Personality and Disease

Personality and Disease: Scientific Proof vs. Wishful Thinking addresses what we know, what we believe despite evidence to the contrary, and why such beliefs persist in the face of evidence regarding scientific proof on personality and disease. As a tremendous amount of research has been performed on the relationship between personality and disease, this book provides an anthology of the latest findings from scientific journals on psychology, behavioral health, psychoneuroimmunology, oncology and epidemiology. It contains contributions from world experts, summarizing research findings on personality as it relates to cancer, heart disease, diabetes, asthma and allergies, dementia, and more.

Questions such as Is there such a thing as a cancer prone personality? Do sadness, anger, stress or shyness affect the likelihood that we will fall ill to specific diseases? and Can we protect ourselves from disease through a positive outlook? are discussed.

• Investigates whether, and how, personality affects disease
• Covers cancer, heart disease, diabetes, asthma, allergies and dementia
• Separates fact from fiction and evidence from beliefs
• Collates research from a wide variety of scientific domains
• Contains international perspectives from top scholars
• Includes a foreword by the EU Health Commissioner

Researchers in health psychology, psychoneuroimmunology, behavioral medicine

1. A Brief Historical Overview on Links Between Personality and Health

Jesper Dammeyer and Ingo Zettler

2. How to Measure the Personality

Per Bech

3. Personality as Determinant of Smoking, Alcohol Consumption, Physical Activity, and Diet Preferences

Christian Hakulinen and Markus Jokela

4. Personality and Cardiovascular Disease

Pernille E. Bidstrup, Ivalu K. Sørensen and Emil Wolsk

5. Personality and Type 2 Diabetes: An Overview of the Epidemiological Evidence

Mika Kivimäki, G. David Batty and Markus Jokela

6. Personality and Dementia: Personality as Risk Factor or as Early Manifestation in Dementing Disorders?

Lianne M. Reus, Lena Johansson and Pieter J. Visser

7. Personality, Asthma, and Allergies

Adrian Furnham and Helen Cheng

8. The Personality and Risk for Cancer

Christoffer Johansen

9. Personality and Social Relationships: As Thick as Thieves

Marcus Mund, Bertus F. Jeronimus and Franz J. Neyer

10. Personality Genetics

Jaime Derringer

11. The Enduring Appeal of Psychosocial Explanations of Physical Illness

Roderick D. Buchanan, Nick Haslam and Wade Pickren

12. What Mechanisms Explain the Links Between Personality and Health?

Deborah J. Wiebe, Anna Song and Maria D. Ramirez Loyola