PSYC 2740 Lecture : Ch_18_notes

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 2740
• Professor: All

Document Summary

Now that we are able to cure microbe infections, psychological factors have emerged as important contributors to the development of illness. Many of the psychological variables of interest have to do with stable patterns of behaviour: ex: whether they cope well with stress, exercise, avoid drugs, drink alcohol in moderation, practice safe sex, etc. These models (ways of thinking about how personality can relate to health) take the form of diagrams of key variables, with the causal relations among those variables depicted by arrows. In most of these models, the variable of stress will be important. An early model of the personality health relationship is called the interactional model. This model suggests that objective events happen to people, but personality factors determine the impact of those events on coping responses. Criticism: researchers were unable to identify stable coping responses that were consistently adaptive or maladaptive.