EATING BEHAVIOUR- anorexia nervosa (psychological)

Question 1

what can an eating disorder be described as?

Answer 1

dysfunctional relationship with food

Question 2

what do characterisitcs of eating behaviour include?

Answer 2

faulty thinking and emotional response to food

Question 3

what do studies suggest?

Answer 3

up to 30% of females aged btw 15-30 affected by eating disorders and no of males is rising

Question 4

what is the translation of anorexia?

Answer 4

loss of appetite

Question 5

what is main symptoms if anorexia (6)

Answer 5

1. distorted body image where sufferers percieve themself overweight
2. under eating due to anxiety about weight -severly underweight atleast 15% below normal weight
3. obsession with excercise to lose
4. amenorrhea problems leading to fertility probs
5. constipation and dehydration leadying to dry flaky skin and eventual organ failure
6. anorexia fatal in approx 5% of sufferers

Question 6

what happens if bmi 15?

Answer 6

current patterns-its always been an issue - secondary sexual characteristics no longer produced and body returns to pre public child like- a sexuality

Question 7

e.g of loss of secondary sexual characteristics?

Answer 7

narrowing of hips,cessation of periods, breats shrink, testicular atrophy (males) and can be permanent

Question 8

what are the psychological problems for an?

Answer 8

1. cultural views of attraction
2. social learning theory
3. ethnic groups
4. peer influences
5. bruchs psychodynamic explanation

Question 9

how does cultural views of attraction affect ?

Answer 9

Within western society beauty is equated to being slim
and this western ideal of attraction is believed
to contribute heavily towards AN.

Question 10

how does the media maintain this?

Answer 10

through the influence of television, magazines, fashion
and celebrity lifestyle all of which consistently
reinforce this cultural ideal within the
population

Question 11

what does the constant portrayal of thin models lead to?

Answer 11

portrayal of slim models leads people to question their own
body types causing them to strive to be
thin

Question 12

what is support supporting portrayal of thin models?

Answer 12

Gregory et al

Question 13

what did gregory et al find?

Answer 13

16% of 15-18 year old girls within the UK reported to

be dieting

Question 14

what is the possible reason for uk girls dieting?

Answer 14

could be girls internalize culturally defined standards
of female beauty which leads to unhappiness
over their own body type not matching this ideal and an obsession with dieting and food leads to AN

Question 15

what is other research on this?

Answer 15

women are more at risk than men and other possible psychological

Question 16

what are the factors that contribute towards this?

Answer 16

factors that contribute could revolve around low self-esteem, OCD, perfectionist tendencies or those with high social anxiety

Question 17

what type of factors are these?

Answer 17

personality factors may also explain AN through such traits.

Question 18

how can slt be used?

Answer 18

explain how culture and role-models can influence the onset of AN

Question 19

what might teenagers observe?

Answer 19

observe and pay attention to celebrityrole models who are extremely thin, retain this information and then reproduce
this behavior through excessive dieting ifthey are motivated to do so

Question 20

what may observing famous models lead to?

Answer 20

them to think being thin is what is required to achieve success or even become accepted

Question 21

how to ethnic groups contribute?

Answer 21

cultural groups with different values that place less
emphasis on the need for women to be
slim have lower rates of AN.

Question 22

what about non western cultures?

Answer 22

nonwestern cultures and black populations AN is seen to occur much less compared to white western cultures (e.g. Fiji and the Caribbean where there are more positive
images of larger bodies

Question 23

how does peer pressure play a part?

Answer 23

Adolescents may be more susceptible to peer influences

such as disordered eating patterns within their group

Question 24

study supporting peer pressure?

Answer 24

Eisenberg et al

Question 25

what did Eisenberg et al find?

Answer 25

unhealthy dieting such as the use of dieting pills or purging
23(vomiting after eating, taking laxatives) was
apparent within peer groups suggesting this too could contribute towards the development of AN.

Question 26

what did bruchs psychological exp say?

Answer 26

AN has its origin within early childhood and is caused by how parents respond to their child’s needs

Question 27

what did effective parents find?

Answer 27

would recognise their needs and feed them when hungry or comfort them when required

Question 28

how would ineffective parents respond?

Answer 28

incorrectly to this, comforting them when they needed feeding or feeding them when they required comforting or other needs.

Question 29

due to parents response how would children grow up?

Answer 29

confused about their own internal needs causing
them to become overly reliant on their parents which makes it difficult for them to become autonomous when they become adolescents as they do not feel in control over their own bodies

Question 30

what is eval support?

Answer 30

support role of culture
media influences
reductionist
nature v nurture
gender bias

Question 31

study for support role of culture?

Answer 31

Lai et al

Question 32

what did lai et al find?

Answer 32

rate of anorexia began to increase for Chinese residents of Hong Kong as the culture became more westernised suggesting culture does influence AN

Question 33

what is it based on?

Answer 33

correllational findings and we cannot infer cause and effect for certain between western culture influencing AN

Question 34

what could this mean for an (lai et al)?

Answer 34

confounding unknown variables such as personality factors

or individual differences that are contributing. For example low self-esteem

Question 35

study for media influences?

Answer 35

Becker et al

Question 36

what was found in Becker et al?

Answer 36

Fijan adolescent girls and their eating attitudes and behaviours were examined prior to the introduction of television.

Question 37

what were attittudes seen to shift?

Answer 37

with a greater desire from them to lose weight and become more like western television characters highlighting how the media may contribute to the onset of AN indirectly

Question 38

however of becker et al?

Answer 38

personality factors could be a confounding variable affecting the DV

Question 39

what does becker et al also lack?

Answer 39

lack internal validity as we cannot say for certain that a
change in attitude towards image can directly
lead to the development of AN -could be other factors

Question 40

what do findings also lack?

Answer 40

external validity when we try to generalise the findings as an explanation for how AN may develop.

Question 41

why reductionist?

Answer 41

as a more complex process beyond simply a single explanations appears to be occurring. e.g media /personality factors

Question 42

why nature v nurture argument?

Answer 42

suggesting it is environmental factors that cause AN. However biological explanations put forth a case for 25
neural or genetic causes which suggest nature
may be the cause.

Question 43

what could explain nature v nurture better?

Answer 43

diathesis stress model may actually better explain

Question 44

why diathesis stress model ?

Answer 44

explain how both play a role with some individuals having
the genetic pre-disposition for the disorder provided sufficient environmental triggers cause the onset of AN. Therefore this may explain how both approaches (nature
and nurture) interact.

Question 45

why gender bias?

Answer 45

gender bias as the same psychological factors that affect women may not necessarily explain the onset of AN for men due to them perceiving environmental factors
differently