Health and wellbeing

Psychology and the social sciences play a central role in building a healthy world by bringing attention to supporting health families, encouraging healthy communities, and designing health workplaces (Rozensky et al., 2004). However, advancing health and wellbeing requires balances attention to: chronic health risk and threats; the treatment of manifest health problems; and maximizing (not optimizing) health and wellbeing through positive psychological practices. The occupational context, or work environment context, is one especially important social context in which health and wellbeing can be effectively advanced (Macik-Frey et al., 2007). The behavioural and social sciences are so vitally important to the enhancement of health and well being because so much of human behavior is learned behaviour, not natural behaviour. That is, muich human behaviour is socially constructed. Therefore, established learning principles offer a powerful and positive way to advancing health and wellbeing through the behavioural and social sciences. Three pathways for enhancing physical and mental health and wellbeing are:
- classical conditioning
- operant conditioning
- observational learning, or modelling.
In addition, this chapter addresses the environmental context, especially the work environment, as venues through which health and wellbeing can be enhanced. Consideration of negative environmental attributes, environmental risks, and bad relationships (especially, e.g., bad supervision in the workplace) are addressed. Social support IS central to health and wellbeing, in the workplace and beyond.