PSYC 328 Chapter Notes - Chapter 8: Health Belief Model, Hypochondriasis, Homeopathy
Document Summary
Personality factors: hypochondria: extreme anxiety that normal bodily symptoms are indicators of illness. 4-5% of the population but leads to extensive use of health services. Frequently reported pain, abdominal symptoms: neuroticism: marked by negative emotions and self-consciousness, and concern with bodily processes. Leads to recognizing, exaggerating, or reporting symptoms. Culture: some differences are notes in the literature but underlying reasons are unclear, differences in language. Attention: focusing on oneself (bodies, emotions, reactions) heightens awareness of symptoms. Situational factors: we are more attentive to symptoms when inactive or in boring situations, medical students disease: as students study an illness, many imagine that they have it. Mood: positive mood relates to better perceived health, fewer illness-related memories, fewer reported symptoms, negative mood relates to: more symptoms, pessimism about symptom relief, perceptions of vulnerability to illness. Symptom recognition is determined both by individual differences in attention to one"s body and by transitory situational factors that influence the direction of one"s action.
