Written Assignment Unit 2 PDF

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Written Assignment Unit 2: The Role of Belief in Health-Related Behavior University of the people PSYC 1111 Introduction to Health Psychology

The Role of Belief in Health-Related Behavior

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Introduction Health behaviors reflected any behavior that related to the health status of the individual. That can be behaviors that have a negative impact on health such as smoking, and those behaviors that may have a positive effect such as tooth brushing, wearing seat belts (Ogden, 2019). We all know that people hold many different types of beliefs that influence their behavior. Here are some of the key ones: Attitudes, Beliefs about Control, Risk Perception, and Beliefs about Confidence (Ogden, 2019). So, if you ask different people about the same topic you will find that they have different perspectives based on their beliefs. And that will affect their behaviors later. For example, some find smoking a harmful habit, while others find it harmful to everyone but not them. Also, we know that everyone loves food. But some try to have healthy food, while others never care about what enters their body. Therefore, they will have disease problems in the future. "Therefore, Behavior is not only linked to illness onset but also the management of illness and health outcomes" (Ogden, 2019, p.13).

The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) The theory of planned behavior emphasizes behavioral intentions as the result of a combination of several beliefs: attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control. "These three factors predict behavioral intentions. Which are linked to behavior. Also, the TPB states that perceived behavioral control can have a direct effect on behavior without the mediating effect of behavioral intentions" (Ogden, 2019, p. 13).

The Role of Belief in Health-Related Behavior

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If we applied this theory to daily exercise individual, the TPB would make the following predictions: if an individual believed that regularly doing his exercise will make his life more active and be beneficial to his health (attitude to the behavior), and assumed that the important people in their life wanted them to lose weight to be more attractive (subjective norm), and besides believed that they can do it, and that will be better to save money (high behavioral control), then this would predict high intentions to practice exercise daily (behavioral intentions). But "if perceived behavioral control reflects actual control, a belief that the individual would not be able to exercise because they are physically incapable of exercising would be a better predictor of their exercising behavior than their high intentions to exercise" (Ogden, 2019, p. 23).

We find that past beliefs may negatively hit our decisions to start or continue new actions, even though we have intentions to make a change.

Conclusion All behaviors can be leading to health or illness, and that definitely linked to our beliefs. But It is extremely difficult to change people's behavior, especially when dealing with complex health behavior such as physical activity. So, if we need to have a better life for our individuals, we have to study them first, then choose a perfect strategy that makes a real change in the community to diminishing diseases.

The Role of Belief in Health-Related Behavior References Ogden, J. (2017). The psychology of health and illness: An open access course. The psychology of health and illness.pdf

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