Advances in Research in Behavioural Regulation II: Health Behaviour

Course goals

The entire course will be taught in English. This also includes assignments and exams.


To familiarise students with basic and applied research in the domain of regulation of health behaviour.

Examination will consist of an opinion paper and a final paper, in which students are expected to show their understanding of the domain of health behaviour regulation.

Content

This course presents an advanced overview of research in health psychology with a specific focus on the affective and cognitive processes involved in behaviour that is relevant for one's health and well-being. To that purpose, a state-of-the-art overview is presented of core concepts, methods, and central issues in the psychology of health behaviour.

It will be argued that health behaviour challenges theories of behavioural regulation insofar as many people appear to behave irrationally when it concerns what they value most, i.e. their health.

This course will discuss leading theories of the regulation of health behaviour and related theories of stress and adjustment. Three research themes are highlighted: the role of self-control in the regulation of health behavior, changing health behavior by social and environmental cues, and clinical aspects of health behavior. By highlighting these research themes, we aim to familiarise students with basic and applied research in the domain of regulation of health behaviour.