Social psychology has the potential to make valuable contributions to significant medical issues including problems of etiology, prevention, management, and treatment of illness and the delivery of health care services. This paper summarizes some of these potential contributions and concludes that, though there are liabilities involved in social psychology -- medicine liaisons, they are far outweighed by the benefits.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Caplan, G.C. and Killilea, M.Support Systems and Mutual Help. New York: Grune and Stratton, 1976.
2.
Cohen, S. , Glass, D., and Phillips, S.Environment and Health. To appear in H.E. Freeman, S. Levine, and L.G. Reeder (Eds.) Handbook of Medical Sociology. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1978.
3.
Cooper, C.L. and Marshall, J.Occupational sources of stress: A review of the literature relating to coronary heart disease and mental ill health. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 1976, 49, 11-28.
4.
Corah, N.L. and Boffa, J.Perceived control, self-observation, and response to aversive stimulation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1970, 16, 104-104.
5.
Davis, M.S.Variations in patients' compliance with doctors' orders: Analysis of congruence between survey responses and results of empirical investi- gations . Journal of Medical Education, 1966, 41, 1037-1048.
6.
Dohrenwend, B.S. and Dohrenwend, B.P.Stressful life events: Their nature and effects. New York: Wiley, 1974.
7.
Freidson, E.Patients' views of medical practice. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1961.
8.
The Gallup Organization, Inc. Women's Attitudes Regarding Breast Cancer. Survey conducted for the American Cancer Society, 1973.
9.
Glass, D.C.Behavior patterns, stress, and coronary disease. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1977.
10.
Glass, D.C. and Singer, J.E.Urban Stress, New York: Academic Press, 1972.
11.
Janis, I.L.Psychological Stress. New York: Wiley, 1958.
12.
Janis, I.L.Effects of fear arousal on attitude change: Recent developments in theory and experimental research. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology, vol. 3. New York: Academic Press, 1967.
13.
Johnson, J.E. and Leventhal, H.Effects of accurate expectations and behavioral instructions on reactions during a noxious medical examination. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1974, 29 (5), 710-718.
14.
Korsch, B. and Negrete, V.Doctor-patient communication. Scientific American, 1972, 66, 227-227.
15.
Langer, E. , Janis, I. and Wolfer, J.Reduction of psychological stress in surgical patients. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 1975, 11, 155-165.
16.
Maslach, C.Detached concern in health and social service professions . Paper presented at the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, Montreal, August, 1973.
17.
Matarazzo, J.D. , Lubin, B., and Nathan, R.G.Psychologists' membership on the medical staffs of university teaching hospitals. American Psychologist, 1978, 23-29.
18.
Melzack , The puzzle of pain. New York: Basic Books, 1973.
19.
National Resource Council . Personnel needs and training for biomedical and be- havioral research.National Academy of Sciences, 1978, 1-216.
20.
Parsons, T.The social system. New York: Free Press, 1951.
21.
Rosenstock, J.M.Why people use health services . Milbank Memorial Fund Quarterly1966, 64, 94-127.
22.
Ross, L.D. , Rodin, J. and Zimbardo, P.G.Toward an attribution therapy: The reduction of fear through cognitive induced misattribution. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1969, 12, 279-288.
23.
Roth, J.The necessity and control of hospitalization . Social Science and Medicine, 1972, 6, 425-446.
24.
Saxe, L.The role of social psychology in medicine . Paper presented at the New England Social Psychological Association Annual Meeting, Boston, April, 1977.
25.
Schmale, A.H. and Iker, H.Hopelessness as a predictor of cervical cancer. Social Science and Medicine, 1971, 5, 95-100.
26.
Schwartz, G.E. and Weiss, M.Proceedings of the Yale Conference on Behavioral Medicine. DHEW Publication No. (NIH) 78-1424. Washington, D.C.:U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare,1977.
27.
Skipper, J.K. and Leonard, R. (Rds.) Social interaction and patient care. Philadelphia and Toronto: J.B. Lipincott, 1965.
28.
Stokols, D. , Ohlig, W. and Resnick, S.Perceptions of residential crowding, classroom experiences, and student health. Human Ecology, in press, 1-29.
29.
Storms, M.D. and McCaul, K.D.Attribution processes and emotional exacerba- tion of dysfunctional behavior. In J.H. Harvey, W.J. Ickes, and R.F. Kidd (Eds.), New directions in attribution research, Vol. I, Hillsdale, New Jer- sey: Erlbaum, 1976.
30.
Suinn, R.M.How to break the visicious cycle of stress. Psychology Today, 1976, 59-60.
31.
Taylor, S.E.Hospital patient behavior: Reactance, helplessness, or control . To appear in the Journal of Social Issues, 1978.
32.
Taylor, S.E. and Levin, S.The psychological impact of breast cancer: Theory and research. San Francisco: West Coast Cancer Foundation, 1976.
33.
Wexler, M.The behavioral sciences in medical education: A view from psychology . American Psychologist, 1976, 31, 275-283.
34.
Wortman, C.B. and Brehm, J.W.Responses to uncontrollable outcomes: An in- tegration of reactance theory and the learned helplessness model. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.) Advances in experimental social psychology, Vol. 8, 1975.
