Eating behaviour ao3

Question 1

Evolutionary explanation evaluation

Answer 1

+ Research support, Torres study showed link between high-fat foods and stress, advantage to ancestors
–Alternative explanation, gut microbes influence hosts
–Individual differences, some more sensitive to bitter chemical PROP, inability to detect PROP can’t be explained be Evolutionary theory
–Role of culture, chilli is an aversive taste

Question 2

Role of learning in food preferences evaluation

Answer 2

– Limited role of classical conditioning, flavour-flavour tests show that this type of learning is more effective in learning aversive tastes
– Short term and long term effects of SLT, family influence is long term unlike television, learning theory can’t account for this
– Role of culture, chilli + evidence of culture, American adolescents 30% meals eaten outside of home

Question 3

FST evaluation

Answer 3

+ Supportive research, female an patients showed a greater desire for autonomy than the control group, Brockmeyer
– Inconsistent evidence, female Portuguese study found an families no more emeshed or rigid compared to control
+ Treatment applications, less time with family
+ Explanatory power, it can explain why an appears in adolescents and why its significantly greater in females

Question 4

SLT explanation for an

Answer 4

+ Research support, Becker effects of tv in Fiji, friends being exposed to social media led to their friends being more likely to acquire an ED, reinforcement from friends and vicarious reinforcement
+ Explains cultural changes, used to be culture bound now with more media AN rates gone up in Japan
–Diathesis stress explanation, genetics is a missing fact in SLT
+ Explains gender differences, bigorexia

Question 5

Cognitive theory for AN evaluation

Answer 5

+ Research support for cognitive distortions, fMRI used and found that when shown images of own bodies an patients showed little activity in attention part of the brain
– Contradictory research, little difference in control and an patients to adjust a computerised image to their body size
– Issues of causation, distortions and irrational thinking may happen after an has been developed

Question 6

psychological explanation for obesity Evaluation

Answer 6

+ Supporting research, restrained group, exercise group and control group, restrained food intake increased
+ Disinhibiting effects of media, showed participants images of thinness and neutral images, thinness group ate more from the snacks
–Contradictory findings, Savage et al. longitudinal study and found increases in restrained eating led to decrease in weight in the short term
+ Practical application, obesity treatment eat at a slower rate not eat less

Question 7

Success and failure of dieting

Answer 7

– Spiral model fails to address problem of self esteem that created need to diet, evidence of disinhibited eaters turning towards substance abuse
+ Support for ironic processes theory, showed female students intentions in a negative form e.g. when I’m sad I won’t eat chocolate, created an association and they ate more chocolate when sad
–Minimal effects of ironic processes, done in a ‘laboratory snapshot’ so results may be exaggerated and less generalisable to real life
– Individual differences, some people successfully loose weight, theory can’t account for anorexia