Why do people term an illness to be physcial or psychological Is there Essay

Why do people term an illness to be physcial or psychological Is there a relationship between public causal attributions of functional somatic syndromes and h - Essay Example Cognitive structures such as illness schemata helps to organize information from internal sensations (symptoms) and disease-related information gathered from the external environment. Howard Leventhal and his colleagues (Leventhal et al. 1984) have proposed the most relevant model of symptom perception within the tradition of information processing. Their Common Sense Models of Illness approach is rooted in cognitive psychology and builds on the work on cognitive schemata and prototypes. In specific, Leventhal et al. propose that individuals tend to construct their own individual representation of symptoms or illness and that this idiosyncratic representation will, in turn, influence their behavior (e.g., help-seeking, adherence and compliance). In specific, they proposed that illness representations (or schemata) are a function of an individual's semantic knowledge about symptoms and disease and specific contextual factors such as the nature of somatic changes and the situations in which these occur. This semantic knowledge accumulates across the life span and is acquired through the media, through personal experience, and from family and friends who have had experience with the disease. Therefore, the perception of cause can have an effect on the behavior towards an illness, because the cognitive dissemination leads to the semantic knowledge of the disease. Understanding how a person views a disease can impact behavior towards the illness. People's common sense models of illness strongly influence which symptoms a person will search for and will ultimately perceive. Work by Meyer and his colleagues (Meyer et al. 1985) on hypertension illustrates this point. Hypertension disease holds one or a combination of disease models about high blood pressure. As Meyer and his colleagues demonstrated, some patients hold the belief that hypertension is a disease of the heart, others believe that it is an arterial disorder and a third group might associate hypertension with emotional upset. Importantly, the kind of belief patients' hold affects the way they monitor their body: Symptoms that are consistent with their specific illness belief are more likely to get noticed. The relationship between a person's cognitive knowledge of the cause is therefore directly related towards the symptoms and evaluation of 'cures' for the illness. This research study will incorporate that foundation of illness cause perception by quantitatively e xamining the differences between illness cause perception amongst participants. In addition to general concepts of illness, people also hold organized conceptions-termed disease prototypes-for particular diseases (Bishop 1991; Bishop and Converse 1986). Prototypes of specific diseases help people organize and evaluate information about bodily sensations that might otherwise not be interpretable. Thus, a person who holds the belief that he or she is vulnerable to heart disease is more likely to interpret chest pain in accord to his or her prototype of heart disease than a person who does not hold this belief (Bishop and Converse 1986). This latter person might instead regard the chest pain as signaling a gall

Existing Home Automaton Systems Controlled via the internet Essay

Existing Home Automaton Systems Controlled via the internet - Essay Example The internet technology plays an important part in such automation, as these homes are also called ‘smart homes’ or ‘e-homes’. The innovative technology and software available currently for home automation systems ensures the safe and secure life, while providing mobile and email alerts about the happenings at home to the specific user who may be away to far-off locations. The ‘know and control kit’ as shown in the picture above puts the mobile phone in control of almost all gadgets in the home. Accordingly, it monitors the lighting devices, temperature of different systems such A/C or heating arrangements, locks and other safety devices, among others. The email notifications and mobile alerts provide reports regarding the function of each device. Although various manufactures supply such kits, the ‘Smart Things’ kit comprises of two multi-sensors, 2 sensors responsible for detecting the presence of anyone in the home, 2 additional motion sensors, Ethernet cable with power cord and the necessary outlet plug. The kit comes with all required batteries. The Ethernet cable ensures connection of the system kit to internet. As and when the kit detects some kind of motion by people, cars or pets, it sends an alert to the owner. It also sends early warnings on the detection of any leakage, presence of carbon monoxide or smoke in the home. There are no installation hassles or any kindly of monthly contract fees attached to this kit. While the user has complete control over the gadgets working at home, there is no remedy in the event of any accident or hazard that occurs due to malfunction of any device. The system cannot help much in such cases except sending immediate email or mobile alerts. The following image represents a ’Belk in’ Net Cam, which has Wife connectivity along with a camera that can