PSY333H5 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Antonie Van Leeuwenhoek, Tai Chi, Humorism
Document Summary
Health psychology: the application of psychological principles and research to the enhancement of health, and the prevention and treatment of illness: concerns include; social conditions (availability of health care), biological factors (family longevity), personality traits (optimism). A person may be free of disease but still not enjoy a satisfying life; health involves physical, psychological and social well-being. Average life expectancy of those born in the us is lower than in most other affluent countries. When a person became sick there was no obvious physical reason for it, rather it was thought of as a possession by an evil spirit. About 4,000 years ago, people realized that hygiene also played a role in health and disease: egyptians engaged in cleansing rites, iraq, soap was manufactured, sewage systems constructed, (bloodletting-opening a vein to remove blood). Great drainage system, the cloaca maxima, built to drain a swamp that later became a modern sewage system.
