SLK120 CHAPTER 14
NOTES
Taneil Thompson
UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA, 2020
, DISCLAIMER:
PLEASE NOT THAT THIS INFORMATION IS NOT MY OWN. IT HAS
BEEN SOURCED FROM THE TEXTBOOK TITLED ‘PSYCHOLOGY
THEMES AND VARIATIONS’. THIS DOCUMENT SHOULD BE USED
IN ADDITION TO THE TEXTBOOK, LECTURES, LECTURE NOTES
AND TUTORIAL WORKSHEETS.
, SLK120 Notes
Chapter 14- Stress, Coping and Health
(For Semester Test 2)
1. Understand that human beings are complex.
- Complicated relationship between physical anatomy (body) and the psyche
(mind)
- Psychological processes (stress, thoughts, beliefs) and social processes
(socioeconomic status and culture) impact health and physical well-being.
2. Understand what health psychology is and why it is important.
- Health is a complete state of physical, mental, and social well-being and
not merely the absence of disease.
- Health psychology: field devoted to understanding psychological
influences on how people stay healthy, why they become ill, and how
they respond when they do get ill. Concerned with study of health from a
psychological perspective.
- Why is it needed?
o In the past, the main causes of death were infectious diseases. Now,
however, the main cause is chronic diseases.
o Psychologists explored why some individuals get sick whilst others do
not as well as how people adjust to their illness and how they practice
healthy behaviours.
3. What does it focus on?
- Health promotion (developing good health habits and focussing on risk
populations, disease management) and maintenance
- Preventing and treating illnesses
- Causes of health and illness
- Improving health care system and formulating health policies
- Primary preventions:
• Behaviour-change methods: alter problem behaviour
• Prevent development of poor health habits in first place
- Why are there difficulties when it comes to changing behaviours?
• Emotional factors (bad habits are hard to change)
• Instability of health behaviours (habits are only partially related and they
are unstable)
NOTES
Taneil Thompson
UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA, 2020
, DISCLAIMER:
PLEASE NOT THAT THIS INFORMATION IS NOT MY OWN. IT HAS
BEEN SOURCED FROM THE TEXTBOOK TITLED ‘PSYCHOLOGY
THEMES AND VARIATIONS’. THIS DOCUMENT SHOULD BE USED
IN ADDITION TO THE TEXTBOOK, LECTURES, LECTURE NOTES
AND TUTORIAL WORKSHEETS.
, SLK120 Notes
Chapter 14- Stress, Coping and Health
(For Semester Test 2)
1. Understand that human beings are complex.
- Complicated relationship between physical anatomy (body) and the psyche
(mind)
- Psychological processes (stress, thoughts, beliefs) and social processes
(socioeconomic status and culture) impact health and physical well-being.
2. Understand what health psychology is and why it is important.
- Health is a complete state of physical, mental, and social well-being and
not merely the absence of disease.
- Health psychology: field devoted to understanding psychological
influences on how people stay healthy, why they become ill, and how
they respond when they do get ill. Concerned with study of health from a
psychological perspective.
- Why is it needed?
o In the past, the main causes of death were infectious diseases. Now,
however, the main cause is chronic diseases.
o Psychologists explored why some individuals get sick whilst others do
not as well as how people adjust to their illness and how they practice
healthy behaviours.
3. What does it focus on?
- Health promotion (developing good health habits and focussing on risk
populations, disease management) and maintenance
- Preventing and treating illnesses
- Causes of health and illness
- Improving health care system and formulating health policies
- Primary preventions:
• Behaviour-change methods: alter problem behaviour
• Prevent development of poor health habits in first place
- Why are there difficulties when it comes to changing behaviours?
• Emotional factors (bad habits are hard to change)
• Instability of health behaviours (habits are only partially related and they
are unstable)
