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Illness behaviour matters because two people with an identical symptom can respond in completely different ways, and understanding why helps explain non-adherence, delayed presentation, or excessive help-seeking. Mechanic described illness behaviour as the way people perceive, evaluate, and act on symptoms, what a person actually does when they notice something might be wrong. For example, imagine two patients with the same chest pain: one dismisses it and carries on working, the other immediately attends the emergency department, both are showing illness behaviour, just very differently expressed. Parsons separately described the sick role, a socially recognised pattern of rights and duties adopted once a person is accepted as legitimately ill.

The sick role (Parsons) grants two rights, exemption from normal obligations such as work, and not being held personally responsible for the illness, in exchange for two duties, wanting to get well and seeking competent professional help. Pilowsky's abnormal illness behaviour describes a persistent, maladaptive way of perceiving or acting on one's health that is disproportionate to the actual clinical picture. Take a patient who continues claiming exemption from work and refuses recommended treatment for months despite clear reassurance, that failure to fulfil the 'seek help' duty is a marker of abnormal illness behaviour. Clinicians assess whether a patient's overall pattern of illness behaviour, and their engagement with the sick role's duties, is proportionate to their condition.

• A sociologist studies how people notice bodily changes, decide what they mean and choose whether to consult a doctor. Which term best names what is being studied?
• A man persistently seeks investigation despite repeated normal results and firm reassurance, in a way disproportionate to any pathology. Which term did Pilowsky introduce for this?
• A tutor separates the biological abnormality, the person's subjective experience and the social role granted to them. Which term corresponds to the subjective experience?
• Before booking an appointment, a woman discusses her symptoms with her mother, a neighbour and a pharmacist. Which concept does this sequence of consultations illustrate?

• Illness behaviour (Mechanic), how a person perceives and acts on symptoms, unlike the sick role, which is the social status granted once illness is accepted as legitimate.
• Sick role rights, exemption from obligations and no personal blame, whereas sick role duties are wanting to get well and seeking competent help.
• Abnormal illness behaviour (Pilowsky), a persistent, disproportionate response to one's health status, rather than the ordinary, proportionate illness behaviour most patients show.
• Parsons' sick role, fits acute illness well, unlike chronic illness, where indefinite exemption and an expectation of 'getting well' both break down.

• That term names an advantage arising from being ill, not the behaviour pattern.
• That is a diagnostic category rather than the sociological term he introduced.
• That term describes the biological course of underlying pathology.
• That term describes differences in health between social groups.
• That term describes the coexistence of several healing traditions.

• Name the learning, social or research principle being tested before reading the options.
• Identify the antecedent, behaviour, consequence or cognitive process in the vignette.
• Compare the direction of effect with the nearest competing principle.
• Apply the same rule to a new example to confirm that the answer transfers.