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Description
Flashcards by sammie_church, updated more than 1 year ago
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Created by sammie_church
about 8 years ago
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| Question | Answer |
| Psychological explanations of AN-the behavioural appraoch | By Samantha Church |
| A01-Peer influences | Peer acceptance is particularly important during adolescence, so adolescences may be particularly susceptible to peer influence in disordered eating. A US study found that dieting among friends was significantly related to unhealthy weight control behaviours, such as the use of diet pills. |
| A01- TEASING | A specific mechanism of peer influence is teasing. Jones and crawford found that overweight girls and underweight boys were most likely to be teased by their peers, suggesting that through teasing, peers serve to enforce gender-bias ideals. Teasing acts as a negative reinforcement, encouraging individuals to change their eating behaviour in order to become the 'attractive' size. This may therefore lead to drastic eating changes such as AN. |
| A01-Praise and attention | Praise and attention can be linked to classical and operant conditioning. First, individuals learn an association between thinness and admiration. The individual starts dieting and his/her new slimness receives admiration. The individual then learns to associate slimness with admiration and feeling good about themselves. Continuing admiration is reinforcing. In addition, refusing to eat and excessive weight loss may attract increased attention from peers, which is rewarding/reinforcing. HOWEVER THIS THEORY DOES NOT EXPLAIN WHY THE INDIVIDUAL STARTS DIETING IN THE FIRST PLACE |
| A02 PEER CRITICISM | Research into the relationship between peer influence and the development of AN has not always found a significant relationship. Shroff and Thompson found no correlation among friends on measures of disordered eating in an adolescent sample. Therefore the relationship between peer influence and the development of AN should not be generalised, especially due to the socially sensitive nature of the research which could lead to the isolation of AN sufferers. |
| A01-Media | One of the major sources of influence for body image attitudes in Western adolescents. For example, portrayal of thin models on TV and in magazines is a significant contributory factor in body image concerns and the drive for thinness among Western adolescence girls. However, the media does not influence everyone in the same way, individuals with low self-esteem are more likely to compare themselves to idealised images portrayed by the media. |
| A01-MEDIA AND EATING | The media creates the social norm that 'thin is good', and we see that thin models and conventionally 'attractive' stars receive admiration and attention, therefore we learn that they are being rewarded for their physical appearance (vicarious reinforcement). We then attempt to imitate the behaviour through dieting or eating disorders. Girls develop a dissatisfaction with their own bodies in comparison to the media models, leading to dieting and an obsession with food and weight that can become a full eating disorder. |
| A02- MEDIA SUPPORT | There is research support for the role of the media in shaping perceptions of body image. Becker et al conducted a study whereby they investigated the eating attitudes and behaviours of Fijian girls following the introduction of TV i 1995. They found that the girls stated a desire to lose weight to fit in with western ideals, and to be more like western television characters. |
| A02- MEDIA SUPPORT// META ANALYSIS | In a meta analysis of 35 studies conducted by Levne they found that body dissatisfaction significantly increased after exposure to media images of thin women. The increase in dissatisfaction was greatest in those with the most dissatisfaction before exposure |
| A02-GENERAL | Although the behavioural appraoch is appealing as an explanation for the development of AN as it can explain many observed facts such as gender differences. It does not account for individual differences, and so cannot explain why only 1.0% to 4.2% of women develop the disease despite >99% being exposed to the 'thin model' ideals which appear in the media. Therefore there must be other variables to consider such as genes and biology; e.g the role of serotonin. |
| A03- Gender bias | There is a pronounced gender bias in the research of eating disorders and its' influences. Studies mainly use female participants, which is an unrepresentative sample. Therefore the results of these studies should not be generalised to both males and females. It can also be speculated that more research into the causes of AN in both male AND females should be studied further in order to gain some more representative data. |
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