Psychology 2036A/B Chapter 1: Psychology of Physical Health and Illness Chapter #1- Introduction to Health Psychology

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 2036A/B
• Professor: Yves Bureau

Document Summary

Early stages of health psychology development: behaviorism (neal miller, traced development of biomedical perspective on illness to the germ theory, explained medical non-compliance by, gradient of reinforcement, delayed gratification, cognition and personality (krantz, reviewed personality and cognitive factors. Same general topics but expansion of approaches to study: e. g. more cognitive approach today. Interventions integrate cognitive and behavioral theories: research is continuing and field is still developing. The birth of health psychology: changing profiles of illness and health in canada. Leading cause of death: 1900: acute, infectious diseases, 1950-2000: circulatory diseases, 2012: cancers, heart disease, stroke are the leading causes of death (in that order, according to statistics canada. Birth of health psychology: psychologists" focus : preventability of diseases through lifestyle change, shift from focus on cure to prevention, requires, learning new behaviors and unlearning old ones, believing one is capable of making the change. Health psychology today: the biopsychosocial approach, encompasses three major perspectives on causes of health and illness.