# Health Belief Models

Psychology I · Society and Health · https://tryals.app/learn/psychology-i/health-belief-models

## Health Belief Model

Why do people ignore good health advice? The **Health Belief Model (HBM)** predicts action through four core perceptions:

- **Perceived susceptibility**: How at-risk you feel.
- **Perceived severity**: How serious the consequences are.
- **Perceived benefits**: How much the action helps.
- **Perceived barriers**: Costs or obstacles involved.

Two more components complete the framework: **self-efficacy** (confidence in your ability to act) and **cues to action** (external triggers like a doctor's reminder or a symptom).

> **Common pitfall:** Assuming perceived severity alone drives action. A person can know a disease is fatal, but still do nothing if they feel invulnerable or if **perceived barriers** (cost, time, discomfort) are too high.

## Theory of Planned Behavior

A distinct framework, the **Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB)** by Icek Ajzen, centers on **intention** as the direct predictor of behavior. Intention is shaped by three specific forces:

| TPB Factor | Meaning | Example |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Attitude** | Is this a good idea? | Exercising feels great |
| **Subjective norms** | What do others think I should do? | My peers work out |
| **Perceived behavioral control** | How much control do I have? | I have a gym membership |

Simply telling someone a behavior is beneficial rarely works. Effective interventions must address the specific belief holding someone back: lower barriers, build **self-efficacy**, or shift subjective norms.

## Practice questions

5 of this lesson's 12 practice questions, with answers. The full set is in the app.

### 1. A person can believe a disease is extremely severe yet still not act, if they feel personally not susceptible or the perceived barriers feel too high.

**Answer:** True

**Why:** True. Believing a disease is severe is not sufficient - low perceived susceptibility or high perceived barriers can still block action. The models require weighing several beliefs together, which is exactly the point the severity pitfall misses.

Page: https://tryals.app/practice/psychology-i/health-belief-models/a-person-can-believe-a-disease-is-extremely-severe-yet-still-not-act

### 2. A man is certain he should quit smoking, wants to, and believes it would help. He has not tried. Which belief is the Theory of Planned Behavior still waiting on?

A. Subjective norms, what the people around him expect
B. Perceived behavioural control, whether he thinks he actually could
C. Attitude, his positive evaluation must be weaker than he reports
D. Intention, which the model treats as an input rather than an output

**Answer:** B. Perceived behavioural control, whether he thinks he actually could

**Why:** Wanting and being able are separate inputs, and intention needs both. Someone who has failed to quit four times may hold a perfect attitude and near-zero perceived control, which is why interventions that only raise motivation keep missing this person entirely.

Page: https://tryals.app/practice/psychology-i/health-belief-models/a-man-is-certain-he-should-quit-smoking-wants-to-and-believes-it

### 3. A student thinks quitting vaping is clearly a good idea, and he is confident he could stop if he decided to. He has no intention of stopping. On the Theory of Planned Behavior, which component best explains the gap, and why?

A. Attitude, because an attitude that positive would have produced the intention on its own.
B. Perceived behavioral control, because being confident you could do something is not the same as intending to do it.
C. None of them. The model predicts behavior straight from attitude, so a positive attitude with no action would falsify it.
D. Subjective norms, which can pull hard against a positive attitude.

**Answer:** D. Subjective norms, which can pull hard against a positive attitude.

**Why:** Intention has three feeds, and the description hands you two of them, attitude and control are both favourable. That leaves norms to account for the gap: if quitting would mark him out among the people he sees every evening, the model expects that to show up in intention.

Page: https://tryals.app/practice/psychology-i/health-belief-models/a-student-thinks-quitting-vaping-is-clearly-a-good-idea-and-he-is

### 4. Select every statement that is TRUE about health belief models.

A. The Health Belief Model includes perceived barriers.
B. Simply informing people rarely changes behavior on its own.
C. Cues to action are a component of the Theory of Planned Behavior.
D. Cues to action are what turn a settled belief into an actual appointment.
E. Perceived severity alone reliably drives health behavior.

**Answer:** A. The Health Belief Model includes perceived barriers.; B. Simply informing people rarely changes behavior on its own.; D. Cues to action are what turn a settled belief into an actual appointment.

**Why:** Intention as direct predictor, perceived barriers, and information-alone rarely working are all true. Perceived severity alone does not reliably drive behavior, and cues to action are an HBM (not TPB) component - so those two are false.

Page: https://tryals.app/practice/psychology-i/health-belief-models/select-every-statement-that-is-true-about-health-belief-models

### 5. A clinic offers a **free** flu vaccine. Uptake is 20%. Everyone surveyed says flu is serious and the vaccine works. Which component of the Health Belief Model is doing the damage?

A. Barriers, the queue, the bus fare, the afternoon off work, none of which the price tag covers
B. Perceived severity, they say flu is serious but cannot really believe it
C. Cues to action, no one reminded them, which is the only remaining explanation
D. Perceived benefits, they doubt the vaccine works despite what they report

**Answer:** A. Barriers, the queue, the bus fare, the afternoon off work, none of which the price tag covers

**Why:** Free removes one barrier and leaves the rest standing: travel, time, childcare, an afternoon's lost pay. The model's structural claim is that threat opens the question and never answers it, benefits must still clear barriers, and 'free' is a much smaller intervention than it sounds.

Page: https://tryals.app/practice/psychology-i/health-belief-models/a-clinic-offers-a-free-flu-vaccine-uptake-is-20-everyone-surveyed