Health Psychology & Related Concepts – Key Terms (VOCABULARY)

Vocabulary flashcards covering core terms and concepts from the Health Psychology notes (Chapters 1–3).

Health Psychology

The field devoted to understanding psychological influences on staying healthy, why people get ill, and how they respond when ill.

Biopsychosocial Model

A model in which biological, psychological, and social factors all determine health and illness.

Biomedical Model

Model that explains illness by physical processes alone; mind and social factors are largely separate from disease and health is the absence of disease.

Behavioral Medicine

Interdisciplinary field merging behavioral and biomedical science to prevent, diagnose, treat, and rehabilitate health conditions.

Behavioral Health

Focus on enhancing health and preventing disease in healthy people (e.g., injury, smoking, activity, diet).

Acute vs. Chronic Illness

Acute illness is short-term and often infectious; chronic illness is long-lasting (e.g., heart disease, cancer) and often the leading mortality factors.

Placebo

An inert substance or condition that may improve due to expectancy of benefit.

Nocebo

A negative or adverse effect caused by negative expectations about a treatment.

Double-Blind Design

Neither participants nor those administering the treatment know who receives the active treatment or placebo.

Single-Blind Design

Participants do not know their treatment condition, but researchers may know.

Case Study

In-depth descriptive study of one person or group; good for generating hypotheses but limited reliability.

Correlational Study

Examines the relationship between two variables; uses a correlation coefficient (-1 to +1) and cannot prove causation.

Cross-Sectional Study

Study comparing different age groups at a single point in time to infer differences.

Longitudinal Study

Follows the same group over time to observe developmental changes and progression.

Experimental Study

Design that manipulates an independent variable to observe effects on a dependent variable, with random assignment when possible.

Ex Post Facto Design

Study where the independent variable is not manipulated; groups form naturally and are compared after the fact.

Epidemiology

Study of distribution and determinants of diseases in populations, often using large-scale designs.

Prevalence

Proportion of a population that has a disease or disorder at a given time.

Incidence

Number of new cases of a disease or disorder in a population over a specified period.

Risk Factor

A characteristic that occurs more frequently in people with a disease than in those without.

Dose-Response Relationship

A direct, consistent link where increasing exposure leads to greater likelihood or severity of an outcome.

Disease vs. Illness

Disease is the bodily damage or pathology; illness is the experience of being sick and diagnosed.

Illness Behavior

Activities undertaken by people who feel ill to determine their state of health and remedies, before diagnosis.

Sick Role

Behaviors and obligations of someone diagnosed as ill to get well and comply with treatment.

Segall’s Three Rights and Duties

Rights: decide about health, exemption from duties, dependence on others; Duties: maintain health, manage care, use resources.

Practical Health Care Roles (3 Cs)

Practitioners should be Caring, Communicative, and Competent.

Hospital Patient Role

The patient’s experience in hospital, including staying informed, communication, and schedule disruption.

Adherence / Nonadherence

The extent to which patients follow medical advice; nonadherence is common and varies widely.

Predictors of Adherence

Factors like treatment characteristics, side effects, complexity, personal factors (age, gender, depression, self-efficacy), and environment.

Social Support

Emotional or practical assistance from others; a strong predictor of adherence to treatment.

Health Belief Model (HBM) and who

A model where beliefs about susceptibility, severity, benefits, and barriers predict health behaviors; lacks emphasis on self-efficacy. BECKER AND ROSENSTOCK

Self-Efficacy and who

Belief in one’s ability to execute behaviors; part of reciprocal determinism with environment and behavior.(Bandura)

Theory of Planned Behavior and WHO

Intention to perform a behavior, shaped by attitude, perceived control, and social norms. Ajzen

Behavioral Model (Reinforcement)

Adherence reinforced by rewards or reduced by punishment; shaping health behaviors.

Implementational Intentions

Detailed plans linking specific situations to goal-directed actions (e.g., run 30 minutes Tuesday evenings).

Motivational Interviewing

Therapeutic approach to enhance motivation for change and prepare clients to act.

Stage Theories

Models where people pass through discrete stages of readiness to change health behavior; different factors matter at different stages.

Pavlovian Classical Conditioning

Learning by associating a neutral stimulus with a reflexive response (e.g., dog salivation to a bell).

Unconditioned Stimulus / Unconditioned Response (US/UR)

US naturally elicits a reflex (UR) without prior learning.

Conditioned Stimulus / Conditioned Response (CS/CR)

CS initially neutral becomes associated with the reflex, producing a CR after conditioning.

Operant Conditioning

Learning where voluntary behavior is shaped by consequences (reinforcement or punishment).

Biofeedback

Using instrumentation to monitor bodily states and help individuals gain voluntary control over them.

Psychophysiology

Study of the interaction between physiological processes and psychological factors.

Clinical Psychology Approach

Applying clinical psychology skills to health care, including assessment, prevention, and coping with illness.

Clinical Neuropsychology

Applying neuropsychology in health care, including testing after head injuries and rehabilitation.

Reliability

Consistency of a measurement across time or raters.

Validity

Accuracy of a measurement—whether it measures what it is intended to measure.

Lay Referral Network

Family and friends who provide initial medical information and advice.

Self-Selection

Participants selecting their own group assignment in a study when randomization isn’t used.

Dose-Response & Risk Concepts (General)

Understanding how increasing exposure relates to increased risk or severity of disease; used in evaluating health risks.

3 Cs in Caregiving

Caring, Communicative, Competent—key qualities of effective healthcare providers.