PSYC 328 Lecture Notes - World Health Organization, Health Belief Model, Cardiovascular Disease

• School: McGill University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 328
• Professor: Blaine Ditto

Document Summary

Psychological, social, and cultural factors are involved in whether one chooses to seek medical care. People"s awareness of their body is limited, allowing for many psychological and social factors to influence the recognition of symptoms and interpretation of illness. In the face of seemingly severe symptoms, some people continue normal activities , while others go back to bed when they have to tiniest sniffle. Some people are consistently more likely to notice a symptom than others. Hypochondriacs (4-5% of population) worry that normal bodily functions are signs of illness. Most frequent symptoms among patients converting distress to physical pain are: back pain, joint pain, headache, abdominal symptoms, food allergies , cardiovascular symptoms. Women are not more likely than men to report symptoms, but older people are. Neuroticism (personality dimension marked by negative emotions, self-consciousness, and concerns with bodily processes) affects perception of symptoms. Symptom perception hypothesis: people high in neuroticism or negative affectivity trait recognize and/or report symptoms more quickly.