week 9 Flashcards
What is health
complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity
Causal
a physical condition that is caused or aggravated by mental
Correlational relationship
heart disease has high correlation with being hostile person but not causal
Propensity relationship
personal traits may lead to risky behaviours that increase risk of illness
Causal
Neurodegenerative disease, affects cognition and motor skills, can subsequently lead to frustration, stress, anxiety, irritability and mood changes
Longitudinal studies
enables you to measure personality before the onset of illness
illnesses can take a long time to develop. But requires large population sample, it is costly and attrition of data is common, history and maturation effect
Type A personality
research on heart disease by Friedman and Rosenman
Interested in predicting who would develop heart disease
3524 men studies over 8 and half years
from physical factor alone they could not predict disease but when adding psychological factors their prediction rates improved
Type A personality
coronary prone, driven to achieve, competitive, hostile to competitors, needs recognition, works hard, short temper
Type B personality
non-coronary prone, relaxed, doesn’t plan ahead, unhurried in their approach, no desire for competition
Continuing research
Toxic traits- hostility specifically produces higher levels of C-reactive protein in the immune system which can increase risk of cardiovascular disease
Why health psychology matter
Personality may influence how people deal with their illness. Attitudes towards illness.
Yet traits may not be consistent and stable over time so we need models to help us examine the interaction between individuals and their environments
Locus of control
behaviour potential= expectancy of the outcome x the perceived reinforcement value
Internals: feel in control of live, feel empowered try to change things in their environment
Externals: more likely to feel powerless, individuals with internal LoC cope better than those with external LoC
Self-efficacy
self-efficacy influence motivation and persistence
Makes us resilient and better equipped to overcome adversity, associated with a range of health behaviours but dependent on confidence
Optimism
optimistic people are less susceptible to suffer anxiety and depression
cope better with stress
experience better physical and mental quality of life and tend to live longer
But do optimists under-report their symptoms
Pessimism
Pessimistic people are more likely to have detrimental effects. Can impact how people respond to negative health episodes long after they have recovered
How we manage health expanding horizons
Attribution theory helps us to understand locus of control. It highlights that the situation is an important variable related to health outcome. This is relevant because situation change. If we can change situations, we can potentially change health outcomep
perceive individual difference
attribution are also a source of bias that can affect people wellbeing
fundamental attribution error
the individual is more salient than the environment, behaviour seen as dispositionally-shaped rather than situationally-shaped, could effect the way that subsequent support is provided to people
Deconstructing attitudes towards disability
Time: disability is assumed to be permanent
Adverse effect: disability can be positive.
Day to day: relative to functioning
Future selves: if we live long enough we will experience disability
cognitive consistency theories
A range of theories that have highlighted people are motivated to maintain consistency in their cognitions
Tend to see disability as a stable characteristic
Disability attribution influence
Self-concepts
the extent of disability identification
Treatment by other
Social identity theory
part of persons self concept and shaped by membership to various group. Does not require interaction
Helps people to reduce uncertainty understand how they fit in, enhance self-esteem and guide behaviour
