Chipperfield Judith G, Perry Raymond P, Pekrun Reinhard, Barchfeld Petra, Lang Frieder R, Hamm Jeremy M
Department of Psychology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada.
Department of Psychology, University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
PLoS One. 2016 Mar 14;11(3):e0148921. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0148921. eCollection 2016.
Research has established the health benefits of psychological factors, including the way individuals appraise outcomes. Although many studies confirm that appraising outcomes as controllable is adaptive for health, a paradoxical possibility is largely ignored: Perceived control may be detrimental under some conditions. Our premise was that appraising health as controllable but at the same time ascribing little value to it might signal a dysfunctional psychological mindset that fosters a mistaken sense of invincibility. During face-to-face interviews with a representative sample of older adults (age range = 72-99), we identified individuals with such a potentially maladaptive "invincible" mindset (high perceived control and low health value) and compared them to their counterparts on several outcomes. The findings were consistent with our hypotheses. The invincibles denied future risks, they lacked the activating emotion of fear, and they visited their physicians less often over a subsequent five-year period. Moreover, in contrast to their counterparts, the invincibles did not appear strategic in their approach to seeking care: Even poor health did not prompt them to seek the counsel of a physician. The recognition that psychological appraisals are modifiable highlights the promise of remedial methods to alter maladaptive mindsets, potentially improving quality of life.
研究已经证实心理因素对健康有益，包括个体对结果的评估方式。尽管许多研究证实，将结果评估为可控对健康有益，但一种矛盾的可能性在很大程度上被忽视了：在某些情况下，感知到的控制可能是有害的。我们的前提是，将健康评估为可控但同时又认为其价值不大，可能表明一种功能失调的心理思维模式，这种模式会滋生一种错误的无敌感。在对老年人（年龄范围 = 72 - 99岁）的代表性样本进行面对面访谈时，我们识别出了具有这种潜在适应不良的“无敌”思维模式（高感知控制和低健康价值）的个体，并在几个结果方面将他们与其同龄人进行了比较。研究结果与我们的假设一致。具有“无敌”思维模式的人否认未来风险，他们缺乏引发恐惧的情绪，并且在随后的五年里看医生的次数更少。此外，与同龄人相比，具有“无敌”思维模式的人在寻求医疗护理的方式上似乎没有策略：即使健康状况不佳也不会促使他们寻求医生的建议。认识到心理评估是可以改变的，这凸显了采用补救方法来改变适应不良思维模式的前景，有可能改善生活质量。
