Week 3 – Psychology Applied to Health
The Social Cure Approach
Part 1: Background Information/ Overview
Few years ago there was a famous longitudinal paper reporting close association between
relationships and health outcomes. The conclusion was that social relationships can buffer effects of
stress, such that people’s relationships are just as important as more commonly thought of
behaviours like diet and exercise.
Previous Supporting Research
This research reflected findings from other studies:
- Putnam (2000) suggests that over time our chances for developing social connections
(Social capital) reduces. “If you belong ot no groups but decide to join one, you can cut your
risk of dying over next year in half.”
- Holt-Lunstad et al., 2010 Meta-analysis of 148 studies. Found that social relationships are
significantly assocated with survival. Lacking social connections may be as damaging to
health as smoking 15 cigarettes per day.
People tend to underestimate the importance of social factors, especially men, younger people,
those of lower socio-economic standing and higher RWA – those that follow social conventions Holt-
Lunstad et al., (2010).
Social Identity Approach
The social identity approach is really about what happens to people when they move form seeing
themselves in terms of their individual identity to thinking about themselves in terms of their
relationships.
Haslam et al., - New psychology of health
The sense of shared social identity derviced from group membership provides access to a range of
resources that influence health. A collective “sense of self”: from “me” to “us”. When “I” becomes
“we”.
Research from the social identity approach is growing, and there is a substantial body of work
highlighting the critical role played by group memberships in structuring our health experiences,
including decisions we make about protecting and enhancing health.
Recent works supporting Social Identity Theory as a basis
for understanding health and behaviour
Steffens et al., (2019) – meta-analysis
Used studies that looked at shared social identity and variety of ehalth outcomes. They found a
general pattern in favour of hypothesis that social identity is associated with health outcomes,
, including: Quality of life, wellbeing, anxiety, depression, self-esteem, cognitive health, physical
health.
Steffens et al., (2017)- meta-analysis
Focussed on the link between organisational identification and health outcomes. They found that
work group identification and organisational identification as a whole both had an effect, and there
were stronger effects for mental health than physical health.
Postmes et al., (2019) – Meta-analysis
Shared social identity and depression. Generala pattern of effect here was that higher levels of
identification was associated with lower levels of depression. Sub group analysis showed that this
effect is stronger in non-stigmatised and in groups where there is high levels of interaction between
group members.
Part 2: Social Identity Theory as a basis for understanding health
and health behaviour
Key question: Who Am I?
We may describe ourselves in many ways – our relationships, our roles in society, our habits, our
likes/dislikes.
The social identity approach, which has brought forth a number of social identity theories, focuses
on what happens when people describe themselves in terms of their shared sense of identity that
they have with others. It has traditionally been focussed on inter-group issues, but more generally
this approach accounts for much more within our world.
In health psychology, our question is:
How do our group memberships and identifications structure our relationship with the world?
Key Tenets of Social Identity Approach
1. Social identity serves as a frame of reference for making sense of the world.
a. Groups contribute to important sense of belonging, self-esteem (Caldini et al.,
1976; Wann & Branscombe, 1994), and source of support.
b. Groups give us meaning: a lens for understanding ourselves and social world:
Haslam et al., (2009) – groups are central to our ability to engage with the world
Evidence for the Social Identity Approach to Health
Levine et al., (2005) – Looked at MUFC fans’ helping behaviour
The Social Cure Approach
Part 1: Background Information/ Overview
Few years ago there was a famous longitudinal paper reporting close association between
relationships and health outcomes. The conclusion was that social relationships can buffer effects of
stress, such that people’s relationships are just as important as more commonly thought of
behaviours like diet and exercise.
Previous Supporting Research
This research reflected findings from other studies:
- Putnam (2000) suggests that over time our chances for developing social connections
(Social capital) reduces. “If you belong ot no groups but decide to join one, you can cut your
risk of dying over next year in half.”
- Holt-Lunstad et al., 2010 Meta-analysis of 148 studies. Found that social relationships are
significantly assocated with survival. Lacking social connections may be as damaging to
health as smoking 15 cigarettes per day.
People tend to underestimate the importance of social factors, especially men, younger people,
those of lower socio-economic standing and higher RWA – those that follow social conventions Holt-
Lunstad et al., (2010).
Social Identity Approach
The social identity approach is really about what happens to people when they move form seeing
themselves in terms of their individual identity to thinking about themselves in terms of their
relationships.
Haslam et al., - New psychology of health
The sense of shared social identity derviced from group membership provides access to a range of
resources that influence health. A collective “sense of self”: from “me” to “us”. When “I” becomes
“we”.
Research from the social identity approach is growing, and there is a substantial body of work
highlighting the critical role played by group memberships in structuring our health experiences,
including decisions we make about protecting and enhancing health.
Recent works supporting Social Identity Theory as a basis
for understanding health and behaviour
Steffens et al., (2019) – meta-analysis
Used studies that looked at shared social identity and variety of ehalth outcomes. They found a
general pattern in favour of hypothesis that social identity is associated with health outcomes,
, including: Quality of life, wellbeing, anxiety, depression, self-esteem, cognitive health, physical
health.
Steffens et al., (2017)- meta-analysis
Focussed on the link between organisational identification and health outcomes. They found that
work group identification and organisational identification as a whole both had an effect, and there
were stronger effects for mental health than physical health.
Postmes et al., (2019) – Meta-analysis
Shared social identity and depression. Generala pattern of effect here was that higher levels of
identification was associated with lower levels of depression. Sub group analysis showed that this
effect is stronger in non-stigmatised and in groups where there is high levels of interaction between
group members.
Part 2: Social Identity Theory as a basis for understanding health
and health behaviour
Key question: Who Am I?
We may describe ourselves in many ways – our relationships, our roles in society, our habits, our
likes/dislikes.
The social identity approach, which has brought forth a number of social identity theories, focuses
on what happens when people describe themselves in terms of their shared sense of identity that
they have with others. It has traditionally been focussed on inter-group issues, but more generally
this approach accounts for much more within our world.
In health psychology, our question is:
How do our group memberships and identifications structure our relationship with the world?
Key Tenets of Social Identity Approach
1. Social identity serves as a frame of reference for making sense of the world.
a. Groups contribute to important sense of belonging, self-esteem (Caldini et al.,
1976; Wann & Branscombe, 1994), and source of support.
b. Groups give us meaning: a lens for understanding ourselves and social world:
Haslam et al., (2009) – groups are central to our ability to engage with the world
Evidence for the Social Identity Approach to Health
Levine et al., (2005) – Looked at MUFC fans’ helping behaviour
