Health Psychology Models

Health Belief Model

• HBM

• Conceived of in the 1950s by social psychologists

• Created a theory to ask what motivates people to health seeking/or other health-related behaviors 

Parts of the Health Belief Model

• preceived susceptibility

• perceived severity

• perceived benefits of an action

• perceived barriers to taking action

• cues to action

• self-efficacy - belief in one’s capability to take action

Theory of Planned Behavior

• TRB

• Interested in the relationship between attitudes and behaviors, first developed in 1960s

• Created the concept of “behavioral intention” → combinations of an attitude about a behavior and perceptions of subjective norms

• right away we see the model is more social (though limited)

Parts of the Theory of Planned Behavior

• attitude toward a behavior

  • a person’s belief about what will happen if they do it

  • assessment of whether that outcome is good or bad

• assessment of subjective norm

  • person’s beliefs about what other people will think of their behavior

  • motivation to conform to these social norms

• control beliefs

  • a person’s belief about factors that will facilitate or hinder the behavior

• perceived power

  • the power of a person’s control beliefs

Social Cognitive Theory

• SCT

• people learn from their immediate social and cultural environments

• yet they also have agency over the environment

• reciprocal determinism → behavior, personal factors, and the environment are constantly interacting and influencing one another

Social Cognitive Theory Importance

• already accounts for social, cultural, and structural factors as they shape the immediate environment

• doesn’t create as clear of a target for programs/intervention

• you have to change individual psychology and aspects of the immediate environment

Social Ecological Model

• SEM

• Developed in the late 1980s

• Factors have bi-directional and mutually reinforcing effects

• almost creates two tiers of reciprocal determinism