Health Psychology Exam 2

What did D'Amico and Fromme (1997) find in their study of vicarious learning?

- 195 older and younger siblings completed surveys about health behaviors - Beliefs about older siblings' behaviors and consequences of behaviors led to younger siblings' behaviors and expectancies

What is meditation?

- A practice of focus and attention control

tend-and-befriend hypothesis

- A theory of how women respond to stress "Tending": taking care off offspring, not abandoning them, keeping them calm and quiet in face of a stressor "Befriending" : affiliating with other people, sharing protective resources, regular resources, seek social support in face of stress

What are the potential mechanisms in the relation between expressive writing and health outcomes?

- Countering inhibition: mixed support - Emotional expression/insight: support

In the disease-caused personality changes model of personality and disease, what are the ways in which personality change can result from disease?

- Disease, personality - Disease, psychological reaction, personality - Disease, treatment, personality

What is the evidence for the role of oxytocin in physiological stress? (Detillion et al., 2004)

- Does oxytocin explain why social contact facilitates wound healing? 1. Gave all hamsters a wound 2. Subjected hamsters to stress (put them in a tube that they couldn't move out of) 3. Studied socially isolated vs pair-housed hamsters Dependent variable: cortisol levels, wound healing Socially isolated hamsters had bigger wounds and higher cortisol than pair-housed hamsters 4. Did an adrenalectomy on isolated hamsters (stopped ability to produce cortisol) Wounds then healed as quickly as pair-housed hamsters Purpose: to test role of cortisol in wound healing 5. Injection of oxytocin or saline (placebo) to the isolated hamsters Purpose: to test whether oxytocin blocks stress-induced cortisol and facilitates wound healing 6. Oxytocin antagonist (pair-housed) Same results as socially isolated, higher cortisol and slower wound healing Purpose: to test whether the pair-housed hamsters had lower cortisol levels and faster wound healing due to their increased levels of oxytocin

What are the potential mechanisms in the relation between exercise and psychological health?

- Endorphins or norepinephrine - Serotonin - Removal from stressful situation - Distraction - Rhythmic activity

How is dispositional optimism related to health? (Scheier et al., 1989)

- Faster recovery after bypass surgery - faster rate of return to normal life activities - Measured time it took to walk, stand up, etc - Higher quality of life at 6 months out

What are the levels of prevention?

- Individual - Group - Organization/institution - Community - Population

What are the 3 dimensions of explanatory style? (Cognitive personality variable)

- Internality vs. externality: Attributing bad things fault to self or to others - Stability vs. instability - Globality vs. specificity: Global attributions/catastrophizing Optimistic: external, unstable, specific attributions Pessimistic: internal, stable, global attributions

What is the evidence for potential mechanisms in the relation between expressive writing and health outcomes? (Pennebaker et al., 1997)

- Linguistic inquiry and word count - Use of more positive emotion words=better health - Use of moderate number of negative emotion words=better health - Increase in causal and insight words=better health

What were the results of McCullough et al.'s (2009) study?

- Lower mortality risk Lifespan trajectories of religiosity parabolic - Mediators (high vs. low religiosity) - Personality, social ties, health behaviors - Only for women

What were the results of McCullough et al.'s (2009) study? on religiosity

- Lower mortality risk Lifespan trajectories of religiosity parabolic - Mediators (high vs. low religiosity) - Personality, social ties, health behaviors - Only for women

How is conscientiousness related to health (Friedman, et al., 1993; Turiano et al., 2013)?

- Lower mortality risk - Friedman measures children conscientiousness to predict mortality risk - Turiano measured adult conscientiousness

Martin & Dobbin, 1988 (hassles & humor)

- Measured daily hassles, trait sense of humor (IVs) - DV: immune functioning - Results: Main effect of hassles on immune functioning - Interaction between hassles and sense of humor

What is the overall evaluation of models of health behavior?

- Models with self-efficacy are better - Broader social and cultural variables omitted

Fredrickson & Levenson, 1998 (films and heartrate)

- Participants viewed fear-eliciting film - Random assignment to second film that elicited contentment, amusement, neutrality, or sadness (IV) - Cardiovascular activation measured (heart rate and pulse) (DV)

What are the potential mechanisms in the relation between humor and health?

- Physiological changes in the systems of the body - Inducing positive emotional states - Moderation adverse effects of stress on health - Increasing social support

2. What is the relation between control and health (Moot et al., 1970; Visintainer et al., 1982)?

- Predictable and controllable situation: less physiological reactivity - Controllable vs. uncontrollable electric shock to rats (Moot et al., 1970) Uncontrollable shock= ulcers Controllable=fewer ulcers One group gets same shock as second group - difference is that one group can turn wheel to stop shock (Visinstainer et al., 1982) Rats implanted with tumor Escapable (control) or inescapable shock (no control) Rats with control significantly more likely to reject tumors than rats without control DV: tumor

Bennett et al., 2003 (laughing and killer cells)

- Random assignment to experimental (humor) or control (distraction) group, laughter measured (IVs) - Pre- and post-measurement of natural killer cell activity, stress (DVs)

How does operant conditioning explain health behavior?

- Reward for healthy (or unhealthy) behaviors - Punishment for unhealthy behaviors - Problem: overjustification effect

What did Blittner et al. (1978) find?

- Smoking cessation program - Manipulated self-efficacy - those who were told they had great potential did better in quitting

What is the relation between exercise and psychological health?

- Stress reduction - Reduced depression, anxiety

McClelland & Cheriff, 1997

- Trait sense of humor and manipulated humor-- immune system and colds - Participants watched either funny or mundane video (IV) - Trait sense of humor (coping humor, humor production, humor appreciation) measured (IV) - Immune functioning, colds measured (DVs) - Trait sense of humor -- better immune functioning, fewer colds

What is the evidence for Type A's association with coronary heart disease?

- Western collaborative group study (Rosenman et al., 1976) Type A -- 2x risk of CHD 8.5 years later - Framingham heart study (Haynes et al., 1980) Type A -- 2x risk of CHD 8 years later - Meta-analysis of studies on type A and CHD (Booth-Kewley and Friedman, 1987) Significant modest association between type A and CHD (r=.112)

What is the transtheoretical model?

- behavior change is a complex process, 6 stages

What is the theory of planned behavior?

- behaviors are determined by intention - intentions determined by: - attitudes - subjective norms - perceived behavioral control

What are some health outcomes of meditation?

- immune functioning - stronger antibody response to flu vaccine (Davidson et al., 2003) - cardiovascular health - pain reduction

What are the correlates of spending time in nature?

- lower levels of depression, BP - lower levels of stress (Roe et al., 2013) - better immune functioning (Li et al., 2010) - lower rates of chronic illness (Beyer et al., 2018)

What are the proposed mechanisms in the relation between hostility and health?

1. Biomechanical mechanisms 2. Psychosocial vulnerability 3. Health behaviors 4. Appraisal

What is the evidence for potential mechanisms in the relation between humor and health? (McClelland & Cheriff, 1997; Bennett et al., 2003; Fredrickson & Levenson, 1998; Martin & Dobbin, 1988; Lefcourt et al., 1997)?

1. Physiological changes in the systems of the body: Trait sense of humor leads to better immune functioning, fewer colds 2. Inducing positive emotional states: Increasing pain tolerance, Enhancing immunity, Undoing cardiovascular consequences of negative emotions 3. Moderating adverse effects of stress on health: Enhancing effective coping. Humor can serve as a buffer for stress. 4. Increasing social support: funny people get more social support.

What are each of the stages?

1. Precontemplation: no intentions to change problem behavior 2. Contemplation: beginning to consider changing behavior 3. Preparation: commitment to change behavior 4. Action: start engaging in new behavior 5. Maintenance: change is sustained over time 6. Termination: no longer much risk of relapse

What are the 5 models of the personality and disease?

1. Unhealthy habits and behaviors: Our personality effects habits, ex. alcoholism Personality-unhealthy behaviors-disease 2. Disease-caused personality changes: Having a disease can change personality 3. Direct influences of personality: Marriage, education, etc. 4. Biological third variables: 5. Situation selection :

What are the 3 components of hardiness?

1. commitment: seeing it as meaningful 2. control: if they have impact on outcomes 3. challenge: trying to do their best and better each time

What is the health belief model?

4 factors influence participation in preventative health behaviors: 1. Perceived susceptibility: beliefs about the degree of health threat 2. Perceived severity: beliefs about consequences of the illness 3. Perceived benefits of behavior change: beliefs that engaging in the behavior will reduce the threat of the illness 4. Perceived barriers to behavior change: beliefs about obstacles to engaging in a behavior

What is the Type A behavior pattern?

AKA coronary prone personality Type A behavior is Impatient, tense, hurried, hostile, aggressive and competitive. Type A behavior is more susceptible to heart disease and stroke. More conflict, lower levels of social support, bad health behaviors, how the appraise situations.

Capsi et al., 1997

Age 3 personality traits - age 21 health behaviors Traits: Undercontrolled Confident Inhibited Reserved Well-adjusted

What were the results of Blumenthal et al.'s (1999) and Babyak et al.'s (2000) studies?

Blumenthal: exercise equally as effective as antidepressants Babyak: most recovered people exercised

What were the results of Blumenthal et al.'s (1999) and Babyak et al.'s (2000) studies? (exercise and depression)

Blumenthal: exercise equally as effective as antidepressants Babyak: most recovered people exercised

What personality traits seem to be related to health behaviors (Hampson et al., 2006; Friedman et al., 1995; Caspi et al., 1997)?

Booth-Kewley & Vickers, 1994 O.C.E.A.N - Neurotic people were less likely to have preventative measures in the home and engage in negative health behaviors. Openness is associated with more substance abuse. Agreeableness and Conscientiousness is associated with more positive behaviors. Extroversion has more health behaviors, however in other studies it was linked to negative behaviors such as alcohol intake.

Friedman et al., 1995

Childhood conscientiousness - lowest smoking and alcohol use in adulthood

Hampson et al., 2006

Childhood personality - adult health behaviors (Hampson et al., 2006) Smoking Alcohol use BMI

What is the role of oxytocin?

Decreases blood pressure and stress hormone levels

What is hardiness?

Hardiness is a personality trait composed of commitment, control and challenge which collectively make one resilient in the face of stress.

What component of the type A personality is most harmful to health?

Hostility

What were the results of Powch and Houston's 1996 study? (hostility and cardiovascular reactivity)

Hostility moderates cardiovascular reactivity to stress Hostility measured Stress manipulated BP, HR measured - Hostility as important a predictor of heart disease as high fat diet, activity, smoking, BP, etc.

What were the results of Powch and Houston's 1996 study?

Hostility moderates cardiovascularity reactivity to stress Hostility measured Stress manipulated BP, HR measured - Hostility as important a predictor of heart disease as high fat diet, activity, smoking, BP, etc.

What were Langer and Rodin's (1976) and Rodin and Langer's (1977) studies?

Intervention studies (Langer & Rodin, 1976) Greater choices to nursing home residents in their life - Improvement in health three weeks later - Manager gave one floor more control of their life, not other floor - Gave the responsibility group each a plant to take care of, allowed a movie night whenever they ask - Gave no responsibility group a plant that the nurse will take care of, movie night thursdays - 18 month follow up Responsibility induced group more activity interested, sociable, self-initiating, vigorous - Half as likely to die as the no responsibility group

How large is the effect (Smyth, 1998; Frattaroli, 2006)?

Mean effect size (meta-analyses): D = .47 (r = .23) (Smyth, 1998) D: .15 (r = .075) (Frattaroli, 2006)

What is the evidence for the association between hostility and health?

Measured CHD and mortality 25 years later (Barefoot et. al., 1983)

What did Kobasa et al. (1982) find regarding relations between stress, hardiness, and health?

Measured T1 hardiness and stress, T2 illness symptoms Interaction between stress and hardiness: stress affects people with low hardiness more than people with high hardiness Main effect hardiness: hardiness predicts illness Main effect stressful life events: stress predicts illness

Lefcourt et al., 1997 (immune & humor)

Measured effect of stress on immune function moderated by sense of humor - Female participants, higher humor, lower BP - Male participants, higher humor, higher BP

What is the relation between expressive writing and subsequent health outcomes?

Outcomes of expressive writing experiments: Reduced # of doctor visits Enhanced immune functioning Lower BP and heart rate Better self-rated health

What are primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention?

Primary prevention: taking measures to prevent illness Secondary prevention: detecting or treating illness at an early stage as a way of reducing the illness's potential effects Tertiary prevention: actions taken to minimize or slow the damage caused by an illness that has developed past an early stage

What is the relation between religiosity and health (e.g., McCullough et al., 2000)?

Religiosity: religious attendance, finding strength and comfort from one's religious beliefs Associated with better health

How does explanatory style relate to health?

Risk of death (peterson et al., 1998) Probability of death rises as globality rises

What was Champion et al.'s (2000) study?

Target: increase mammogram screening among low-income women - Increased perceptions of susceptibility - Increased perceptions of benefits - Reduced perceptions of barriers

What is explanatory style? (Peterson & seligman, 1984)

The way people understand, explain and make attributions for a particular outcome/event they experience.

What happens if hamsters are injected with oxytocin antagonist?

They act like socially isolated hamsters, slow wound repair, higher cortisol levels, more stress when they are forced to be immobilized.

What happens if rats are injected with oxytocin antagonist?

They act like socially isolated rats, slow wound repair, higher cortisol levels, more stress when they are forced to be immobilized.

What were the results of Pennebaker's studies?

Treatment: write about emotional events for 1-5 consecutive days for about 15-30 minutes each day Write about trauma (experimental) or superficial topic (control) for 15 minutes per day for 4 days (Pennebaker & Beall, 1986) Outcome: health benefits

How does social cognitive theory explain health behavior?

Whether the behavior will be enacted depends on: - Self-efficacy - Outcome expectancies

cues to action

any type of reminder about a potential health problem

mindfulness mediation

awareness and focus put on present moment - open monitoring

What is unrealistic optimism?

cognitive bias that causes a person to believe that they are less at risk of experiencing a negative event compared to others Overconfident, undermine behavioral efforts, expect good health outcomes

Transcendental meditation

focus awareness on single object, word, or mantra -- advanced state of relaxation

What is the relation between gratitude and health (Emmons & McCullough, 2003)?

gratitude leads to better health, psychological and physical well-being

How is neuroticism related to health (e.g., Costa & McCrae, 1985)?

neuroticism a better predictor of angina (self-report) than ECG signs of coronary artery disease (CAD; objective measurement)

What is dispositional optimism?

tendency to believe that one will generally experience good vs. bad outcomes

What is defensive pessimism?

the adaptive value of anticipating problems and harnessing one's anxiety to motivate effective action