Health Psychology: Foundations, Behavior Change, and Health Practices

A set of vocabulary flashcards covering foundational health psychology concepts, research designs, theories of health behavior change, physical activity recommendations, and sleep physiology.

Health Psychology

The study of how thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and social factors interact with biology to influence staying healthy, becoming ill, and responding to illness.

Health

A state of physical, mental, and social well-being, rather than simply the absence of disease.

Wellness

An optimal state of health and well-being, supported by active efforts to maintain or improve it.

Evidence-Based Medicine

An approach to medical practice that integrates the best available research evidence, clinical expertise, and patient values and circumstances.

Morbidity

The state of being diseased or the overall illness and disease burden within a population.

Mortality

The occurrence of death within a population.

Biomedical Model

A model of health that emphasizes biological causes of disease and physical treatments, such as treating infections or physiological dysfunction.

Biopsychosocial Model

A health model that integrates biological factors, psychological factors, and social factors to explain health and illness.

Acute Illness

An illness that begins relatively quickly and is short-lived.

Chronic Illness

An illness that persists over time and often requires long-term management.

Experiment

A research design in which researchers manipulate an independent variable and measure its effect on a dependent variable under controlled conditions.

Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT)

An experimental study design characterized by random assignment of participants to an intervention or a comparison condition, followed by outcome measurement.

Random Assignment

The process used in experimental designs to decide which condition or group selected participants enter.

Random Sampling

The process used to select participants from a broader population for study inclusion.

Prospective Design

An observational research design that tracks participants forward in time to observe health outcomes.

Retrospective Design

A research design that looks backward at earlier events, past exposures, or historical data of participants.

Meta-Analysis

A statistical synthesis of results from similar studies used to estimate an overall effect, improve precision, and explore differences across studies.

Health Behavior

Any behavior that influences health or is undertaken to maintain or improve it.

Health Habit

A health behavior that is well learned and relatively automatic, often triggered by familiar environmental cues.

Health Promotion

Efforts that help individuals and communities improve health through education, supportive environments, policies, and behavior change.

Primary Prevention

Interventions aimed at preventing disease before it occurs, such as vaccination.

Educational Appeals

Health messages based on the assumption that providing accurate information will encourage people to make healthier choices.

Self-Efficacy

An individual's confidence in performing a specific behavior despite obstacles or challenges.

Health Belief Model (HBM)

A psychological health behavior model centered on perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, perceived benefits, perceived barriers, cues to action, and self-efficacy.

Perceived Susceptibility

An individual's assessment of their personal likelihood of contracting a disease or health condition.

Perceived Severity

An individual's assessment of the seriousness or severity of a disease or health condition.

Perceived Threat

The combination of perceived susceptibility and perceived severity in the Health Belief Model.

Cue to Action

A trigger or reminder, such as a clinic alert, that prompts an individual to take a health action.

Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB)

A psychological theory stating that behavioral intention is shaped by attitude toward the behavior, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control.

Subjective Norm

An individual's perception of social approval or expectations from meaningful others regarding a behavior.

Perceived Behavioral Control

An individual's perception of their ability, resources, and access to perform a target behavior.

Self-Determination Theory (SDT)

A motivational framework focused on fulfilling three basic psychological needs: autonomy, competence, and relatedness.

Autonomous Motivation

Motivation characterized by personal choice, intrinsic enjoyment, or valuing the purpose of a behavior.

Cognitive Behavioral Interventions (CBT)

Strategies designed to change thought patterns and behavior patterns through skill development, environmental changes, monitoring, and reinforcement.

Self-Monitoring

A behavioral technique that involves tracking one's own behavior along with its antecedents or consequences.

Stimulus Control

A behavioral strategy focused on altering environmental cues that trigger or maintain a specific behavior.

Self-Reinforcement

The practice of giving oneself a planned reward contingent upon reaching a behavioral goal or milestone.

Cognitive Restructuring

A cognitive technique used to identify and replace unhelpful or inaccurate thoughts with balanced, constructive alternatives.

Abstinence Violation Effect

A cognitive reaction where a single lapse is viewed as a total personal failure, lowering confidence and raising the risk of relapse.

Lapse

A temporary, brief slip or deviation from a targeted health behavior plan.

Relapse

A comprehensive return to a former pattern of behavior following a period of change.

Precontemplation Stage

The stage of the Transtheoretical Model where an individual has no intention to change behavior within the next $6\,months$.

Contemplation Stage

The stage of the Transtheoretical Model where an individual is considering changing behavior within the next $6\,months$ but experiences ambivalence.

Preparation Stage

The stage of the Transtheoretical Model where an individual intends to act soon, typically within $30\,days$, and begins making small behavioral changes.

Action Stage

The stage of the Transtheoretical Model in which an individual has actively altered their behavior for less than $6\,months$.

Maintenance Stage

The stage of the Transtheoretical Model in which an individual has successfully sustained a behavior change for $6\,months$ or longer.

Adult Aerobic Target

The weekly physical activity recommendation of at least $150\,minutes$ of moderate-intensity or $75\,minutes$ of vigorous-intensity aerobic exercise.

Adult Muscle-Strengthening Target

The physical activity recommendation to perform muscle-strengthening activities at least $2\,days$ per week.

Sedentary Behavior

Waking behaviors performed sitting, reclining, or lying with very low energy expenditure, excluding sleep.

Insufficient Sleep

Obtaining less sleep than necessary for full functionality, commonly defined as less than $7\,hours$ per $24\,hours$ for adults.

Insomnia

A sleep condition marked by persistent difficulty initiating or maintaining sleep despite adequate opportunity, causing daytime impairment or distress.

Two-Process Model of Sleep

A framework explaining sleep regulation through the interaction of Process S (homeostatic sleep pressure) and Process C (circadian timing).

Process S

The homeostatic sleep drive that accumulates during wakefulness and dissipates during sleep.

Process C

The internal biological circadian timing system running on approximately $24\,hours$ that regulates periods of alertness and sleepiness.

Caffeine Half-Life

The amount of time required for the body to eliminate half of a consumed dose of caffeine, typically estimated at $5$ to $6\,hours$.