PS305 - Psychology of Community Health Flashcards
(32 cards)
How could a misunderstanding of Evolutionary perspectives on disease lead to ineffective clinical or public health practices?
Ignoring evolved functions of symptoms like fever or nausea can lead to overuse of symptom suppression. For instance, treating all fevers with antipyretics may impair immune function, as fever is often an adaptive response to infection (Nesse & Williams, 1995).
How does the concept of evolutionary trade-offs explain phenomena discussed in the Health psychology foundations lecture?
Walking upright frees the hands (benefit) but increases the risk of lower back pain (cost), showing that evolutionary ‘improvements’ often come with physical costs (Lecture 5, Pain; Week 6 Notes).
What concept from the Health psychology foundations lecture challenges a modern medical or psychological assumption?
The lecture critiques the assumption that mental and physical health are separate. It shows they are intertwined through shared stress responses and systemic effects (Lecture 1).
What are the main criticisms of the biopsychosocial model that Dr. Orban mentioned in lectures?
It assumes rational decision-making and uniform module activation, but recent studies suggest multiple independent modules that activate differently across situations (Lecture 4).
How could a misunderstanding of Pain perception and management lead to ineffective clinical or public health practices?
If pain is treated solely as a biomedical issue, chronic pain patients may receive ineffective pharmacological treatments while ignoring psychological and social contributors (Week 6 Pain Notes).
What concept from the Trauma and resilience lecture challenges a modern medical or psychological assumption?
That trauma must involve extreme events. The lecture shows early life misattunement (e.g., lack of nurturing contact) can have equally long-lasting neuropsychological effects (Lecture: Trauma).
Summarise a key argument made in the Addiction lecture and translate it into a testable hypothesis.
Argument: Addiction vulnerability increases in socially isolated environments. Hypothesis: Individuals in socially isolated settings will show higher addictive substance use rates compared to those in communal settings.
Which specific example from the Nutrition and evolutionary medicine lecture illustrates the interaction between environment and evolved physiology?
Lactose intolerance: While most adults worldwide are lactose intolerant, Western populations adapted to dairy due to selective pressure from cattle domestication (Lecture 3 & Diet.pdf).
Based on Nesse and Williams, define a disease where the symptom is actually a defence. Explain how this should influence treatment.
Coughing in pneumonia is not a malfunction but a defence to expel pathogens. Suppressing it indiscriminately can worsen outcomes (Nesse & Williams, Ch.1).
Why does an evolutionary perspective differentiate between proximate and ultimate causes of disease? Give an example.
Proximate causes explain how (e.g., clogged arteries cause heart attacks). Ultimate causes explain why (e.g., evolution did not eliminate fat-craving genes) (Nesse & Williams).
Explain the role of design compromises in understanding vulnerability to modern illnesses. Use a specific body system as your example.
The spine’s design for upright walking allows tool use but predisposes us to back pain and disc injuries—it’s a compromise between mobility and load-bearing (Lecture 5, Pain).
What evolutionary explanation is offered for nausea during pregnancy? What predictions follow from it?
Morning sickness protects the fetus from dietary toxins during early development. Prediction: It should correlate with periods of high fetal vulnerability and avoidance of toxin-rich foods (Nesse & Williams).
What are the six categories of evolutionary explanations for disease proposed by Nesse and Williams? Apply two of them to the same condition.
The six categories are: Defences, Infection, Novel Environments, Genes, Design Compromises, and Evolutionary Legacies. Example: Coughing in flu (Defence) and our windpipe-food pipe crossover (Evolutionary Legacy).
In what way is lactose intolerance not a pathology but an expected biological norm?
Most mammals, including humans, lose lactase production after weaning. Lactase persistence is the exception—an adaptation to dairying cultures (Lecture 3 & Diet.pdf).
How do novel environments lead to “diseases of civilization”? Give two examples with distinct aetiologies.
1) Obesity from high-calorie processed foods exploiting fat/sugar preferences. 2) Anxiety from constant social comparison on social media—an unnatural stressor (Lecture 2).
Describe how life history theory can help explain demographic differences in addiction vulnerability.
Groups under chronic stress or unpredictability may adopt faster life strategies—favoring short-term reward-seeking including drug use (Lecture 10, Hill on addiction).
Why might some psychoactive substances have been historically adaptive despite their modern risks?
Small doses of plant toxins had antimicrobial, ritual, or social bonding functions. Now overuse in novel contexts causes harm (Lecture 10; Diet & Addiction readings).
What role does the ‘mismatch hypothesis’ play in understanding substance dependence in urbanised societies?
Urban environments offer constant access to supernormal stimuli (alcohol, sugar, dopamine hits) that ancestral brains aren’t evolved to regulate (Lecture 2, 10).
How does the concept of tolerance to plant toxins support the co-evolution theory of addiction?
Humans evolved some tolerance to naturally occurring plant alkaloids (e.g., caffeine). Co-evolution allowed regulated use; modern concentration breaks that balance (Hill, Lecture 10).
Contrast the learning model of addiction with the evolutionary model. When might they make conflicting predictions?
Learning model sees addiction as maladaptive behaviour shaped by reinforcement. Evolutionary model views it as hijacked survival circuits. Conflict arises in treatment focus: extinction training vs environmental redesign (Lecture 10).
What are some evolutionary explanations for the persistence of risky behaviour traits that correlate with addiction?
Risk-taking may have once improved status, mating success, or survival in harsh environments. These traits now predispose to substance abuse in safe settings (Lecture 10).
What do traditional, religious, and ceremonial uses of psychoactive substances tell us about evolved behavioural regulation?
They show how culture evolved rituals to safely constrain use. Modern unregulated use lacks such buffers, leading to misuse (Lecture 10; Hill reading).
How does the social control model of substance use contrast with modern individualistic consumption patterns?
Traditional models embedded use in social/ritual contexts with rules. Modern use is individualised, deregulated, and often excessive (Lecture 10).
From an evolutionary standpoint, is addiction best viewed as dysfunction, adaptation, or both? Defend your stance.
It is both. Adaptations for reward and learning are exploited by novel stimuli. Addiction reflects a mismatch between evolved functions and modern environments (Lecture 10).
