1 SUBJECT:BEHAVIOR SCIENCE TOPIC:BEHAVIOR CAUSING ILLNESS PRESENTERS:1.Alfred Michael 2.Alfred Geofrey 3.Ayoub Tuya 4.Lucia Jackson 5.Alhaji Japhary. 6.Ally Salim 7.Magdalena Mathias 8.Athuman Msami 9.Lightness kilonzo 10.Mariam Bigambo Facilitator:Dr.Lema HUBERT KAIRUKI MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF BEHAVIOR SCIENCE

Behavior causing illness OUTLINE Introduction Definition of terms Topic objectives main presentation Summary Conclusions Recommendations References 2

Behavior causing illness INTRODUCTION In this presentation we will talk about how certain behaviors that are conducted by us and other members in our society that may lead to certain illness to an individual. 3

Behavior causing illness DEFINITION OF TERMS ILLNESS: this is a harmful deviation from the normal structural or functional state of an organism BEHAVIOR: this is an action a human does,voluntary or involuntary. DISCRIMATE STIMULI:a stimuli associated with reinforcement which extert control over a given type of behavior 4

Behavior causing illness OBJECTIVES By the end of this presentation we should know; the different types of behaviors that cause illness, How to handle behavior causing illness How to help patients who are affected by those diseases and how to overcome them. 5

behavior causing illness MAIN PRESENTATION Most people do not wish to be ill but it comes as a result of many things such as accidently being exposed to infections, the increase of neoplastic cells or genetically metabolic dysfunction. however, a significant proportion of illness could be a result of an individual’s own behavior. The level to which a particular person exposes him or herself to the risk of the illness varies greatly. 6

These may include unconscious motivation or how a person perceives the risk but most important is how one assesses the outcome of a given behavior in terms of predicted reinforcement. E.g. does one play basketball to possibly gain the reward of physical wellbeing and the esteem of peers if one wins together with the social rewards such as going to have a couple of beers after the win or avoids playing basketball due to the fear of injury but also missing out on the other rewards. 7

The assessment of the rewards and punishments against each other is one of the most fundamental processes at all levels of human behavior, where the outcomes are considered equal, the person will automatically be in a state of conflict. 8

Behaviors that cause illness Amongst the major behaviors that may cause illness are cigarette smoking, drinking alcohol, irresponsible sexual behaviors eating of certain types of food substances that are highly rich in carbohydrates and cholesterol. 9

Reasons for behavior causing illness There are two major classes of illness related behavior First is where the conflict is open and the decision regarding the action is a conscious one. The motivation is generally unexplored; most people do things because they like it. The nature of liking is generally unclear to the majority of people. 10

The second one is of more important, where the risks are assessed at a cognitive level and are considered to outweigh the benefit of the behavior. However the person concerned is unable to change the behavior even though they want to. Most of the times the decision is influenced emotionally and not intellectually. Since emotions are not under the control of the person same applies to the behavior. 11

Generally for any sort of behavior, the immediate consequences are the most powerful in determining the probability that it will be repeated. The immediate positive reward of cigarette smoking or tasting whisky are more significant to an individual than unpleasantness of Bronchitis or cirrhosis in the future. 12

CONSEQUENCES OF BEHAVIORS-CAUSING ILLNESS these include; Heart diseases School drop out Unexpected pregnancies Spread of sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS Obesity Financial difficulties due to excessive expenditure on alcohol Lung cancer 13

HOW TO REFRAIN FROM BEHAVIORS CAUSING ILLNESS The nearness of the discriminative stimuli is important in determining whether or not a particular behavior is shown for example sitting at home with dieting family, it’s easy not to eat food rich in fat and resolve to healthier eating habit in the future rather than sitting in a friend’s house surrounded by the smell of food and the sight of your friends eating hence becomes difficult to refrain. 14

The actual rewards associated with illness- related behavior are many and varied, those associated with behavior that lead to an illness and those associated with consequences of an illness. 15

People voluntarily engage themselves in different behaviors causing illness and even though they are highly motivated to stop they fail. So as medical professionals it is our responsibility to follow the ethics and assist the victims to stop. 16

This topic is recommended to doctors and other medical personnel to understand illness of different behaviors so as to analyze a patient presenting symptoms in a wider context and elaboration of a rational treatment. Also it is recommended to all individuals so as to be aware of our behaviors. 17

A.C.P.Sims&W.I.Hume lecture notes on behavioral sciences en.wikipedia.org/wiki/conflict en.wikipedia.org/wiki/behavior medical-dictionary.the free dictionary.com/discriminative stimuli en.wikipedia.org/wiki/self image 18

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