Anorexia: Socio-Cultural Explanation

Question 1

What is the socio-cultural explanation?

Answer 1

It looks at the causes of human behaviour based on factors from the environment, such as: race, gender, family.

Question 2

How does the socio-cultural explanation explain anorexia?

Answer 2

It is caused by pressure of Western society to conform to an idealised notion of beauty being thin with celebrities for women as well as rising anorexia in males being due to slimmer ideals being portrayed in the media.

Question 3

Identify 3 main areas that the socio-cultural explanation describes causes anorexia.

Answer 3

1) The type of society
2) Social class and gender
3) Media

Question 4

Describe the effect of the type of society on the development of anorexia nervosa.

Answer 4

• Belonging to a westernised society vs a non-westernised society can affect development of AN
• Industrialised vs non-industrialised has an effect
• Westernised societies value thinness as beauty for women idolising size 0
• Non-westernised society value plumpness due to its association with fertility and prosperity
• Therefore differing social norms will lead to differing socialisation of the ideal body shape as fear of weight gain may not exist in some cultures

Question 5

Describe the effect of social class and gender on the development of anorexia nervosa.

Answer 5

• Anorexia may occur in middle classes due to their access to gym facilities for excessive exercise and weight loss products
• Anorexia may occur in lower classes via restricting diet to save money
• It is mainly women who develop anorexia due to female celebrities from the environment being valued for their thinness
• There is no set role model for males with differing body shapes of muscular to thin compared to women having skinny models as theirs

Question 6

Describe the effect of the media on the development of anorexia nervosa.

Answer 6

• Celebrities in the media are presented as desirable due to their thinness
• People who idolise them as their role models will want to replicate this thinness and so develop AN from this
• Affects young girls due to being young and impressionable so take on these social norms
• The principles of social learning theory can explain how AN is developed through idolising role models
• A) Attention is paid to celebrities who are praised for their thinness and their grand lifestyle are constantly observed as in media
• R) Due to their presence in the media their thinness is retained by rehearsal mental images and dietary plans if they publish any
• R) People will reproduce the behaviour of thinness through restricting diet or excessive exercise
• M) Vicarious reinforcement of the celebrity praised for their weight loss and thinness alongside celebrities who put on weight being criticsed

Question 7

Using the acronym ‘EACH’, evaluate 2 ‘supporting evidence’ points.

Answer 7

P - Barlow and Durand (1995) supports
E - They found that over half of the Miss America contestants were 15% below their recommended BMI
E - This therefore demonstrates that the media does show unrealistic body ideals as desirable
P - Nasser (1986) supports
E - She compared Egyptian students studying in London and Cairo and found that 12% of the 50 studying in London had developed EDs since arriving compared to none of the 60 studying in Cario
E - This therefore shows the influence of Western standards of idealised body image having an effect on developing AN

Question 8

Using the acronym ‘EACH’, evaluate a ‘rejecting evidence’ point.

Answer 8

P - Eysenck and Flanagan (2000) reject
E - They pointed out that almost all Western women are exposed to the media yet only 3% of them develop AN
E - Therefore suggesting that this theory is not sufficient enough to explain individual differences

Question 9

Using the acronym ‘EACH’, evaluate 2 ‘how’ points.

Answer 9

P - Barlow and Durand (1995) have low generalisability
E - They looked at the BMIs of contestants on Miss America
E - This is not representative of other Western societies due to some not having beauty contests such as these
P - Nasser (1986) has low validity
E - She found a correlation between Western society and AN due to 12% of the 50 Egyptian students studying in London compared to none of the 60 developing it in Cairo
E - Due to not being able to manipulate the variables she cannot establish a cause and effect relationship therefore there may be other factors

Question 10

Are there any applications?

Answer 10

P - Yes
E - Identified factors that can lead to the development of anorexia such as the influence of the media’s portrayal of ideal body shape
E - And so can do things like aim to prevent idealised images in the media to reduce rates or increase representation of all body shapes to provide equal representation of each as desirable

Question 11

Using the acronym ‘EACH’, evaluate 3 ‘credibility’ points.

Answer 11

P - Reductionist
E - This theory doesn’t take into account the effects of individual differences as cultural factors cannot account for vulnerability to developing the disorder
E - Therefore not a holistic explanation as to why some people in cultures where AN is higher don’t have it
P - Deterministic
E - States that factors from the environment shapes behaviour
E - And so doesn’t account for free will of the individual to reject this influence
P - Age
E - Statistics show that a person can diet at any age
E - Therefore doesn’t explain why EDs tend to occur during adolescence