Chapter 14: Health Stress and Coping Flashcards
(81 cards)
_____: The study of both positive and negative impacts
that humans’ behaviours and decisions have on
their health, survival, and well-being
health psychology
smoking:
____ neuroticism associated with ________ risk
_____ conscientiousness associated with _____ risk
High, increased (more likely)
high, lower (less likely)
T/F: Exposure to media
depictions of
smoking predicts
likelihood of
smoking in
adolescents (glorified examples)
true!!
can be things in the media, family members that smoke, etc. rate of exposure increases risk of becoming a smoker yourself!
causation is difficult to determine though, largely correlation research
what are three ways we can reduce smoking?
non-smoking laws
warnings on packages
attitude inoculation- programs to prepare children to say no to pressures (just say no campaigns)
T/F: efforts to reduce smoking have not worked
false!!! rates have fallen in general
what three factors influence obesity?
Eating as a
motivated behaviour (because we want to- not because we need to!)
Food abundance
Sedentary lifestyles
T/F: obesity is an unsolved problem
true!!
T/F: hours of television per week correlates with obesity
true! greater likelihood the more TV someone watches
T/F: 24% of Canadians
classified as obese
true!!
what is one of the main causes that influences obesity… confuses people?
media reports are inconsistent- there’s no one perfect diet and its difficult to know what is healthy for each individual person (need to use our scientific literacy!!!!)
Much of nutritional
research is
correlational
Interpret media
reports carefully
Put more weight on
randomized
controlled trials
______: A commonly used
statistic for
estimating a
healthy body
weight that factors
in an individual’s
height
body mass index (BMI)
when should BMI be used? when is it appropriate?
at population level, breaks down at an individual level- everyones body composition is different (muscle is heavier than fat! can skew individual results for relatively healthy people)
what are the two social factors that influence obesity?
parental influence- eating patterns from childhood carry on
media- food commercials increase snacking in children
______: The often subtle,
unintentional
spreading of a
behaviour as a
result of social
interactions
social contagion
T/F: Closer the
individuals within
the social network the
more predictive (social contagion)
obese people tend to cluster together, same with non-obese people (changes our expectations of “normal” body size)
true!!!
what are the socioeconomic influences of obesity?
Cost of healthy
alternatives
Convenience of
unhealthy options
Increased obesity
in children from
lower socio-economic groups
- Difference
disappearing in
adults, because generally everyone is more obese and within the same range- regardless of socio-economic status
T/F: 50-90% of variation of weight attributable to genetics
true! our genetics play a big role, determines our set point
_______: a hypothesized mechanism that serves to maintain
body weight around a physiologically programmed range
Set point
what are some challenges for weight loss?
Obese individuals find
food cues more rewarding- more pleasure makes it harder to resist!
Dieting reinforces cravings (huge dopamine hit when eating something yummy finally)
Stress and eating (comfort foods after a bad day)
why do diets often not work?
we have a programmed set point, we often gain more weight when trying to lose weight…. we diet and diet then plateau because our metabolism slows down to try to “help us”… we give up the diet and end up gaining weight…. then our bodies just maintain this higher weight as our new set point
then this cycle repeats!
T/F: Much of our eating is
mindless and automatic
true!
_______: By focusing on the
moment-to-moment
experience of eating we
can gain more conscious
control of our behaviour
mindful eating
put effort into eating, don’t eat while multi-tasking and actually become aware of the food we’re consuming!
what are two ways we can promote healthy behaviours for weight loss?
Positive emotion
promotes weight loss
maintenance- ex: writing nice things about ourselves encourages us to put effort into weight loss
Using social contagion
for positive change- seeing others around us changing their habits can encourage us!
T/F: Early evidence
that sugar tax
disincentives
consumption
true!
people started drinking more water (free!) to quench their cravings
