Health Psych

Front 1

Behavioural medicine

Back 1

a branch of medicine concerned with the relationship between health and behaviour. The focus is usually on remediation.

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Health psychology

Back 2

The application of psychological principles to the diagnosis and treatment of illness as well as to people's attempts to maintain health and well-being.

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Psychosomatic Medicine

Back 3

Approach in which a particular medical complaint is viewed as being the result of an underlying chronic emotional conflict that ultimately surfaces in the form of physiological symptoms.

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Germ theory

Back 4

The discovery that many illnesses are caused by the activity of micro-organisms such as bacteria.

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Gradient of reinforcement

Back 5

The gradual weakening of a behavior the further it gets in time from the reinforcement of that behaviour

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Delayed Gratification

Back 6

Term used by behaviourists to describe a situation in which there is a time lag between a behavior and its reinforcement

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Asymptomatic

Back 7

Conditions that are not accompanied by palpable symptoms or sensations.

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Coping styles

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Strategies that an individual employs to deal with stresses caused by ever-changing demands of the environment.

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Monitors

Back 9

People who seek information in their attempts to cope with illness and its accompanying challenges.

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Blunters

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People who avoid information in their attempts to cope with illness and its accompanying challenges.

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Psychoneuroimmunology (PNI)

Back 11

The study of the relationship between psychological states and the functioning of the immune system.

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Immunocompetence

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The extent to which our immune system is functioning properly to ward off micro-organisms.

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Malignant neoplasms

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Cancerous growths that may be treated by radiation and chemical therapy.

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Biopsychological approach

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A model that suggests that biological, psychological and social factors are all involved in any given state of health or illness.

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Biomedical Model

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An approach suggesting that health is best understood in terms of biology.

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Health belief model

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A model that analyzes health behavior in terms of the belief that a health threat exists and the belief that a given course of action will affect the threat

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Response efficacy

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The perception that a threat-reducing strategy will work.

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Cost-gain belief

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An indivduals assessment of the costs associated with a course of action (e.g. effort, discomfort, embarrassment or inconvenience) compared to the benefit of the behavior to the individuals health.

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Theory of reasoned action

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a theory that behavior is preceded by intention and that our intention is influenced by beliefs about the behavior and subjective norms.

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Subjective norms

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Beliefs regarding what others think we should do and the extent to which we are motivated to go along with these people.

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Perceived behavioral control

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The belief that a specific behavior is within one's control.

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Theory of planned behavior

Back 22

Behavior is preceded by intention and that intention is influenced not only by subjective norms and beliefs about the efficacy of the behavior, but also by the beleid that one is actually capable of performing the behavior.

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Stages of change model

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Model in which change is broken down into six stages: precontemplation, contemplation, action, maintenance, termination and relapse.

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Individualist

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One who focuses on independence and self-reliance rather than placing group needs above his or her own.

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Collectivist

Back 25

One who considers him or herself to be part of a greater whole and who considers individualism to be less important than allegiance to the group.