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The cognitive underpinnings of coronary-prone behaviors

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Abstract

Research on the cognitive underpinnings of coronary-prone behaviors is important to the development of sophisticated transactional models to explain coronary-prone behaviors, and to the successful promotion of an enduring change in them. The cognitive literature has been organized around three central coronary-prone behaviors—hostility/competitiveness, low self-esteem, and low perceived control—and for each behavior, the literature on basic beliefs, attitudes, overt behaviors, and person-environment reciprocal interactions is reviewed. A new hypothesis concerning the beliefs and attitudes underlying low perceived control is presented. According to this hypothesis, low control emerges from a belief in pure environmental determinism, where the environment is blamed for problems, and a related belief that the environment is malleable and can always be changed with persistence. Alternatively, high control emerges from a belief in reciprocal determinism which de-emphasizes blame and considers causes of problems from multiple perspectives, and a related belief that the environment may not be malleable despite persistence. Thus, low perceived control emerges from persisting in attempts to control the uncontrollable, while high perceived control emerges from knowing when and how to switch from trying to bringing the environment in line with one's wishes to bringing oneself in line with the environment.

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  1. Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale School of Medicine, 60 College Street, 06510, New Haven, Connecticut, USA

    Lynda H. Powell

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Powell, L.H. The cognitive underpinnings of coronary-prone behaviors. Cogn Ther Res 16, 123–142 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01173485

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