Health Psychology - Describe what psychologists have found out about lifestyles and health behaviour

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Health Psychology

  1. Describe what psychologists have found out about lifestyles and health behaviour.

Psychologists have created a number of theories to explain why it is that people continue to practice bad behaviours such as smoking, when they are aware of the dangers involved. The health belief model created by Becker and Rosenstock in 1984 describes that people will only practice good behaviours such as visiting the doctor when making assessments of:

  • Perceived seriousness of health problem
  • Perceived susceptibility
  • Perceived costs and benefits.

For example the HBM predicts that an individual will only quit smoking if she believes that she is likely to get lung cancer, that lung cancer is a severe health threat, that the benefits of being a non-smoker are high, the benefits of being a smoker are low. The HBM also states that we need cues to action to act as a trigger, for example an individual may quit smoking when she reads or hears about a long-term smoker dying of lung cancer.

The theory of planned behaviour model states that you cannot predict someone’s behaviour simply by knowing about their attitudes, but you need to know about their behavioural intention. Behavioural intentions are predicted through three factors;

  • Attitudes towards a behaviour (knowing the effects and outcomes of the behaviour)
  • Subjective norm (pressures and perceptions in society)
  • Perceived behavioural control (considering external and internal control factors relating to past behaviour when deciding if the individual can carry out the particular behaviour.)

Again, when applied to smoking cessation; if an individual believed that quitting smoking would improve their health and believed their friends and family wanted them to quit and that they were capable of quitting, then this would predict high intentions of the individual giving up smoking.

The health locus of control is a term used to refer to an individual perception of personal control over their behaviour. Some people have an external locus of control meaning they believe they have little to do with their health and well-being because it is all down to situation factors, luck, fate and other people. Other people have internal locus of control, they believe that their health and well-being depends on the decisions they themselves make. So for example if an external individual is urged to carry out protected sex as opposed to unprotected they are unlikely to comply because they believe that they are not responsible for their health.

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An individuals unrealistic optimism is their inaccurate perception of risk and susceptibility. The theory created by Weinstein in 1983 states that one reason why people continue to practice unhealthy behaviours is because they don’t see their own level of risk. They don’t believe it will ever actually happen to them. For example an individual may carry out unsafe sex because she doesn’t see herself getting pregnant or catching any STD’s even though she is aware that it is common. She estimates her own level of risk being lower than others. Weinstein also claimed that people show selective focus. For example ...

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