Guardia et al Flashcards
What was the aim of Guardia’s study?
Wanted to test the hypothesis that people with AN overestimate their body size even when it is in action. They also aimed to test whether people with AN’s overestimation of body size extended to bodies in general or was limited to their own.
What was the sample in Guardia’s study?
25 females with AN from and eating disorder clinic and a control groups of 25 healthy female students
And they all underwent a psychiatric evaluation which showed no impairments to perception, attention or intelligence
What type of study was Guardia’s study??
lab
What was the independent variable in Guardia’s study?
whether the ppts were imaging body action from their own perspective (first person) or the experimenters perspective (third person)
What measures did they do before the Guardia study?
- Body weight measured 6 months before the study, one month before and at the start
- Ppts completed questionnaires measuring body dissatisfaction
What type of design was Guardia’s study?
Matched pairs
What were the dimensions of the door and how many times were they shown? In Guardia’s
The image of a 2 metre high door was projected on a wall. The width of the door was between 30-80 cm. Although there were 51 images and each was shown four times.
What was the procedure for the 1PP condition in Guardia study?
The ppt stood 5.9m from the wall and imagined herself walking through the door. She decided whether she could do so at normal speed without turning sideways
What was the procedure for the 3PP condition in Guardia study?
The experimenter stood 5.9m from the wall. The ppt had to decide whether the experimenter could walk through the door without turning sideways
What were the findings in Guardia’s study?
In the 1PP condition, mean perceived passability ratios were significantly higher in the AN group (1.321 compared to 1.106 for the control). In the 3PP condition, mean ratios were higher for the AN but not significantly
What is the conclusions for Guardia’s study?
The findings for “passability ratio” supports clinical findings that AN ppts fell their body image is bigger than it really is. The differences between the 1PP and 3PP ratios show that AN ppts overestimate their own body size but their schema for bodies in general is not disrupted
What is the conclusions for Guardia’s study?
The findings for “passability ratio” supports clinical findings that AN ppts fell their body image is bigger than it really is. The differences between the 1PP and 3PP ratios show that AN ppts overestimate their own body size but their schema for bodies in general is not disrupted
Why does the body action task lack ecological validity in Guardia’s study?
It is a simulation in which ppts imagine performing the actions involved in passing through an aperture. The researchers recognised that this is not identical to real activity of actually passing through a doorway and changing body orientation if necessary. This means the perceived passability ratio is not an ecologically valid measure of the ppts true behaviour
What is a confounding variable in Guardia’s study?
The experimenters body in the 3PP condition more closely resembles the size and weight of the control ppts bodies than the AN ppts bodies. This makes it easier for the control ppts to imagine the experimenter passing through the door or not.
