Psychology 415; Social Basis of Health Behavior Comments, Week 3 1 Course topics  Utility to translate into more practical applications.  Are core personality constructs changeable? Is stability a defining characteristic? If so, how is personality research applicable?  Does a general shift, e.g., in “well being” translate into actual health behavior later.  Intersection of (more transient) affect with stable personality variables: Melissa Cyder, U Kentucky  Tendency to act rashly (risky sexual behavior, alcohol abuse) exacerbated by intense negative and positive mood.  Positive urgency, liked with a specific genetic polymorphism, prospectively predicts increases in the quantity of alcohol consumed per occasion  Sensation seeking only predicts increases in drinking frequency - taking on a more global role.

Psychology 415; Social Basis of Health Behavior Comments, Week 3 2 Notes, 2  Important aspect of addiction research in general is a lack of clearly defined terms.  de Wit cites notes that impulsivity has not been defined consistently across studies  This is also true of the term "addiction" itself. Translation of addiction -like constructs into, e.g.,  Internet  Sex  Exercise …  BIS / BAS model is changing:  shifting from looking at behavioral outcomes  to broader cognitive and self-regulatory processes.   What does BIS / BAS actually capture? Pinball?

Psychology 415; Social Basis of Health Behavior Comments, Week 3 3 Context of personality effects?  Context-dependency and its role in personality  behavior linkages  focusing on broad links between personality and health behavior is missing a fundamental, more exogenous, component: social context.  Yanovitzky (2005): Sensation seeking Sensation seeking “Deviant” peers Bad behavior ~ Crawford and my findings re: ψ context (mediator)… Sensation seeking Sensation seeking Lessened concern Sexual risk