Key Question Flashcards
What is the key question?
Is the influence of role models and celebrities something that causes anorexia nervosa?
What is anorexia?
An eating disorder which is characterised by extreme loss of weight and anxiety associated with weight gain.
List 4 clinical symptoms of anorexia.
1) Anxiety about gaining weight
2) Amenorrhea in females
3) Weight loss
4) Body dysmorphia
Using 3 facts and statistics about anorexia nervosa, explain why this issue is important
85% of patients develop anorexia between 13-18 years old
20% of the est. 1.6 million people in the UK suffer from anorexia die prematurely of their illness
Accommodating this disorder costs the NHS £100 million which is a burden due to number of sufferers
Using facts and figures, explain why we might expect the media to have an effect?
Media is more common in industrialised societies (U, USA, etc) where being slim is promoted as the ideal body type
From the age of 7 girls start reading magazines that portray this idealistic slim body type
95% of people own a TV and watch it for 3-4 hours a day where ads about slimming products can be shown regularly
Define the ‘damaging paradox’.
Providing one extreme paired with access to the other contrasting extreme to create anxiety.
Briefly describe how the damaging paradox can relate to anorexia.
The media promotes a low-weight sculptured ideal body type
At the same time, the environment provides foods high in fat and calories, also promoting how good and cheap they are
And so putting those two together, the media wants us to be big and small at the same time which creates anxiety
Give an example of how dieting programmes are advertised.
Magazine articles on how celebrities lost ‘x’ amount of pounds in ‘x’ amount of time.
In terms of role models, how could social learning theory explain anorexia nervosa?
People may idolise certain celebrities or other people who are thin that they can relate to and so would want to be like them, specifically the weight part.
Using ‘ARRM’, briefly explain how social learning theory can help us to explain anorexia nervosa and other eating disorders.
A - Seeing celebrities getting praised for being skinny and how beautiful they look when thin
R - The media is always there and so people always see this content
R - With high self-eficacy and low self-esteem an individual would want to get the same praise and to be as skinny as the celebrity and so would stop eating
M - Through vicarious reinforcement of seeing the celebrities praised, and through external reinforcement of getting praised by other people in their life saying how much better they look, they keep up the motivation to continue
Briefly explain how operant conditioning could help us to understand anorexia and other eating disorders.
Positive reinforcement for losing weight may include compliments on how skinny they look
Punishment may also motivate someone if they are getting bullied about being overweight
Negative reinforcement would then motivate someone to continue not eating as they want to avoid gaining any weight and being shamed again
How do weight loss companies make use of operant conditioning principles?
They reward you every time you lose a certain amount of weight to motivate you to keep losing it.
Using the acronym ‘EACH’, evaluate 2 supporting ‘evidence’ points.
P - Owen et al (2000)’s research supports
E - Found that the ideal body shape has become more thin over 30 years
E - This correlated with the rise in anorexia nervosa
P - Barlow and Durand’s (1995) research supports
E - They found that more than half of the contestants on Miss America were 15% below their recommended BMI
E - Therefore showing that the ideal body image of women being thin can cause the disorder
Using the acronym ‘EACH’, evaluate one opposing ‘evidence’ point.
P - Eysenck and Flannagan (2000)’s research rejects
E - Found that although all young women in the west are subjected to the media, only 3-4% of them develop EDs
E - Therefore there must be other factors involved
Using the acronym ‘EACH’, evaluate a ‘how’ point.
P - Owen et al and Lai’s research is weak
E - They use correlational data (e.g. amount of Chinese people with anorexia correlated with how westernised the culture is)
E - Therefore they cannot infer cause and effect between the media and anorexia so there may be other factors involved