ABSTRACT
As the rapid growth of health psychology over the past few decades indicates, issues of health and disease have become major topics in contemprary psychological research (Adler & Matthews, 1994). Health psychology has been described as “devoted to understanding psychological influences on how people stay healthy, why they become ill, and how they respond when they do get ill” (Taylor, 1991, p. 6). According to some authors, health psychology is largely applied social psychology (Stroebe & Stroebe, 1995; cf. Salovey, Rothman, & Rodin, in press), or, more specifically, applied social cognition (Clark, 1994). Indeed, a number of social psychological theories have been applied productively to a wide range of health-related issues. Social-cognitive theories have been utilized to enhance our understanding of the coping process (see Clark, 1993); the theory of reasoned action has been used to understand behaviors aimed at weight loss and weight control (e.g., Sejwacz, Ajzen, & Fishbein, 1980); social learning theory has been invoked to understand the adoption of disease-prevention behaviors, such as exercise, cessation of cigarette smoking, and seat belt use (e.g., McAlister, 1987); behavioral decision theory has been applied to the perception of health risks (Slovic, Fischhoff, & Lichtenstein, 1987); self-identification theory has been used to illuminate the nature of stress (Schlenker, 1987); and attribution theory has been employed as a framework for understanding responses to victimization (e.g., Janoff-Bulman & Wortman, 1977).
