Health Psychology

1. Health Psychology

2. Psychology of health and illness • How our behavior makes us ill • How to encourage us to behave in ways to keep us healthy • Impact of hospitals and health care system • How to cope with stress in our lives

3. Health psychology in Media • I Used to Be fat • Biggest Loser • Heavy

4. What kind of training do you need to do Health Psychology • Undergraduate: A third of American colleges and universities offer courses • Graduate: Clinical, Counseling, social, or experimental • APA Division 38 • Predoctoral internships

5. World Health Organization Definition of Good Health • the state of complete physical, social, and spiritual well being—not simply the absence of illness.”

6. Development of Health Psychology • New term from late 1970s (though the idea has been around a lot longer) • Greek scholars • Driving out demons • Germ theories • People were dying because of their lifestyles not from regular degeneration

7. The 7 Health Behaviors • Breslow and Breslow (1972) • Remain at a healthy weight for your height • Don’t smoke • Moderate or NO use of alcohol • Get regular exercise • Eat breakfast on a regular basis • Get a good night’s sleep • Do not eat between meals

8. Participating in Unhealthy behaviors Why? One key area of health psychology is the study of what motivates us to engage in healthy and unhealthy behavior.

9. Behaviorist Approach • Classical Conditioning • Stimulus control • Response substitution • Operant Conditioning • Social Learning Theory • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmR6t7M7_5U

10. Cognitive Theories of Behavior • Health Belief Model • Theory of Planned Behavior

11. Trans-theoretical model • 1)precontemplation. They don’t believe they’ll make a change soon • 2) contemplation: developed some attitudes and beliefs concerning that behavior • 3) preparation: people intend to change their behavior in the next few months • 4) action: people modify their behavior • 5) maintenance: continuing the behavior for longer than 6 months. • People are more likely to continue this an be successful if the have • -reached the preparation stage • -believe in their ability to make a change • -change with the support of family and friends • -are able to avoid the cues of previous unhealthy behavior • -are able to find rewarding alternatives • -are rewarded for maintaining the change

12. Stress • Nature of Stress • Factors in our appraisal of stress • Responding to stress • Emotional, physiological, behavioral • Potential Effects of Stress • Factors influencing stress tolerance

13. Majors types of Stress • Frustration: thwarting of a motive • Conflict: incompatible motives competing • Life changes: Good or Bad • Pressure: expectations to Perform in a certain way

14. Eustress=Good Stress • Stress is an every day event • Lies in the eyes of the beholder • May be embedded in the environment • May be self-imposed

15. Life Events Approach • Holmes and Rahe: Social Readjustment Rating Scale • Any noticeable alterations in one’s living circumstances that require readjustment. • Transactional Model: Stress is in the eye of the beholder • Appraisal • Perception of being able to cope

16. Issues with Holmes and Rahe • Correlational rather than Experimental Evidence • Positive vs. negative life changes • The need for novel stimulation • Personality differences • Cognitive appraisal

17. Cannon • In 1932, coined the term “Fight or Flight” to describe the body’s physical reaction to stress • Selye (1956) mistakenly coined the term stress because he couldn’t find the right word in English • Rats thrown in water study (Richter’s Rats) with/without prior stressor

18. Richter’s Rats

19. Moderators of Stress • Self-Efficacy expectations • Psychological hardiness • Sense of Humor • Social Support • Optimism • Sensation Seeking • Autonomic reactivity

20. Factors in our Appraisal of Stress Familiarity Controllability Predictability imminence

22. Karasek