Topic G: Health psychology

Welcome to Topic G: Health Psychology!

Hello! Welcome to one of the most relatable parts of your Psychology course. Health Psychology looks at how our behavior, our thoughts, and our biology all team up to affect our physical health. We will specifically look at two major areas: Addiction and Stress. By the end of these notes, you’ll understand why we get "hooked" on things and how our bodies react when life gets a bit too much.

Don't worry if this seems tricky at first! We will break it down step-by-step. Let’s dive in!

1. Understanding Addiction

In Psychology, Addiction isn't just about drugs; it can be about behaviors too. To understand it, we need to define three key terms:

• Physical Dependence: This is when the body has adjusted to a substance and needs it to function normally. If you stop, you get physically ill.
• Psychological Dependence: This is when you feel like you can't cope without the substance or behavior. It’s "all in your head," but it feels very real.
• Tolerance: This is like a "leveling up" system. The more you use a substance, the less effect it has, so you need more of it to get the same "high."
• Withdrawal: The nasty physical and mental symptoms you get when you stop using a substance (like shaking, sweating, or anxiety).

The Biological Explanation: The Reward System

Why do people get addicted? Biology says it's all about Dopamine—the brain's "feel-good" chemical. Imagine your brain has a "pleasure button." Addiction happens when something mashes that button repeatedly.

1. When you do something rewarding (like eating chocolate or winning a game), your brain releases Dopamine in an area called the Nucleus Accumbens (NAcc).
2. Drugs or addictive behaviors "hijack" this system, releasing massive amounts of dopamine.
3. The brain thinks, "Wow, that was great! Let's do it again!" and creates a strong craving.

The Learning Explanation: Classical and Operant Conditioning

If you remember your Unit 2 studies, you’ll find this easy! Learning theory says addiction is a learned behavior.

• Operant Conditioning (Rewards): If you gamble and win, the money is a Positive Reinforcer. You want to do it again to get the reward.
• Classical Conditioning (Triggers): If you always smoke while drinking coffee, your brain associates coffee with smoking. Eventually, just the smell of coffee makes you crave a cigarette. This is called a Cue-reactivity.
• Social Learning Theory (SLT): We see "cool" people or celebrities smoking or drinking in movies and we imitate them because we want to be like them (Identification).

Quick Review: Addiction

Key Takeaway: Addiction is a mix of brain chemistry (Dopamine) and learned habits (Rewards and Associations).

Common Mistake: Students often think withdrawal is the cause of addiction. Actually, withdrawal is a result of being addicted!

2. Understanding Stress

Stress is what happens when we feel the demands of a situation (like an exam) are bigger than our ability to cope. It isn't just a feeling; it’s a full-body reaction.

The Physiology of Stress: Two Different Paths

Our body has two main ways of reacting to stress. Think of them as the "Sprint" and the "Marathon."

Path 1: The SAM System (The Sprint)

This is your Fight or Flight response. It happens instantly when you see a sudden danger (like a car swerving toward you).

1. The Hypothalamus in the brain senses danger.
2. It sends a signal to the Adrenal Medulla.
3. This releases Adrenaline and Noradrenaline.
4. Your heart rate goes up, and your breathing speeds up to get you ready for action.

Path 2: The HPA Axis (The Marathon)

This is for long-term stress, like worrying about exams for a whole month. It’s slower but lasts longer.

1. The Hypothalamus releases a hormone called CRH.
2. This tells the Pituitary Gland to release ACTH.
3. ACTH travels to the Adrenal Cortex, which releases Cortisol.
4. Cortisol gives you steady energy but, if it stays high for too long, it can weaken your immune system.

Memory Aid: SAM is Sudden. HPA is Hanging around for a long time.

Sources of Stress

Psychologists look at three main things that cause us stress:

1. Life Events: Major changes like moving house, a death in the family, or getting married. These are measured by the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS).
2. Daily Hassles: Small, annoying things like losing your keys, traffic jams, or a slow internet connection. Research suggests these can actually be more stressful than big life events because they happen every day!
3. Workplace Stress: Stress caused by your job, often due to high demand (too much work) or low control (you can't decide how to do your work).

Quick Review: Stress

Key Takeaway: Short-term stress uses Adrenaline (SAM). Long-term stress uses Cortisol (HPA). Daily hassles are small but can add up to big health problems!

3. Key Studies in Health Psychology

For your exam, you need to know specific studies that prove these theories.

Classic Study: Olds and Milner (1954)

The Aim: To see if there are specific "pleasure centers" in the brain.
The Procedure: They placed electrodes into the brains of rats. The rats could press a lever to give themselves a tiny electric shock in that brain area.
The Results: The rats liked it so much they pressed the lever up to 2,000 times an hour! They even chose the lever over food and water until they collapsed from exhaustion.
The Conclusion: This proved the Reward System exists and that stimulating it is more powerful than basic needs like eating. This helps explain why human addicts prioritize their addiction over everything else.

Contemporary Study: Vink et al. (2005)

The Aim: To investigate how much of cigarette smoking is due to genes vs. environment.
The Procedure: They used a large sample of twins from the Netherlands.
The Results: They found that the start of smoking was influenced by the environment (like friends). However, whether someone became addicted (nicotine dependence) was 75% due to genetics.
The Conclusion: Some people are biologically more likely to get "hooked" than others.

Quick Review: Studies

Did you know? The rats in Olds and Milner's study were so addicted to the brain stimulation that they would cross an electrified floor (which gave them painful shocks) just to reach the lever!

4. Research Methods in Health Psychology

How do we measure stress and health? We usually use:

• Self-Report Scales: Like the SRRS (for life events) or the Hassles and Uplifts Scale. Warning: People might not remember their stress levels accurately!
• Physiological Measures: Measuring heart rate, blood pressure, or taking saliva samples to check Cortisol levels. This is more objective (it’s hard to lie with your saliva!).
• Correlations: Most health psychology uses correlations. For example, as stress scores go up, the number of days off sick also goes up.

Common Mistake to Avoid: Remember that Correlation does not equal Causation. Just because stressed people get sick doesn't prove stress caused the illness—maybe a third factor, like a poor diet, caused both!

Summary Checklist

Check if you can do these things before your exam:

• Explain the difference between tolerance and withdrawal.
• Describe how dopamine leads to addiction.
• Explain the SAM and HPA systems using the "sprint vs. marathon" analogy.
• Discuss why daily hassles might be more dangerous than life events.
• Outline the Olds and Milner rat study and what it tells us about the brain.

Great job! Health Psychology is a big topic, but if you keep relating it to your own life and body, it becomes much easier to remember. Keep going!