Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Cognitive Science Speaks to the “Common-Sense” of Chronic Illness Management

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Annals of Behavioral Medicine

Abstract

We describe the parallels between findings from cognitive science and neuroscience and Common-Sense Models in four areas: (1) Activation of illness representations by the automatic linkage of symptoms and functional changes with concepts (an integration of declarative and perceptual and procedural knowledge); (2) Action plans for the management of symptoms and disease; (3) Cognitive and behavioral heuristics (executive functions parallel to recent findings in cognitive science) involved in monitoring and modifying automatic control processes; (4) Perceiving and communicating to “other minds” during medical visits to address the declarative and non-declarative (perceptual and procedural) knowledge that comprise a patient’s representations of illness and treatment (the transparency of other minds).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Leventhal H, Diefenbach MA. The active side of illness cognition. In: Skelton JA, Croyle RT (eds). Mental representation in health and illness. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1991, 247–272.

    Google Scholar 

  2. Squire LR. Memory systems of the brain: A brief history and current perspective. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory. 2004, 82:171–177.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Moss-Morris R, Weinman J, Petrie K, Horne R, Cameron L, Buick D. The revised illness perception questionnaire (IPQ-R). Psychology and Health. 2002, 17:1–16.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Weinman J, Petrie KJ, Moss-Morris R, Horne R. The illness perception questionnaire: A new method for assessing the cognitive representation of illness. Psychology & Health. 1996, 11:431–445.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Leventhal H, Meyer D, Nerenz D. The common sense representation of illness danger. In: Rachman S (ed). Contributions to medical psychology. New York: Pergamon Press; 1980, 7–30.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Leventhal H, Idler E, Leventhal EA. The impact of chronic illness on the self system. In: Contrada RJ, Ashmore (eds). Self, Social Identity, and Physical Health: Interdisciplinary Explorations. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999, 185–208

    Google Scholar 

  7. Kandel ER, Schwartz J, Jessell TM. Principles of Neural Science (4th ed). McGraw-Hill Medical, 2000.

  8. Rosse C, Gaddum-Rosse P. Hollinshead’s Textbook of Anatomy. New York: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 1997.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Cameron L, Leventhal EA, Leventhal H. Symptom representations and affect as determinants of care seeking in a community-dwelling, adult sample population. Health Psychology. 1993, 12:171–179.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Baumann LJ, Cameron LD, Zimmerman RS, Leventhal H. Illness representations and matching labels with symptoms. Health Psychology. 1989, 8:449–469.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Andrews M, Vigliocco G, Vinson D. Integrating attributional and distributional information in a probabilistic model of meaning representation. Proceedings of AKRR 2005, 5:15–25.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Locke J. An essay concerning human understanding. Oxford: Clarendon Press (oringal work published in 1689), 1975

    Google Scholar 

  13. Quillian MR. Word concepts: A theory and simulation of some basic semantic capabilities. Behavioral Science. 1967,12:410–430.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Smith EE, Shoben EJ, Rips LJ. Structure and process in semantic memory: A featural model for semantic decisions. Psychological Review. 1974, 81:214–241.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. McClelland JL, Rumelhart DE. Distributed memory and the representation of general and specific information. Journal of Experimental Psychology General. 1985, 114:159–197.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Kahneman D, Miller DT. Norm theory: Comparing reality to its alternatives. Psychological Review. 1986, 93:136–153.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Wittgenstein L. Philosophical investigations. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1997.

    Google Scholar 

  18. Frith JR. A synopsis of linguistic theory 1930–1955. Studies in linguistic analysis. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1957

    Google Scholar 

  19. Baumann LJ, Leventhal H. I can tell when my blood pressure is up, can’t I? Health Psychology. 1985, 4:203–218.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Blumhagen D. Hyper-tension: A folk illness with a medical name. Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry. 1980, 4:197–227.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Heurtin-Roberts S, Reisin E. The relation of culturally influenced lay models of hypertension to compliance with treatment. American Journal of Hypertension. 1992, 5:787–792.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Meyer D, Leventhal H, Gutmann M. Commonsense Models of Illness - the Example of Hypertension. Health Psychology. 1985, 4:115–135.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Halm EA, Mora P, Leventhal H. No symptoms, no asthma: The acute episodic disease belief is associated with poor self-management among inner-city adults with persistent asthma. Chest. 2006, 129:573–580.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Llewellyn CD, Miners AH, Lee CA, Harrington C, Weinman J. The illness perceptions and treatment beliefs of individuals with severe haemophilia and their role in adherence to home treatment. Psychology & Health. 2003, 18:185–200.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Horne R, Buick D, Fisher M, Leake H, Cooper V, Weinman J. Doubts about necessity and concerns about adverse effects: Identifying the types of beliefs that are associated with non-adherence to HAART. International Journal of STD & AIDS. 2004, 15:38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Anderson C. The causal structure of situations: The generation of plausible causal attributions as a function of type of event situation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. 1983, 19:185–203.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Bunde J, Martin R. Depression and prehospital delay in the context of myocardial infarction. Psychosomatic Medicine. 2006, 68:51–57.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Horowitz CR, Rein SB, Leventhal H. A story of maladies, misconceptions and mishaps: Effective management of heart failure. Social Science & Medicine. 2004, 58:631–643.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Lin L, Osan R, Tsien JZ. Organizing principles of real-time memory encoding: Neural clique assemblies and universal neural codes. TRENDS in Neurosciences. 2006, 29:48–57.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. Horne R, Weinman J. Patients’ beliefs about prescribed medicines and their role in adherence to treatment in chronic physical illness. Journal of Psychosomatic Research. 1999, 47:555–567.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. Miller GA, Galanter E, Pribram KH. Plans and the Structure of Behavior. New York: Holt, Rinehard and Winston, 1960

    Book  Google Scholar 

  32. Milner B. Intellectual function of the temporal lobes. Psychological Bulletin. 1954, 51:42–62.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. Ryle G. “Knowing How and Knowing That”. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society. 1946, 56:212–225.

    Google Scholar 

  34. Leventhal H. Findings and Theory in the Study of Fear Communications. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology. 1970, 5:119–186.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Leventhal H, Singer R, Jones S. Effects of fear and specificity of recommendation upon attitutdes and behavior. Journal of Personality. 1965, 34:20–9.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  36. Witte K, Allen M. A Meta-Analysis of Fear Appeals: Implications for Effective Public Health Campaigns. Health Education and Behavior. 2000, 27:591–615.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  37. Gollwitzer PM. Why we thought that action mind-sets affect illusions of control. Psychological Inquiry. 2003, 14:261–269.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Sheeran P, Orbell S. Using implementation intentions to increase attendance for cervical cancer screening. Health Psychology. 2000, 19:283–289.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  39. Gibson JJ. The Perception of the Visual World. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1950.

    Google Scholar 

  40. Gibson JJ. The Senses Considered as Perceptual Systems. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1966.

    Google Scholar 

  41. Lewin K. Principles of Topological Psychology. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1936.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  42. Greeno JG, The Middle School Mathematics Through Applications Project Group. The Situativity of Knowing, Learning, and Research* 1,* 2,* 3,* 4. American Psychologist. 1998, 53:5–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  43. Cameron L, Leventhal EA, Leventhal H. Seeking medical care in response to symptoms and life stress. Psychosomatic Medicine. 1995, 57:37.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  44. Locke E, Latham G. Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation. A 35-year odyssey. The American Psychologist. 2002, 57:705–717.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  45. Duke J, Leventhal H, Brownlee S, Leventhal EA. Giving up and replacing activities in response to illness. The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences. 2002, 57:367–376.

    Google Scholar 

  46. Carver CS, Scheier MF. The hopeful optimist. Psychological Inquiry. 2002, 13:288–290.

    Google Scholar 

  47. Idler EL, Benyamini Y. Self-rated health and mortality: A review of twenty-seven community studies. Journal of Health and Social Behavior. 1997, 38:21–37.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  48. Jylhä M. What is self-rated health and why does it predict mortality? Towards a unified conceptual model. Social Science & Medicine. 2009, 69:307–316.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  49. Mora PA, DiBonaventura MD, Idler E, Leventhal EA, Leventhal H. Psychological factors influencing self-assessments of health: Toward an understanding of the mechanisms underlying how people rate their own health. Annals of Behavioral Medicine. 2008, 36:292–303.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  50. Leventhal H, Colman S. Quality of life: A process view. Psychology & Health. 1997, 12:753–767.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  51. Hertzog C, Schaie KW, Gribbin K. Cardiovascular disease and changes in intellectual functioning from middle to old age. The Journal of Gerontology. 1978, 33:872–883.

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  52. Park DC, Glass JM, Minear M, Crofford LJ. Cognitive function in fibromyalgia patients. Arthritis & Rheumatism. 2001, 44:2125–2133.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  53. Vileikyte L, Leventhal H, Gonzalez JS, Peyrot M, Rubin RR, Ulbrecht JS, Garrow A, Waterman C, Cavanagh PR, Boulton AJ. Diabetic peripheral neuropathy and depressive symptoms. Diabetes Care. 2005, 28:2378.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  54. Bishop GD, Converse SA. Illness representations: A prototype approach. Health Psychology. 1986, 5:95–114.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  55. Penrod S. Cognitive models of symptoms and diseases. Paper presented at the American Psychological Association meeting, 1980.

  56. Gobet F. Expert memory: A comparison of four theories. Cognition. 1998, 66:115–152.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  57. Adams JA. Response feedback and learning. Psychological Bulletin. 1968, 70:486–504.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  58. Schank RC, Abelson RP. Scripts, Plans, Goals, and Understanding: An Inquiry into Human Knowledge Structures. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Assosciates, 1977.

    Google Scholar 

  59. Farmer A, Wade A, Goyder E, Yudkin P, French D, Craven A, Holman R, Kinmonth AL, Neil A. Impact of self monitoring of blood glucose in the management of patients with non-insulin treated diabetes: Open parallel group randomised trial. British Medical Journal. 2007, 335:132.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  60. Banich MT. Executive function: The search for an integrated account. Current Directions in Psychological Science. 2009, 18:89–94.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  61. Bandura A. Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: Worth Publishers, 1997.

    Google Scholar 

  62. Ley P. Psychological studies of doctor-patient communication. In: Rachman S (ed) Contributions to medical psychology. Elmsford: Pergamon Press, 1977, 9–42.

    Google Scholar 

  63. Ley P. Satisfaction, compliance and communication. British Journal of Clinical Psychology. 1982, 21:241–254.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  64. Inui TS, Yourtee EL, Williamson JW. Improved outcomes in hypertension after physician tutorials: A controlled trial. Annals of Internal Medicine, 1976, 84:646–651.

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  65. Ward SE, Serlin RC, Donovan HS, Ameringer SW, Hughes S, Pe-Romashko K, Wang K. A randomized trial of a representational intervention for cancer pain: Does targeting the dyad make a difference? Health Psychology. 2009, 28:588–597.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  66. Donovan HS, Ward SE, Song MK, Heidrich SM, Gunnarsdottir S, Phillips CM. An update on the representational approach to patient education. Journal of Nursing Scholarship. 2007, 39:259–265.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  67. Posner GJ, Strike KA, Hewson PW, Gertzog WA. Accommodation of a scientific conception: Toward a theory of conceptual change. Science Education. 1982, 66:211–227.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  68. Malle BF, Hodges SD. Other minds: How humans bridge the divide between self and others. New York: Guilford Press, 2005.

    Google Scholar 

  69. Leventhal H, Leventhal EA. Affect, cognition, and symptom perception. In: Chapman CR, Foley KM (eds). Current and emerging issues in cancer pain: Research and practice. Bristol-Myers Squibb Symposium on Pain Research series. New York: Raven Press, 1993, 153–173

    Google Scholar 

  70. Sternberg RJ. Components of human intelligence. Cognition. 1983, 15:1–48.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  71. Diefenbach MA, Leventhal EA, Leventhal H, Patrick-Miller L. Negative affect relates to cross-sectional but not longitudinal symptom reporting: Data from elderly adults. Health Psychology. 1996, 15:282–288.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  72. Rabin C, Ward S, Leventhal H, Schmitz M. Explaining retrospective reports of symptoms in patients undergoing chemotherapy: Anxiety, initial symptom experience, and posttreatment symptoms. Health Psychology. 2001, 20:91–98.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  73. Cameron LD, Leventhal H, Love RR, Patrick-Miller LJ. Trait anxiety and tamoxifen effects on bone mineral density and sex hormone-binding globulin. Psychosomatic Medicine. 2002, 64:612.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  74. Tuomilehto J, Lindstrom J, Eriksson JG, Valle TT, Hamalainen H, Ilanne-Parikka P, Keinanen-Kiukaanniemi S, Laakso M, Louheranta A, Rastas M, others. Prevention of type 2 diabetes mellitus by changes in lifestyle among subjects with impaired glucose tolerance. New England Journal of Medicine. 2001, 344:1343–1350.

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  75. Heneghan C, Thompson M, Perera R. Prevention of diabetes. British Medical Journal. 2006, 333:764–765.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Conflict of Interest Statement

The authors have no conflict of interest to disclose.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Health, Health Care Policy, and Aging Research, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 112 Paterson Street, New Brunswick, NJ, 08901, USA

    Howard Leventhal Ph.D. & Jessica Y. Breland M.S.

  2. UMDNJ Robert Wood Johnson School of Medicine, 125 Paterson Street, New Brunswick, NJ, 08901, USA

    Elaine A. Leventhal M.D., Ph.D.

Authors
  1. Howard Leventhal Ph.D.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Elaine A. Leventhal M.D., Ph.D.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jessica Y. Breland M.S.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Howard Leventhal Ph.D..

About this article

Cite this article

Leventhal, H., Leventhal, E.A. & Breland, J.Y. Cognitive Science Speaks to the “Common-Sense” of Chronic Illness Management. ann. behav. med. 41, 152–163 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-010-9246-9

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12160-010-9246-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation