Health Psychology – eLecture
Part 1: Health Behavior
Determinants of behavior
The part on health behavior deals with the psychology of behaving healthy or unhealthy. The most
used model to explain health behavior is the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 2011). It
integrates the main psychological determinants of behavior. One of its three determinants is attitude,
which is conceptually closely related to the basic psychological factor of outcome expectancies that
can explain many aspects of motivation and behavior change. Within the concept of attitude,
emotions also influence health behavior and health behavior change (Dijkstra & Buunk, 2008),
particularly the emotions related to the self, such as being angry at oneself and feelings of shame. In
attempts to prevent or change unhealthy behaviors, the psychological factors defined in such models
should be targeted.
However, these models are insufficient for a complete understanding of the process of behavior
change. Besides being ruled by our conscious and controlled expectations, attitudes and intentions,
it seems that in many unhealthy behaviors the conceptualization of an impulsive system improves
our understanding of what happens and why behavior change often fails (Hoffmann, Friese, &
Strack, 2009). This introduces the notions of unconscious and automated processes as causes of
behavior: Not all behavior can be explained by rational and conscious processes. The gap between
conscious and deliberate intentions on the one hand
and behavior on the other hand might be explained by
the construct of implementation intentions
(Gollwitzer & Sheeran, 2009): Implementation
intentions are plans to engage in a certain behavior or
response in a specified situation. They can help to
accomplish the goals that people have formed. As
such, they can be conceptualized as self-regulatory
action: All the behaviors that are needed to overcome
the factors that stand in the way of accomplishing
one’s goals.
,Health Psychology – eLecture
Lecture Notes 1
Health Psychology concerns all psychological processes that are directly or indirectly related to the
causes or consequences of physical health and illness.
Difference between healthy and unhealthy people in phenomena and manifestations.
Healthy people want to stay healthy → influence physical health through behaviors
◦ engage in unhealthy behavior (smoking) or not in healthy behavior (no physical
exercise)
Unhealthy people have to adjust their thinking and behavior to illness
Prevention:
1. Universal: everybody in general population can be exposed
2. Selective: exposure on the basis of risk factor (predictors vs. causes)
3. Indicated: early detection, no formal diagnosis
1. Explaining theories: active relation of concepts to each other/ link to other mental
representations (e.g. attitude → link to observation, own experience, based on learning;
related to other psychological processes)
2. Integrating theories (e.g. how theories of attitude, self-evaluative emotions and goal setting
are related?: goal setting influences self-evaluative emotions which in turn influences
attitude beliefs which than influence goal setting)
3. Applying theories
(a) What information is available, that refers to theories, concepts or models?
(b) What information is needed to get the right understanding of the psychological processes
and states involved?
,Health Psychology – eLecture
eLecture 1 - Basic Determinants of Behavior
Psychology-behavior link
want to change
determinants to
change behavior
evidence from
determinant analysis
(time 1 predicts
behavior → cross
sectional design;
predict behavior at
time 2 → prospective
design)
psychological
plausibility: can we
understand relation/ is it plausible that psychological factor determinant behavior
experimental evidence (strongest): manipulate
TPB, Protection Motivation Theory, Health Belief Model, Health Action Process Approach,
Temporal Self-regulation Theory
all following theories try to explain and predict behavior with set of psychological
determinants
◦ yellow: motivational factors → reason to engage or not engage in behavior
◦ orange: control factors → peoples ideas whether they are able to control behavior in
certain context
, Health Psychology – eLecture
Two core factors – simplest form
use other models to know the two core
psychological phenomena that determine
behavior
Core mediators
The complex phenomena
→ change external factors when changeable to
change behavior (e.g. experience changes attitudes and perceived control; knowledge influence
attributions)
Part 1: Health Behavior
Determinants of behavior
The part on health behavior deals with the psychology of behaving healthy or unhealthy. The most
used model to explain health behavior is the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 2011). It
integrates the main psychological determinants of behavior. One of its three determinants is attitude,
which is conceptually closely related to the basic psychological factor of outcome expectancies that
can explain many aspects of motivation and behavior change. Within the concept of attitude,
emotions also influence health behavior and health behavior change (Dijkstra & Buunk, 2008),
particularly the emotions related to the self, such as being angry at oneself and feelings of shame. In
attempts to prevent or change unhealthy behaviors, the psychological factors defined in such models
should be targeted.
However, these models are insufficient for a complete understanding of the process of behavior
change. Besides being ruled by our conscious and controlled expectations, attitudes and intentions,
it seems that in many unhealthy behaviors the conceptualization of an impulsive system improves
our understanding of what happens and why behavior change often fails (Hoffmann, Friese, &
Strack, 2009). This introduces the notions of unconscious and automated processes as causes of
behavior: Not all behavior can be explained by rational and conscious processes. The gap between
conscious and deliberate intentions on the one hand
and behavior on the other hand might be explained by
the construct of implementation intentions
(Gollwitzer & Sheeran, 2009): Implementation
intentions are plans to engage in a certain behavior or
response in a specified situation. They can help to
accomplish the goals that people have formed. As
such, they can be conceptualized as self-regulatory
action: All the behaviors that are needed to overcome
the factors that stand in the way of accomplishing
one’s goals.
,Health Psychology – eLecture
Lecture Notes 1
Health Psychology concerns all psychological processes that are directly or indirectly related to the
causes or consequences of physical health and illness.
Difference between healthy and unhealthy people in phenomena and manifestations.
Healthy people want to stay healthy → influence physical health through behaviors
◦ engage in unhealthy behavior (smoking) or not in healthy behavior (no physical
exercise)
Unhealthy people have to adjust their thinking and behavior to illness
Prevention:
1. Universal: everybody in general population can be exposed
2. Selective: exposure on the basis of risk factor (predictors vs. causes)
3. Indicated: early detection, no formal diagnosis
1. Explaining theories: active relation of concepts to each other/ link to other mental
representations (e.g. attitude → link to observation, own experience, based on learning;
related to other psychological processes)
2. Integrating theories (e.g. how theories of attitude, self-evaluative emotions and goal setting
are related?: goal setting influences self-evaluative emotions which in turn influences
attitude beliefs which than influence goal setting)
3. Applying theories
(a) What information is available, that refers to theories, concepts or models?
(b) What information is needed to get the right understanding of the psychological processes
and states involved?
,Health Psychology – eLecture
eLecture 1 - Basic Determinants of Behavior
Psychology-behavior link
want to change
determinants to
change behavior
evidence from
determinant analysis
(time 1 predicts
behavior → cross
sectional design;
predict behavior at
time 2 → prospective
design)
psychological
plausibility: can we
understand relation/ is it plausible that psychological factor determinant behavior
experimental evidence (strongest): manipulate
TPB, Protection Motivation Theory, Health Belief Model, Health Action Process Approach,
Temporal Self-regulation Theory
all following theories try to explain and predict behavior with set of psychological
determinants
◦ yellow: motivational factors → reason to engage or not engage in behavior
◦ orange: control factors → peoples ideas whether they are able to control behavior in
certain context
, Health Psychology – eLecture
Two core factors – simplest form
use other models to know the two core
psychological phenomena that determine
behavior
Core mediators
The complex phenomena
→ change external factors when changeable to
change behavior (e.g. experience changes attitudes and perceived control; knowledge influence
attributions)
