Essentials of psychology

Question 1

Characteristics of risk perception

Answer 1

Combination of social and cognitive factors
Depends on social context
We are over optimistic about personal risk

Question 2

How do we see the world in a biased way?

Answer 2

See things/differences that aren’t there/incorrect interpretations
Miss things - can’t always see bigger picture

Question 3

What is a schema?

Answer 3

Cognitive structure that represents knowledge about a subject

Question 4

What is a place schema?

Answer 4

How to behave/think in particular places

Question 5

What is a role schema?

Answer 5

Knowledge about what different categories of people can/can’t do

Question 6

What is a doctor schema?

Answer 6

Patient centred care

Question 7

Implications of schemas

Answer 7

Implications on treatment
Medical science applied objectively
Can bias our cognitions/behaviour during consultations

Question 8

What is inattention blindness/deafness?

Answer 8

Working memory has limited capacity so we unconsciously ignore information we deem to be irrelevant or that doesn’t fit with our explanations

Question 9

What is a placebo?

Answer 9

Inactive/inert treatment

Question 10

Characteristics of placebo treatment

Answer 10

Improvement in health - must be controlled to observe true outcome
Powerful body of expectation

Question 11

Why is psychology useful in medicine?

Answer 11

Offers multiple perspectives on health
Key part of multidisciplinary and the biopsychosocial approach
Communication is vital

Question 12

What is psychology?

Answer 12

A scientific study of mental processes and behaviour

Aims to understand/describe/predict/modify how people behave/think/feel/interact

Question 13

Biological factors of obesity

Answer 13

Genetic susceptibility

Hormone imbalance

Question 14

Psychological factors of obesity

Answer 14

Eating
Exercise
Habits
Cognitions

Question 15

Social factor of obesity

Answer 15

Family/peers
Costs
Culture
Advertising/availability

Question 16

What is the biological approach?

Answer 16

Studies biological basis of behaviour, e.g. stress and responses
Lots of different units - neuropsychology /psychophysiology/ evolutionary psychology/ behavioural genetics/ psychopharmacology

Question 17

What is the psychoanalytic approach?

Answer 17

Behaviour as a function of interests, experiences and unconscious processes

Question 18

What is the behavioural approach?

Answer 18

Observable, measurable behaviour study, seen as learned response to environmental stimulus via conditioning and modelling

Question 19

What is the cognitive approach?

Answer 19

Complex behaviour not explained in terms if stimulus-response
Cognition - behaviour as a function of internal mental processes
Analogy of humans as computers
Initial perception of information is an active process
e.g. attention/perception/language/reasoning

Question 20

What is developmental psychology?

Answer 20

Lifespan perspective

Question 21

What is social psychology?

Answer 21

Placing people’s behaviour in social context

Question 22

What is educational psychology?

Answer 22

Teaching and learning

Question 23

What is organisational psychology?

Answer 23

Workplace behaviour

Question 24

What is clinical psychology?

Answer 24

Mental and behavioural problems

Question 25

What is health psychology?

Answer 25

Psychological and behavioural processes in health, illness and healthcare

Question 26

What is lifestyle medicine?

Answer 26

Lots of issues we face are due to people’s lifestyles

Question 27

What is behavioural medicine?

Answer 27

Development and integration of behaviour, psychosocial and biomedical knowledge to help treat disease
Multidisciplinary team