Psychology 2036A/B Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Transtheoretical Model, Revised Version, Health Belief Model

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 2036A/B
• Professor: Doug Hazlewood

Document Summary

Taking steps to prevent an illness before it begins. Health psychologist interested in primary prevention because stroke, cancer etc. can be prevented by modifying health behaviors. Part 1: barriers to healthy behaviors: biological barriers: Become a habitual part of lifestyle: no immediate incentive for engaging in healthy behaviors. Positive consequences are not immediate (e. g. taking jogging to lose weight, you wont immediately see that you"ve lost weight: no immediate incentive for not engaging in unhealthy behaviors. Negative consequences are not immediate (smoking doesn"t give you cancer right away: false consensus bias: Overestimate number of other people who engage in unhealthy behaviors (e. g. smokers will overestimate the number of people who smoke: false uniqueness bias: No need to engage in safe sex if cure for aids will soon be found: personality factors (individual differences) Externals believe that illness is determined by external things that cannot be controlled (e. g. fate, bad luck) Not likely to take steps to prevent illness.