W5 - personality and health

Question 1

What can personality influence?

Answer 1

• our vulnerability to physical and psychological illnesses
• how we experience such illness
• how likely we are to seek support for health issues
• recovery and outcome of illness

Question 2

What is the direct link explanation?

Answer 2

Personality has a causal role in health and illness
- They are “disease prone” personality
: Personality -> Biological activities -> illness
- ignores social factors

Question 3

What I the correlational link for health and personality?

Answer 3

Idea that biological activities are correlated with personality and illness
- a bio approach once again ignoring social factors

Question 4

How does personality traits influence behaviour and then illness?

Answer 4

• your personality traits could cause you to act in a certain behaviour that then cause illness e.g. smoking
• tend to be those who are high in neuroticism but low on conscientiousness

Question 5

How does illness affect personality?

Answer 5

Having an illness such as a brain disorder it can influence your personality
- involves psychological adjustment & sociability

Question 6

Evaluate the above links:

Answer 6

• can lack evidence
• the theories ignore non-bio based factors
• very own to interpretation
• need for longitudinal studies
• some down to opinion

Question 7

What are health behaviour models?

Answer 7

• idea that personality can impact engagement with health behaviours and can also influence our appraisal and coping strategies when faced with stressful situations

Question 8

What are interactional stress model?

Answer 8

• personality moderates the physiological responses to stressors that can influence the subsequent likelihood of disease

Question 9

What is the transactional model?

Answer 9

personality influences exposure to stressful circumstances

- interpersonal conflict & social support

Question 10

What is meant by locus of control?

Answer 10

• the degree to what you believe is responsible for what happens to you
• High external LOC = things are out of own control (more likely to conform)
• High internal LOC = takes more responsibility for what behaviour and what happens (less likely to conform)

Question 11

How does self efficacy link to health?

Answer 11

more confidence we have in ourselves to perform a task can lead to positive health outcomes

• low self efficacy can also be related to depressive symptoms
• low self efficacy can also be influenced by stressful life events that in then lead to depressive symptoms