Option: Health psychology flashcards

Topic 7: Option: Health psychology

What are the biological, cognitive and sociocultural determinants of health?

Biological: genes, hormones and the stress response. Cognitive: beliefs about illness, perceived control, optimism and self-efficacy. Sociocultural: income, education, social support, culture and environment. Show how they interact.

What did the Whitehall studies show?

A social gradient in health among British civil servants: death and illness rates were higher in lower employment grades, even though all had stable jobs.

What are the stages of Selye’s general adaptation syndrome?

Alarm, resistance and exhaustion. Prolonged activation of the stress response is linked with a higher risk of illness.

Primary vs secondary appraisal in Lazarus and Folkman’s transactional model

Primary appraisal: judging whether an event is a threat, a harm or a challenge. Secondary appraisal: judging whether you have the resources to cope.

What is a criticism of Holmes and Rahe’s life-events scale?

It treats everyone alike and ignores appraisal, assuming that change itself, rather than its meaning to the person, is stressful.

Problem-focused vs emotion-focused coping

Problem-focused: tackles the source of stress. Emotion-focused: manages the feelings it produces. Which works best depends on whether the situation can be changed.

What are the five components of the health belief model?

Perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, perceived barriers and cues to action.

What does the theory of planned behaviour add to attitudes?

Subjective norms and perceived behavioural control, which together with attitude shape intention. Its weakness is the gap between intending and doing.

What are Prochaska and DiClemente’s stages of change?

Precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action and maintenance, with possible relapse. Interventions should match the person’s stage.