Health Psychology Chapter 1 Vocab

Created by Mary Busch

Acute Disorders
Short-term illnesses, often a result of a viral or bacterial invader and usually amendable to cure.

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TermDefinition
Acute DisordersShort-term illnesses, often a result of a viral or bacterial invader and usually amendable to cure.
Biomedical ModelMaintains that all illness can be explained on the basis of aberrant somatic bodily processes, such as biochemical imbalances or neurophysiology abnormalities.
Biopsychosocial ModelThe idea that the mind and body together determine health and illness logically implies a model for studying these issues.
Chronic IllnessesSlowly developing diseases with which people live for many years and that typically cannot be cured but rather are managed by patient and health care providers.
Conversion HysteriaSpecific unconscious conflicts can produce physical disturbances that symbolize repressed psychological conflicts.
Correlational ResearchThe health psychologist measures whether changes in one variable corresponds with changes in another variable.
EpidemiologyThe study of the frequency, distribution, and causes of infectious and noninfectious diseases in a population.
EtiologyRefers to the origins or causes of illness.
Evidence-Based MedicineMedical and psychological interventions go through rigorous testing and evaluation of their benefits, before they become a standard of care.
ExperimentA researcher creates two or more conditions that differ from each other in exact and predetermined ways.
HealthA complete state of physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.
Health PsychologyAn exciting and relatively new field devoted to understanding psychological influences on how people stay healthy, why they become ill, and how they respond when they do get ill.
Longitudinal ResearchThe same people are observed at multiple points in time.
Meta-AnalysisCombines results from different studies to identify how strong the evidence is for particular research findings.
MorbidityRefers to the number of cases of a disease that exists at some given point in time.
MortalityRefers to the number of deaths due to particular causes.
Prospective ResearchLooks forward in time to see how a group of people change, or how a relationship between two variables changes over time.
Psychosomatic MedicineOffers profiles of particular disorders believed to be psychosomatic in origin, that is, caused by emotional conflicts.
Randomized Clinical TrialsExperiments to evaluate the effectiveness of treatments or interventions over time.
Retrospective DesignsLook backward in time in an attempt to reconstruct the conditions that led to a current situation.
TheoryA set of analytic statements that explain a set of phenomena, such as why people practice poor health behaviors.
WellnessOptimum state of health.