Flashcards
Guardia et al. (2012)
Cards in this deck (11)
- 1AimTo continue previous research by the same team that found AN patients can't gauge their own body size and misjudge their ability to fit through a door. To see if this phenomenon extends to other people. Do anorexics misjudge the body size of other people?
- 2Ppts25, female ppts from a clinic for eating disorders in Lille, France - all met DSM-IV criteria for AN. Matched to 25 healthy female controls who were all students (opportunity sampling)
- 3ProcedureDoor frame projected on wall.
51 width shapes projected ranging from 30cm to wide to 80cm wide - presented in random order, & each one presented 4 times to each ppt.
Every ppt asked to predict if they could walk through the door at normal walking speed without turning to the side (1st person perspective).
Then asked whether another female researcher standing in the room could fit through the frame (3rd person perspective). - 4ResultsAN patients = significant overestimation of body size in themselves, judging they would be unable to fit through door frames that were considerably bigger than their actual body size.
Not the case for 3rd party judgements -
much more accurate in whether the researcher could fit through.
Correlation between the 'passability' judgments made by the AN group and their pre-illness body weight/ size. - 5Results - GraphControl group have a much lower perceived ratio showing their image of body weight is much smaller and that they don't have body dysmorphia.
Control group = no SD between 1st and 3rd person showing the AN group have body dysmorphia and it wasn't a problem with the experiment. - 6Conclusion - what do the results suggest?Results suggest that body overestimation can affect judgments about the capacity for action but only when they concern the patient's own body
- 7Conclusion - explanation of the resultsOverestimation of the body schema might occur because the CNS hasn't updated the new, emaciated body, with maintenance of an incorrect representation based on the patients pre-AN body - suggests the brain still perceives the body to be a larger size despite visual info contradicting this.
- 8Conclusion - what was also discovered?Patients who had lost weight in the 6 months prior to the study showed a greater difference between 1st & 3rd person passability perceptions (further supports explanation)
- 9Conclusion - which AN symptoms does this explanation explain?Explains why AN patients continue to see themselves as bigger than they are and strive to lose weight as the brain doesn't perceive their current size accurately.
- 10StrengthsGood application - can help treat AN.
Showed each shape 4 times - consistency through test and retest.
Matched pairs - reduces IDs.
Reduced order effects - showed doors in random orders.
Lab exp - highly controlle, standardised procedures.
Control group have similar results for 1st & 3rd perspective = increased validity.
Ethical - 11WeaknessesLow generalisability - gender bias, culture bias, small sample.
Large error margins that overlap in graph - wide spread of data, may not show SD.
Artificial setting - low eco. validity & increased chance of DC.
Artificial task - lack of mundane realism.
Opportunity sampling - only get one type of person.
Still have individual differences.
Slightly unethical - embarrassment/ may make disorder worse/ cause more anxiety.