Measuring and understanding people’s propensity to underestimate the impact of social factors on health and wellbeing

Medical causes of illness and disease have long been the focus of health-related research, policy and media. These focus on the physical determinants of health such as smoking, lack of exercise, and obesity. However, in recent years research has pointed to the importance of social determinants of health and mortality. This includes recent 'Social Cure' research which emphases the importance of social support and social integration for health and well-being. Researchers in this 'Social Cure' tradition also tend to assume that the importance of these social factors for health is generally under-appreciated. Nevertheless, research has not established whether or not this is actually the case. This thesis seeks to address this question for the first time and does so by testing two hypotheses; (H1) that people generally underestimate the importance of social factors for health, and (H2) that their tendency to do so is underpinned by ideological factors. More specifically, we hypothesised that the tendency to underestimate the importance of social factors for health is predicted by Medical Beliefs, Biological Essentialism, Right-Wing Authoritarianism and Social Dominance Orientation. For the purpose of this research, Study 1 developed and piloted a range of new measures using MTurk participants (N = 199). As well as allowing us to develop reliable measures, this study provided preliminary support for H1. Study 2a was again conducted using MTurk participants (N = 250) and provided support for both H1 and H2. Study 2b was conducted with first-year psychology students (N = 90) and provided no support for either hypothesis. The reasons for this pattern of differential support are discussed, as well as the broader implications of this research and directions for future research