Health Psychology Exam 2
endorphins / norepinephrine as mechansim (in relation between exercise and health)
-endorphins inhibit pain and make people feel better therefore exercise= more endorphins = better feeling. -epinephrine suppresses cortisol a stress hormone that slow down body healing. -Also- way body handles serotonin in the brain changes when people exercise which can help them with their depression
mechanisms in relation between exercise and psychological health
-endorphins or norepinephrine - removal from stressful situations -distraction -rhythmic activity -improvements in appearance
levels of prevention
-individual -group -organization -community -institution -population
3 dimensions of explanatory style
-internality vs externality (whether or not a person believes that they have control or influence over events) -stability vs instability ( whether a person believes a repeated event will be the same or subject to change) -globality vs specificity ( whether or not a person's explanation generalises the event to others beyond the specific event in hand.)
programs for health promotion
-providing information about what is healthy, and about what can be done and the resources that are there to help -information to enhance intrinsic information -motivational interviewing -different behavioral and cognitive methods
stress and hypertension
-social environments have large effect on stress. EX: being in a crowded aggressive place is linked to stress and therefore hypertension. Living permanently in such an environment can lead to chronic hypertension. -pessimism, anger and hostility also lead to hypertension
6 stages of transtheoretical model
1) Precontemplation: NO intentions to change behavior 2) Contemplation: Beginning to consider changing 3) Preparation: Commitment to change behavior 4)Action: starts to engage in new behavior 5)Maintenance: Change is sustained over time 6)Termination: no longer much risk of relapsing
health behaviors and vitality in US
1/2 deaths in the united states are behavioral AKA 100% preventable Highest=Alcohol use and 2nd=tobacco use and 3rd=diet and exercise
babyak 2000
10 month follow up post blumenthal study of same patients- FOUND: Exercise was just as and more effective than any therapy or antidepressants. Those who were on medication or in the combination of exercise and medication were more likely to relapse. Exercise was not only effective and had most recovery rates from depression but exercise is also the cheapest most attainable way to treat depression
vicarious learning model (D'Amico and Fromme 1997)
195 older college going students and younger siblings completed surveys about their health behavior (drinking, marijuana and unprotected sex) -What younger siblings thought their siblings were doing based on their own decisions over their ASSUMPTIONS and were not even accurate about what older siblings were doing. EX: younger sibling thinks older sibling drinks a lot so they drink a lot but older sibling actually doesnt drink a lot at all
Effect of hostility on health Barefoot et al. 1993 and 1995
1983- The more hostile a person scored, the highers the amount of cases of CHD 1995= Hostility leads to an increased risk of all cause mortality (Total number of deaths due to CHD at period of time)
5 models of personality and disease
1= unhealthy habits and behavior 2=disease caused personality changes 3=direct influences of personality 4=biological third variables 5=tropisms or seeking unhealthy situations
davidson and interventions to decrease hostility (davidson et al 2007)
26 male patients with myocardial infarction or unstable angina were randomized to either 2 months of cognitive-behavioral group therapy or an information (control) session. Therapy patients had shorter stay than control patients. over 6 months following therapy. The average hospitalization costs were significantly lower for therapy patients than for control patients. For every 1.00(dollars) spent on therapy, there is an approximate savings of 2.00(dollars) in hospitalization costs in the following 6 months. These findings support the hospitalization cost offset of hostility-reduction in CHD patients.
grattitude and health (McCullough and Emmons 2003)
3 groups: 1 had to write things they were grateful for, 1 had to write down hassles and one wrote down events of the past week. After 10 weeks it was found that grateful peoples happiness rose 25%. Not only psychologically better health but studied adults with muscular disorders and it was found that the grateful people felt better after 21 days, but in general they were much more satisfied with their lives and were even sleeping better.
health belief model (Rosenstock) (Oldest model)
4 factors that influence preventative health behaviors. 1)Perceived susceptibility (will i really get sunburn) 2) perceived severity (how bad will it be) 3)perceived benefits (will sunscreen really help prevent) 4) Perceived barriers (Will it block me from getting a tan instead) ALSO -cues to action influence (PSA's and ads) -Self efficacy!
smyth 1998- size of effect of emotional writing on health
Health was enhanced in 4 outcome types--reported physical health, psychological well-being, physiological functioning, and general functioning CORRELATION RATIO : effect size = .47 (with r=.23)
frattaroli 2006- size of the effect of emotional writing on health
Health was enhanced in 4 outcome types--reported physical health, psychological well-being, physiological functioning, and general functioning EFFECT SIZE = .15 (with r=.075)
McCullough et al 2000 religiosity and health
Higher religiosity = longest life, parabolic is lower and the low levels of religiosity live least amount of time. REASONS: (Personality mediators) higher religious leveled people are usually high in agreeableness, consciousness, neuroticism and extroversion. ALL contribute to better health and more likely to be married and lower BMI/alcohol use
hardiness kobasa, maddi and kahn (1982)
Hypothesized that hardiness—functions to decrease the effect of stressful life events to producing illness symptoms. 259 upper- and middle-level male managers administered tests (including Rotter's Internal-External Locus of Control Scale, the Schedule of Life Events, and the Seriousness of Illness Survey) covering a 5-yr period. Results support the hypothesis by showing main effects on illness for both stressful life events and hardiness and an interaction effect for these independent variables
pennebaker and susman (1988) emotional disclosures effect on health
Inhibiting traumatic experiences that evoke thoughts and feelings is associated with physiological work such as an increased arousal of the autonomic nervous system activity. Over time this accumulates as a large stressor on the body and increases probability of psychosomatic diseases. FOUND: -childhood trauma = HIGH correlation with health problems -Recent traumas not discusses= Increased health problems - making individuals confront previous traumas in writing improves health and immune function - actively talking about trauma reduces levels of autonomic reactivity.
champion and the health behavior model (2000)
Intervention study targeting AA women trying to get them to get mammograms. Women interveiwed about why they dont get them or the fears they have. Tried to change thoughts about it. -Increased perceptions of SUSCEPTIBILITY -increased perceptions of BENEFITS -Increased perceptions of BARRIERS (fear of bad outcome) All with information to counteract beliefs RESULT= success- especially with the women who have never had them before. most of them got one for the first time after intervention
neuroticism and health (Costa and McCrae 1985)
MIXED FINDINGS> Neuroticism was a better predictor of angina in self report than ECG's were in signs of CAD. (Angina=subjective and CAD=objective) - Neuroticism not always negativity and depression leading to unhealthy behavior- if you are prone to worrying about health than you take better care of yourself -ALSO: Could be an artifact: Neurotic people might just be more prone to reporting negative health symptoms even if their health is fine.
relationship between exercise and psychological health
Overall, exercising can help reduce stress, depression and anxiety among people who suffer from such ailments
prevention of health behaviors
PRIMARY:: Preventing or diminishing the severity of illnesses and diseases EX: edu, immunization SECONDARY: detecting illness at early stage to reduce potential effects EX: exams and screenings TERTIARY: Actions taken to minimize and or slow damage caused by illness. EX: rehab and support groups Most effective=Primary Most common= tertiary and then secondary bc we do lots of screening now a days
visintainer et al 1982
Rats experienced inescapable, escapable, or no electric shock 1 day after being implanted with a tumor. 27% rats receiving inescapable shock rejected the tumor, whereas 63% rats receiving escapable shock and 54 percent of the rats receiving no shock rejected the tumor. These results imply that lack of control over stressors reduces tumor rejection and decreases survival.
martin and dobbin (1988 mechanisms of humor)
When you can react with humor you can cope with stress better and stop catastrophizing. Measured daily hassles, trait sense of humor and immune function. -Higher levels of humor then doesn't matter how many hassles one faces, Salivary IGA stays same and immune function stays same. ONLY people with a low sense of humor have decreasing levels of s-IGA and decreasing immune function as they face more daily hassles. -Sense of humor is a moderator in the relationship between s-IGA and immune system function.
unrealistic optimism
a cognitive bias that causes a person to believe that they are less at risk of experiencing a negative event compared to others. So they think that better things will happen to them than to other people
pennebaker 1995 (linguistic inquiry and word count)
a computerized text analysis to determine different psychological categories one might fall into. IT IS FOUND: - more use of positive emotion words = better health -use of moderate number of negative emotion words = better health -increase in casual and insight words= better health
explanatory style
a psychological attribute that indicates how people explain to themselves why they experience a particular event, either positive or negative. -Optimistic = External, Unstable and Specific Attributions -Pessimistic= Internal, Stable and Global attributions
learned helplessness
after repeated failures that were caused by factors that were uncontrollable to ourselves, we start to become helpless
disease caused personality changes (model of personality and disease)
aspects of personality can result from disease processes - mental changes due to serious illnesses - biological processes cause mental changes - drug therapies basic models: disease -> personality disease -> treatment -> personality
theory of planned behavior (fishbein and aizen)
behaviors are determined by a persons INTENTION. Assumes people are rational and plan out all of their actions. Intentions are determined by 3 things -attitude (if i exercise will i feel good or bad) -subjective norms (will other people approve of or support my behavior) -perceived behavioral control (self efficacy) (Montano et al studies condom use and intentions and finds the effectiveness of attitude, subj norms and behavioral content)
operant conditioning and health behavior
behaviors can be increased or decreased as a function of their consequences. EX: adolescence encouraged by peers by drinking rewarded with popularity so continues to do it. OR if i exercise this many days i can reward myself with a milkshake. BUT over justification effect
cognitive control
being able to change thought processes and strategize to modify impact of stress Ex: whilst giving birth thinking about the joy that a baby will bring into someones life rather than focusing on the pain that its causing
internal locus of control
believing that a person themself has control over all personal success and failures
external locus of control
blaming all success and failures on other people/outside factors rather than taking responsibility
stress and massages
can reduce chance of anxiety and depression through physical interaction only. Also increases bodys production of oxytocin which can decrease blood pressure, reduce hypertension, reduce pain and stress overall.
tropisms (seeking unhealthy situations) (model of personality and disease)
certain people are pulled towards certain situations basic model: personality -> situations -> poor health ex: aggression -> physical altercations -> injury
childhood personalitys effect on adult health behaviors (hampson and friedman)
childhood personality can have a long term effect on how an adult acts, specifically when it comes to their smoking, alcohol use and BMI (Hampson 2006) Child conscientiousness specifically leads to the lowest percentage of smoking and alcohol use among adults (Friedman 1995)
pennebaker and beall 1986 (emotional disclosure and writing)
college students wrote for 15 minutes on 4 consecutive days about 'the most traumatic or upsetting experiences' of their entire lives, while controls wrote about superficial topics (such as their room or their shoes). Participants who wrote about their deepest thoughts and feelings reported significant benefits in both objectively assessed and self-reported physical health 4 months later, with less frequent visits to the health center and a trend towards fewer days out of role owing to illness OUTCOME: Reduced number of doctor visits, enhanced immune function and lower BP and heartrate
three traits of hardiness
commitment, control and challenge
western collaborative group study of type A pattern behavior (Rosenman 1976)
conduct a 25-year follow-up of the surviving participants study of coronary heart disease risk factors to incorporate direct assessment of Type A behavior. FOUND: Type A= Coronary heart disease 10 years later
mechanisms in relation between expressive writing and health outcomes
countering inhibition and emotional expression or insight
health behavior and increasing positive emotions
dealing with stress is known to decrease negative emotions but not necessarily increase the positive ones. However through different health behaviors to reduce stress one can reduce negativity and slightly increase positive effects for at LEAST one year.
worksite wellness and community based wellness programs
designed to encourage employees and community members to maintain healthy lives whether it be bu stoping smoking or changing diet and exercising. Companies like johnson and johnson offer things like information sessions and follow up meetings with health professionals to encourage employees to be as healthy as possible
life orientation test (Scheier and carver 1985)
developed to assess individual differences in generalized optimism versus pessimism. This measure, and its successor the LOT-R, have been used in a good deal of research on the behavioral, affective, and health consequences of this personality variable.
rodin and langer study of control 1977
different groups at a nursing home. One group got to arrange furniture as they wanted and even get to be responsible for taking care of a plant that they were given. Those in the other group weren't given such levels of control. Those with more control often lived longer than those without. Control made them happier, interested, self initiating and active. More choices= improved health.
evaluation of planned behavior model
does not apply across different cultures. EX: some cultural groups have their parents as the most influential people where as others their peers are far more influential. ALSO intentions arent always followed through as it is assumed in the model
moot 1970 (control)
electric shocks in rats, and loud noises to rats causes stress. When they can control shock or predict shock/noise there is less physiological reactivity. More control of stress=less physiological reaction.
biofeedback
electronic device records physiological processes in the body to give people info that will ultimately help them voluntarily control their body through operant conditioning. EX: headaches and using info about where in body tension built and using progressive muscle relaxation to reduce tension to avoid the headaches.
removal from stressful situations/ distraction as mechanisms (in relation between exercise and health)
exercising is almost an escape. It takes people away from the stressed of their lives temporarily. Usually focusing on exercises them self is enough for people to focus on therefore people arent thinking about their stress but are thinking in the moment
big five personality traits (costa and McCrae)
extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neurotic ism, and openness
mindfulness meditation
focusing on the present moment. Feeling whats happening in your body physically and emotionally or internally and externally. Not in a judgmental way but rather accepting the present. Acceptance brings you peace and a good calm contributing to more positive emotions.
improving personal control
from a young age, caregivers must provide a good level of encouragement, support love and respect. Must show children that there are challenges but no threats.
coping and measurement
hard to measure. Effective ways to measure include: -engaging in positive emotions -finding benefits or meaning -emotional app. -accomodating to stressors
relaxation
helps lower mental and physical stress -progressive muscle relaxation=focuses on specific muscles and groups of muscles to relax body deeply. Highly effective in reducing stress. (Jacobson)
type A personality
hostile hurried, competitive, impatient, tense. -Friedman and Rosenman = Link between Type A behavior and heart disease
stress and immune function
in stressful situations, they usually start in crisis which leads to impaired immune function over a long period of time. In minor stress evoking situations there is a short term period of impaired immune function chronic stress leads to lowered sensitivity to cortisol an anti inflammatory to ease stress which can lead to stress causing more damage to a persons health
countering inhibition
inhibition refers to behavior mostly controlled by impulse. This is the opposite, as a mechanism, it is possible that people can change the way they react and behave to the thoughts of traumatic events by talking and writing through them so that peoples impulse thoughts and actions that follow the reminders of traumatic events are less negative.
Lefcourt (1997 sense of humor and stress)
interaction between gender and humor. Induced and measured stress in a lab. -group 1: male tries to get with unresponsive female 2: women tried to get with unresponsive man 3: structured interview for both 4: Streak test- color words in different colors than words and fast math problems. 5:putting their hands into freezing water for as long as they can. BP increases as stress increases. RESULT: WOMEN: high humor= Low BP and low humor=high BP MEN: high humor=high BP and low humor=low BP
defensive pessimism
is a strategy used by anxious people to help them manage their anxiety so they can work productively. People lower their expectations to help prepare themselves for the worst. Then, they mentally play through all the bad things that might happen.
social cognitive theory
it explains personality in terms of how a person thinks about and responds to one's social environment. IN ADDITION: it explains whether a person will enact a certain behavior based on 2 things. -Self efficacy: a person believing if they can do it or not -outcome expectancy: whether the behavior would serve to benefit them
problems with health belief model
it is good at predicting behaviors that people do less often like mammograms and yearly pap smears but is not great at predicting habitual and routined actions like brushing teeth and washing hands
acculturation and hypertension
leads to higher BP then body weight shift and cholestoral change. -Impact on BP is greater for women than men ESPECIALLY when moving into urban areas. -Effect is much greater in the first few months than years. -Greater risk to metabolic syndrome=greater risk for hypertension, diabetes and cardiovascular disorders
improvements in appearance as mechanism (in relation between exercise and mental health)
liking the way you look after exercising or completing workouts in hope that you'll only be able to look better than you have makes someone feel better. The happier people are with the way they look and feel from exercising, the better their mental health
transcendental meditation
looking at one object or repeating one mantra and trying to keep focus on that one object. If mind wanders gently remind it to go back to what you should be thinking about. Can't focus on both stress and object/mantra so it helps distract and calm you
blittner on social cognitive theory (1978-smoking cessation program)
manipulated self efficacy to see how effective it was in helping people to quit smoking. 3 groups: 1) treatment- researchers told them fake positive things to make them think they could really quit. 2) standard group that received general suggestions to stop smoking that most people get in order to help them quit 3) waitlisted group. -AFTER 9 months, Treatment group that had risen self efficacy had the lowest rates for smoking where as the waitlisted people had the highest number of smokers
unhealthy habits and behavior model (model of personality and disease)
many personality problems make unhealthy habits more likely basic model: personality -> unhealthy behavior -> disease (ex: anxiety -> smoking -> lung cancer)
Type A pattern behavior and CHD (Booth-kewlev and freidman 1987)
meta analysis of type A and CHD and found significant modest association between Type A behavior and Coronary heart disease (.112) ALSO Found most harmful personality trait of type A behavior = Hostility (.17)
fredrickson and levenson 1998 (humor and potential mechanisms)
participants watched a fear illiciting film and then randomly assigned to one of four films. Amusement (puppy and flower), Neutral (sticks), Contentment (waves crashing on beach), Sadness (boy crying). Measured cardio reactivity post films. RESULT: Second films of contentment or amusement had same rate of returning to baseline pulse, which was significantly faster than the other two videos. Content and amused=fast sad or neutral=slow
McClelland and Cheriff (1997 humor and health)
participants watched either a funny video or not funny video and measured saliva for immune function before and after. (Not funny= financial aids, funny= stand up) -Trait sense of humor= better immune function. -more humorous=higher levels of salivary IGA -Appreciating humor alone= better immune function -IN THE END: after watching billy crystal, had better immune function AND those who make others laugh more are more susceptible to colds
personal control and behavioral control
personal control: make own decisions to arrive at positive outcomes. More control then less strain from stressors Behavioral control: concrete action to reduce the impact of stressors
biological third value (models of personality and disease)
personality and disease can be linked through a third variable basic model: biology -> disease/personality ex: down syndrome -> intellectual disability/heart problems and infections
direct influences of personality (model of personality and disease)
personality can directly affect physiological mechanisms basic model: personality -> disease (ex: hostility -> artery damage
blumenthal 1999 (exercise and psych health)
randomly assigned a patient who had clinical depression to either aerobic exercise, a drug treatment and or both for four months. RESULTS: exercise alone was enough to almost meet the level the medication lowered BDI level to. All levels were similar!
kok 2013 (mindfulness and health)
randomly assigned groups based on how stressed they were to mindfully meditate. Meditation wound up leading to stronger antibody to flu vaccine, better cardiovascular function and lower perception of pain.
emotional disclosure
refers to a therapeutic technique whereby people express their strong emotions by talking or writing about the events that precipitated them
hardiness
refers to the coping strategies, attitudes and beliefs that help people work through the stressors of life. Can affect cognitive appraisal of events. Often leads to less illness.
type B personality
relaxed unworried about time, less concerned about achievement
rhythmic activity as mechanism (in relation between exercise and mental health)
repetitive movement creates a relaxed and meditational step where people can hone in on the repeating step or in the case of meditation could be a repeated mantra therefore once again they are focused on something other than the stressors in their lives.
Transtheoretical model (prochaska and Diclements)
states that behavioral change is a complex process that includes many steps that must be followed in order to make a behavioral change. It says that change is not ALWAYS linear and in fact sometimes spiral where it takes one steps forward then can go back. Also takes into consideration relapse and any failures. 6 stages in process. And each step is facilitated by factors such as: -awareness/edu -soc. liberation (if society bans smoking in public buildings its harder to smoke therefore easier to quit)
cognitive restructuring
stress provoking thoughts and beliefs replaced with constructive and realistic ones to lower appraisal of threat/harm. -cant stand itis -musterbating -arbitrary inference
mechanisms in relation between hostility and health (Powch and houston 1996)
studied cardiovascular reactivity and hostility in white college women with diff levels of interpersonal stress. High stress made by discussing issue woman had strong views for with people who opposed. Lower stress discussed an issue they didnt care about with people who agreed. THOSE with more hostility had higher BP reactivity. BASICALLY - Stressed and hostile = higher cardiovascular reactivity
framingham heart study (Haynes 1980)
studied type A personality and the health risks of it. Found that those with Type A personality were 2x more likely to get coronary heart disease than other personality types.
conscientiousness and lower mortality risk (turiano et al 2013)
study of how personality traits may influence an inflammatory biomarker. Studied Medication use, comorbid conditions, smoking behavior, alcohol use, body mass index, and serum levels. revealed that those high in both Conscientiousness and Neuroticism had lower circulating levels than people with all other configurations of Conscientiousness and Neuroticism. Healthy Neuroticism!
correlation between optimism and illness (scheier and carver 1985)
tested correlation between being optimistic and contracting illness in college students and found a -.27 correlation ratio. BASICALLY- Optimism is associated with positive health behaviors which can lead to better all around health and less illness.
Explanatory Style and death risk (peterson 1998)
the findings suggest that catastrophizing about bad events might be hazardous because of its link with poor problem-solving, social estrangement and risky decision-making in diverse settings. AKA - Traits that fit dimensions lead to mechanisms that lead to negativity which causes negative emotions and therefore failure to take care of health which can lead to death.
dispositional optimism (Scheier and Carver 1985)
the tendency to believe that one will generally experience good outcomes rather than bad outcomes. TYPICALLY associated with prospected positive health outcomes.
practicing health behaviors
there is a broad range of people that do and do not practice health behaviors and who practice differing behaviors at different times and some more than others. Health behaviors are not always consistent and unfortunately, not stable because they are not always linked. Whether or not they are performed comes down to factors that include more than just who a person is and their intentions and goals, but also their environments, state of mind, occupations and etc.
relationship between humor and health
this often leads to better health outcomes. Laughing itself can decrease the production of stress hormones and strengthens the immune system
traumatic experiences effect on health
usually leads to subsequent health problems. Can be triggered by intense emotional changes, disruptions in social networks and can lead to unhealthy behaviors that cause a decline in health. In addition, holding in the experiences and not talking about them can also contribute to health problems that are far worse.
relationship between religiosity and health
usually the relationship has more to do with behavior rather than beliefs. Lower rates of obesity, cancer, heart disease and suicide. Also have a lower physiological response to stress than others. Usually has to do with social support and learning to cope better and having a good support system. -OTHER MECHANISMS: Beliefs in taking care of their bodies, attendance at house of workshop and stress coping
Bennett 2003 (humor and immune function)
watched either humorous or distracting film. (Humor=cosby) Measure killer (white blood) cell activity before and after. RESULT: No relation between cell activity and video. -Funny video had higher laughter and better immune function AKA laughter itself= increase in killer cell activity.
overjustification effect
when too much reward for behavior undermines intrinsic motivation. EX: when dog gets cookie after going to the bathroom outside while training and helps them learn then eventual puppy goes outside just to get cookie not because they did something right OR kid gets money for good grades. After a while they are getting good grades for money rather than just getting good grades to get good grades.
emotional expression or insight (mechanism in relation between writing and health outcomes)
when writing more about emotions as opposed to facts and details about a traumatic event can have positive outcomes on an individuals health