Psychology C3 - maintenance of behavioural change

Question 1

learned helplessness

Answer 1

-being ill = lack of control in stressful situations
-people who are ill learn to be helpless
-even when opportunities to be in control are presented, they aren’t taken

Question 2

link with health

Answer 2

-taking medication/ following advice = control
-client learns that taking control makes no difference to health
-don’t change their situation; not taking medicine, exercise, go to appointments
-whether we learn to be helpless depends on how we think about health and illness (Abrahamson et al. 1978)
-lose motivation, become passive

Question 3

downward spiral

Answer 3

-become depressed due to learned helplessness, depression makes non-adherence likely
-non-adherence makes depression worse, reinforces learned helplessness, makes non-adherence likely
-downward spiral

Question 4

practical uses
(evaluation)
+

Answer 4

-interventions can target learned helplessness
-example, cognitive therapy can help clients change how they perceive the link between behaviours and outcomes
-clients can break out of spiral when they see that what they do is having positive effects
-means overcoming learned helplessness = useful, practical way of improving adherence

Question 5

lack of research support
(evaluation)
-

Answer 5

-little research support for role of learned helplessness
-Kuttner et al. (1990) studied group of diabetic children
-found that learned helplessness = associated with worse metabolic control
-associated with depression, stress and low self-esteem
-factors could cause non-adherence, indirect
-learned helplessness = negative impacts on health, not necessarily by affecting non-adherence to medical advice