Module 1 Essay Questions:
1. Compare and contrast two social cognition models of health behaviour- compare HBM and TPB.
• HBM originally developed in 1966 and then later in the 70’s and 80’s by Becker to predict preventative health behaviours and the behavioural response to treatment in patients with acute and chronic illnesses.
• HBM is one of the oldest Social Cognition models
• HBM predicts that behaviour is a result of a set of core beliefs which have been redefined over the years.
• HBM states that the likelihood that health behaviours will be performed is influenced by several factors
o Threat perception- the awareness of a threat that provides motivation to act. This factor has two components, susceptibility and severity
Susceptibility – how likely the threat is to happen
Severity – how bad would it be if it did happen.
o Response effectiveness- The costs and benefits of performing the behaviour. If the costs outweight the benefits the behaviour is more likely to be carried out.
o Health motivation – the value individuals attach to their health and their motivation to protect it.
o Cues to action- These are considered and can be internal – symptoms, or external – advice from others or education campaigns.
• TPB by Azjen (1991) emphasises that the combination of several beliefs results in behavioural intentions.
• TPB predicts 3 factors which predict behavioural intentions:
o Attitudes- the individuals evaluation of the behaviour
o Subjective norms- the individuals perception of social norms and pressures to perform the behaviour, and an evaluation of whether the individual is motivated to comply with this pressure.
o Perceived behavioural control- The belief that the individual can carry out a particular behaviour based on internal control factors ( skills & abilities) and external control factors (resouces).
• TPB argues that these factors predict behavioural intentions which represent a person’s motivation or decision to...