Health Minimizers and Maximizers

Since antiquity, philosophers, such as Aristotle, extolled the wisdom of behavior according to the “golden mean” principle (not to be confused with the mathematical “golden ratio,” a totally different notion).  In brief, the golden mean posited that most adaptive behavior and situations tend to be middling rather than extreme.  Psychological experiments have supported the value of the golden mean.  For instance, as early as 1908, Robert M. Yerkes and John D. Dodson showed that mice learned discrimination tasks best when they were moderately aroused.  When under-aroused (given a mild electrical shock) the mice did not adequately exert themselves and when over-aroused (given an intense shock) they failed to focus on the to-be-learned task.  

Common sense and popular culture are on board with the golden mean as well.  Almost everyone realizes that those who never exercise risk serious health problems and that those who exercise excessively risk serious injury.

The value of exercise has been so widely and relentlessly advertised that one would have to be a total denier to discount its value.  However, knowing about healthful behavior and healthful resources is one thing and acting upon that knowledge is quite another.  It is what you do that counts so much more than what you know.  So, persons charged with community health are very interested in determining who does and does not act to promote physical and mental well-being.

Laura D. Scherer and her colleagues (2016) chose to focus on one feature of action toward health by asking whether or not there is a global personality-oriented inclination to use available health care resources versus a disinclination to do so.  The investigation proceeded by having subjects rate their agreement or disagreement with 27 health care utilization statements.  Of the 27, ten proved most relevant.  Those ten mostly concerned the rater's beliefs regarding how medical treatment affects issues regarding survival, the quality of life, the timing and thoroughness of a health-enhancing intervention, and the degree of a subject's heath advocacy for loved ones.

After analyzing the data, the Scherer group tentatively concluded that people can be dichotomized into health care maximizers and health care mimimizers.  That is, some individuals seemed to believe that more health care is better than less and others believed the opposite.  Most critically, the actions of both groups  (i.e., health care utilization) were consistent with their beliefs.

Now, you may feel that the study results are mere common sense, but research repeatedly has demonstrated that common sense often is erroneous.  Moreover, the study in question had as a primary purpose the creation of a questionnaire to guide clinical practice.

My purpose, on the other hand, is to have you consider whether you might be a health care maximizer or minimizer.  Do you seek a pill at the first sniffle, or do you avoid going to a doctor for months after the crusty mole on your neck has turned black?  What are your beliefs regarding how your lifestyle affects your survival, the quality of your life, the timing and thoroughness of your health-enhancing interventions, and the degree of your heath advocacy for loved ones? 

Hopefully, you will subscribe to the golden mean as it applies to your health-relevant actions, being neither too quick nor too slow to act.  But, in order to follow the golden mean, you must educate yourself about what counts health-wise.  If you are confident about your knowledge, you need to act accordingly.  If you are not confident, you need to find a health professional whom you trust.

References:

Yerkes R. M. & Dodson J.D. (1908).  The relation of strength of stimulus to rapidity of habit-formation. Journal of Comparative Neurology and Psychology 18, 459–482.

Scherer, L., et al. (2016).  Development of the Medical Maximizer-Minimizer Scale.  Health Psychology, September, No Pagination Specified.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/hea0000417.