Health Psychology
Spring 2020
Final Exam Study Guide
Introduction
1. What are the biomedical and biopsychosocial models?
Biomedical Model – all
... [Show More] illness can be explained on the basis of abnormal somatic processes
Unable to fully account for health – only physical problem can be identified
Focus on physical factors that affect diseases
Characteristics:
Mechanistic – focus on specific parts of the body not the whole person (if someone comes in and is diagnosed
with strep throat and given antibiotics, the end. But this can lead to more problems)
Reductionistic – reduces illness to low-level processes it only considers the routes of disease as chemical
based problems like viruses and bacteria (it’s not holistic)
Dualistic – views psychological health as separate from physical health separates the mind from the body
Biopsychosocial model – adds psychological and social factors (health is more than just biological factors)
Focuses more on health and health promotion/prevention
Health is influenced by:
Biological factors
Psychological factors – stress, emotion, thoughts, behaviors
Social factors – relations with social factors like relations to family
2. About what proportion of deaths is attributable to health behaviors?
Tobacco – 15%
Poor diet/physical inactivity – 18%
Alcohol consumption – 3%
Microbial agents – 2%
Medical error – 3%
Toxic agents – 2.5%
Motor vehicle – 1%
Firearms – 1.5%
Sexual behavior – 1%
Illicit drug use – 1%
Other – 51.8%
Research Methods
3. What are correlational and experimental designs?
Correlation: measure of the strength of the association between two variables (ranges from -1.00 to +1.00)
Correlation coefficient r
Positive correlation: variables change in the same direction
Negative correlation: variables change in opposite directions
Experimental Design (randomized clinical trial)
Manipulation of the IV à how does this influence the DV?
Random assignment – the researcher assigns people to a control group or a experimental group. When you
determine who gets assigned to each it is random. manipulate the IV and then measure the DV
Experimental control – controlling for any other variable other than the IV that could affect the DV making
sure that the experience for the control group and experimental group are the same besides the IV
4. What are moderators?
Variable that changes the magnitude and/or direction of the relation between the IV and DV
it qualifies the relationship between the IV and the DV like with the creative writing experiment for stress the
IV and the DV there is a relationship, but the moderator is that that relationship is different for everyone.
(some people are ok with talking to people about their problems some people aren’t)
5. What are mediators?
Variable through which the IV affects the DV
it explains how the IV is related to the DV (Stress related to obesity and the mediator is that stress causes
eating which causes obesity) [Show Less]