Health behaviours are predicted by the same four predictors in the health belief model + ‘self-efficacy’
a person believes they can successfully change their behaviour, they are even more likely to do so
Theory of reasoned action:
Health behaviours are influenced by intentions; and (reasoned) intentions are influenced by (i) attitudes toward the behaviour and (ii) norms surrounding the behaviour
Attitudes: Beliefs about a particular behaviour and the outcomes it will produce and the evaluation of those outcomes
E.g. If Sally believes that practicing safe sex will reduce chances of pregnancy and contracting an STD, and evaluates these outcomes as favourable, she is more likely to practice safe sex
Norms: Perception of how significant others (family/friends) view the behaviour and the motivation to comply with the desires of those others
E.g. If Tran is motivated to comply with his father’s desire for him to stop smoking, he is more likely to quit smoking
- Theory of planned behaviour
Contains all the components of theory of reasoned action PLUS self-efficacy
Stress:
A challenge to a person’s capacity to adapt to inner and outer demands
Stress typically produces physiological and emotional arousal and elicits cognitive and behavioural efforts to cope with stress
Thus, there are four main components of stress: physiology, emotion, cognition and behaviour
One common theory of stress that focusses on the cognitive component is by
Lazarus (1981): Stress is a transactional process
Stress is a transaction between the individual and their environment
It not just a property of the person OR the environment
Thus, different people react differently to different situation
Lazarus’ ‘transactional model’: Stress consists of two stages
Primary appraisal: A person decides if the situation is benign, stressful or irrelevant
Secondary appraisal: If the primary appraisal is ‘stressful’, a person evaluates the options and decides how to respond
Thus, stress occurs …
When an individual perceives that the demands of the environment tax or exceed their available psychosocial resources
This perception depends on their appraisal of (i) the situation and (ii) their ability to cope with it
Both primary and secondary appraisal …
Are not necessarily conscious processes
Involve ‘emotional forecasting’: Predicting what feelings the situation will produce (primary) and the likely emotional impact of each potential response (secondary)
Lazarus argued there are three types of stress:
Harm or loss: E.g. Job loss, death in the family
Threat: The anticipation of harm or loss
Challenge: Opportunities for growth despite disruption and uncertainty (e.g. entering uni)
three types of stressors:
Life events
Catastrophes
Daily hassles
Type A and Type B personality:
Type A: Personality style characterised by impatience, ambition, competitiveness, hostility, and a ‘hard-driving’ approach to life
Angry people tend to die younger
Related to heart disease
E.g. Lleyton Hewitt
Type B: More relaxed, easy-going and less easily angered
E.g. Roger Federer
Coping mechanisms: The ways people deal with stressful events
Problem-focused
Strategies aimed at changing the situation that is producing the stress
These strategies use problem-solving to deal with the stressor itself
Emotion-focused
Strategies aimed at regulating thoughts and feelings associated with the situation
These strategies deal with the thoughts and feelings that the stressor elicit (instead of the stressor itself)
Usually used if the person cannot remove or change the stressor
E.g. Alcohol and drug use are common mechanisms for escaping from emotional distress
