Unit 9 Assignment 1 3520 Social Psychology Application

Unit 9 Assignment 1 3520

Social Psychology Application

Baumeister, R. F., & Bushman, B. J. (2014). Social psychology and human nature (3rd ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.

Because social psychology is interested in the behavior of individuals in social situations, its theories and concepts are of great interest outside the field of psychology. The five application modules presented in your textbook illustrate how research findings from social psychology are used in other professional areas.

For this assignment, you will apply theories and concepts from social psychology to address a concern in a professional field other than psychology.

Module B – Applying Social Psychology to Health from:

Baumeister, R. F., & Bushman, B. J. (2014). Social psychology and human nature (3rd ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.

Obstacles to change in a specific social concern:

Promoting healthy behaviors.

The next step is to identify the theory (or theories) and concepts that you will use to define the problem in social psychology terms. Be sure you use theories and terms from social psychology for this assignment, rather than theories and terms from other areas of psychology, such as developmental psychology. Use any of the theories and concepts you have learned during this course, either from your textbook or from other professional sources that you feel are relevant to the problem and to developing solutions. For example, the false consensus effect may apply when examining errors in jury decision making and ways to improve decision making.

The final steps are to locate appropriate resources and write your assignment. Locate and use a minimum of three resources to support your work. At least two of your resources must be original scholarly research studies on the topic.

Now, write your assignment. Be sure you include the following:

• Provide background information from your resources to help you establish a foundation for the topic.
• Present the research findings from your articles, and describe the research methods used in the studies.
• Explain potential interventions or solutions that can contribute to a resolution of the issue or concern.
• Analyze any ethical considerations relevant to the topic and to implementation of your recommended intervention or solution.

Assignment requirements:

• Your completed assignment should be 4–5 pages in length (no more than 6 pages, please), not including a title page, abstract, and reference page. You may wish to use the Argument Analysis Worksheet located in the Resources to help you summarize the research findings and understand the position(s) of the author(s).
• Use references from at least three resources.
• Be sure to follow APA (6th edition) guidelines for format and style.
• Use Times New Roman font, 12 point.
• Double-space your paper.

Scholarly references:

Nielsen, L., Meilstrup, C., Nelausen, M. K., Koushede, V., & Holstein, B. E. (2015). Promotion of social and emotional competence. Health Education, 115(3), 339-356. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.library.capella.edu/docview/1681507983?accountid=27965

Nisbet, E. K. L., & Gick, M. L. (2008). Can health psychology help the planet? applying theory and models of health behaviour to environmental actions. Canadian Psychology essay writing help, 49(4), 296-303. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.library.capella.edu/docview/220789196?accountid=27965

Pound, P., & Campbell, R. (2015). Locating and applying sociological theories of risk-taking to develop public health interventions for adolescents. Health Sociology Review, 24(1), 64-80. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.library.capella.edu/docview/1687396448?accountid=27965

 

Social Psychology Application

Background Information

The paper will seek to apply the social psychology theories to the various health problems within the society. The adolescence period is always a significant in developing health-related programs to deal with the largest health problems in future life. Some of the major health concerns in the people’s life increased during the teenage years. The health concerns include increased sexual risk-taking, reduced levels of physical activity, poor dieting, and the substance abuse (Nielsen et al., 2015). The contributing factors to the health concerns among the teenagers include the poor educational success and the increased usage of social media. Social media and advanced information technology lead to numerous challenges with the potential likelihood of reducing physical activity, and exposure the young individuals to violent content. The social psychology models apply to the diverse health behavior situations to towards providing effective solutions. Therefore, the social psychology theories are relevant in understanding the inherent health behaviors and challenges among individuals.

Research Findings

 According to the outcome of the social psychological models, the findings recorded included that the health of the people is highly dependent on the quality of their surroundings. In spite of environmental health and sustainability being collective actions, individuals should be motivated to behavior responsibly. Thus, it is clear that health of the individuals strong relates to the environmental behaviors (Nisbet & Gick, 2008). The theory of planned behavior (TPB) might apply when individuals undergo health screening and interventions of smoking cessation. The theory helps the people to adopt healthy behaviors while avoiding unhealthy behaviors.

 The health concern of smoking cessation should concern the specific elements of TPB.  The theory explains that all persons seeking to change health behavior must have a positive attitude for the change and accept the new practice. In spite of the differences between the environment issues and behavior, the theory confirms that attitude is still a good predictor of the individual actions, more so when behavioral restricted are included. Thus, for a person to improve his or her health diet or quit smoking, they need a positive attitude.  In most instances, the theory of planned behavior has been used in recycling human behavior.

Additionally, the transtheoretical model (TTM) provides clear proposition on the improvement of individual health behavior. It differentiates between the persons who have not decided to adjust their health behavior, those seeking to and the persons already adjusting their health behaviors. Under TTM, it is possible for the people to understand their stage in changing their health behavior. TTM presents “the five stages of behavioral change including pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action, and maintenance” (Nisbet & Gick, 2008, p.298).

 In dealing with alcoholics, the adverse health condition will be applying the TTM model that helps the people from relapsing to their past health behaviors. However, it is critical to understand that the stage models involve the different factors that influence the movement within the different stages (Baumeister & Bushman, 2014). TTM applies to numerous health behaviors and concerns including the studies on weight loss and screening of the patients among others. TTM works with the social cognition theory to differentiate between the various stages of health behavior change.

Among many working persons, stress is a major health problem that depends on the ability of social psychology models to resolve it. The model of social integration understands suggests that stressful situations usually involves the breakup of the various social relationships. The health effect on the stressful situations depends on the individual’s ability to deal with the inherent crisis and the degree of support received from the friends and close persons to the victim. According to Nisbet and Gick (2008), the model of social integration suggests that individual should look for support from their friends and colleagues in overcoming the health challenges related to stress. It is clear that the social psychologists have made significant efforts in improving the inherent health care systems. It includes dealing with the methods of complying with the medical procedures, physician-patient relationships, and anxiety conditions among the patients.

Research Methods

The research methodology is the social structural and surveys while integrating statistical models and approaches.  The researchers usually focus on the concerns raised on the sample size and the composition to address the health issues in social psychology models(Gough, McFadden & McDonald, 2013). The high-quality surveys usually include a multidimensional approach that could be examined by standardized surveys. However, the research surveys have significant limitations, as they cannot offer compelling research evidence for fair inference. The research methods involve the social structure and personality that analysis the variables under consideration. It is important to recognize the contributions of the research methodologies in understanding the effects of family and other social relationships on health. The research surveys usually analyze the various research variables that influence the health of the various individuals in the society.

Quantitative studies are implemented using the survey data to conduct the research study. The survey data includes the social activities, fundamental demographic information, health behaviors, and life satisfaction. The effects of the research have a significant effect on the physical health of the people.  The association between the various demographic information and health behaviors is inconsistent among the studies (Nielsen et al., 2015). The social psychological factors assist in forecasting the self-perceived health behavior. For example, the psychological stress could be resolved through having positive perceptions about life. The models of social psychology obtain the fundamental processes that understand and respond to the social experiences and environments.

In the research study, the focus was on the relationship between the human behavior and the emotional and social processes.  Key cognitive models usually include the understanding of the people’s attitudes, emotions, and motivations. Understanding human behaviors help in obtaining significant attention in such traditions such as compliance and aggressive. Experimental research designs are appropriate in understanding the various inferences (Pound & Campbell, 2015). The strength of the research methods is the ability to deal with the research evidence and inferences.  The social models need appropriate evidence amongst the social and cultural instances. Therefore, the summary of the various research studies and models is useful in understanding the health and human behaviors to enhance social comparisons.

Potential Interventions

 Various interventions and solutions can assist in improving the health problems facing the people. The social psychology models suggest that the support from government is required to support changes in the perceptions and behavior of the individuals and the society.  Because of the effects of environmental factors on the individual health, adjusting environmental behavior would also improve the human health. Most importantly, it is important to create and implement health promotion and prevention strategies. The strategies apply to the environmental behavior, and the environmental policymakers could apply the models of health behavior to create innovative and successful environmental intervention and strategies.

The social psychology theories have led to the adoption of interventions that prevents diseases and expand health promotion strategies. Health promotion explains the planned educational and political strategies that relate to the various health care stakeholders. The model of health promotion helps in addressing the limitations of lifestyle factors within the society (Maslach & Jackson, 2013). For example, it offers health education to the various persons to improve the knowledge on the health concerns and challenges. Such strategies will be critical in overcoming negative health behavior, which applies to the destructive health behavior and the programs, which inspires individuals to engage in positive health actions.

Individuals require feedback about their behavioral changes within the society. Health aspects have positive reinforcements that assist in maintaining their health behavioral. For example, a person engaging in regular exercises would promote the understanding of the feelings of the people. It is necessary to enhance the maintenance of environmental actions and education as well as the incorporation of positive reinforcement (Pound & Campbell, 2015). It is recommendable to support behavior change among the individuals with health problems. When there are changes in attitudes and behaviors, it is critical to improving interventions. The information about supporting behavioral adjustments helps in tracking how critical people operate in the changing behavior.  For example, TTM indicates that the educators and other stakeholders should align with the environmental interventions to offer information.

Ethical Considerations

In the research studies, the ethical concerns include that the results should include the mental health problems that are necessary to improve collaboration with the patients and various individuals. The individuals and parents involved should be able to address the early signs of health problems such as mental health problems (Baumeister & Bushman, 2014). Another ethical consideration is to ensure that the cost of intervention is well managed. In most occasions, the cost of interventions is relatively high, which limits the ability of the affected persons to deal with the adverse health behavior.

 In dealing with health behavior, it is important to ensure that the individuals involved have adequate educational training and qualifications to become social psychologists.  The health educators have the ethical responsibility and duty to utilize the various social issues in protecting the people from adverse health concerns. Adequate training is important in promoting the social compliance progress. The harmful effects of inadequate training should be overcome to support ethical progress and compliance. Therefore, it is critical to determine the nature and implications of the various ethical considerations in addressing the various health issues through social psychology models.

References

Baumeister, R. F., & Bushman, B. J. (2014). Social psychology and human nature, 3rd edition. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.

Gough, B., McFadden, M., & McDonald, M. (2013). Critical social psychology: An introduction. London, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.

Maslach, C., & Jackson, S. E. (2013). A social psychological analysis. Social Psychology of Health and Illness, 227.

Nielsen, L., Meilstrup, C., Nelausen, M. K., Koushede, V., & Holstein, B. E. (2015). Promotion of social and emotional competence. Health Education, 115(3), 339-356. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.library.capella.edu/docview/1681507983?accountid=27965.

Nisbet, E. K. L., &Gick, M. L. (2008). Can health psychology help the planet? applying theory and models of health behaviour to environmental actions. Canadian Psychology, 49(4), 296-303. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.library.capella.edu/docview/220789196?accountid=27965.

Pound, P., & Campbell, R. (2015). Locating and applying sociological theories of risk-taking to develop public health interventions for adolescents. Health Sociology Review, 24(1), 64-80. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.library.capella.edu/docview/1687396448?accountid=27965.