Learning cause of AN Flashcards
learning/ SocioCultural explenation
of AN
Social Norms of Western Cultures and others to do witg body image
and Fulnham 1983
The social norms of Western culture’s ideal body shapes is thin is beautiful
whereas other cultures for non-western they have differing ones such as Egypt and Mexico and Argentina or also agreeing that beautiful
however in Colombia the beauty standards is curvier
The cultures Who like this
– may be attracted to the large hip to waste ratio
– as it is has a link to fertility which is naturally attractive
An example of this is from
Fulnham 1983:
Kenyans rate larger bodys more attractive showing different cultures have different ‘ideal’ body beauty standards
learning/ SocioCultural explenation
of AN
Medias Influence of Social norms and its affect for AN
and Toselli et al 2016
and prevelance over time and Gender
The media often promotes a particular body type to be seen as normal
therefore people try to conform to this Norm by any means necessary even by losing mass amounts of wheight
and then by losing a lot of weight there is a higher likelihood of anorexia
This is shown in (Toselli et al 2016)
Who shows a higher pressure to conform to an ideal body type
being due to access to body-centred information and images from the media
Overtime in western court shoes the prevalence of anorexia Has increased
this correlates with the increase in the exposure to media showing this ideal body type
Due to this Media often being portrayed in fashion magazines among models and articles on celebrety diets ect.
anorexia is more prevalent in females than males
as they are more likely to read and looking into these magazines and articles ect.
learning/ SocioCultural explenation
of AN
Evidence of Different influences on body images between diff cultures
Swami et al +
Swami et al
Looked out hispanic female undergraduates
and asked then about the rate media influence and self-esteem
on which has the bigger influence over their body image
The hispanics had the highest score of self-esteem and the lowest on media for the influence over their Body Image
whereas over Western cultures showed the inverse
It may be a protective factor does keeping the body in shape would therefore improve self-esteem rather than lowering it
Therefore this study supports differing influences on body Images in different cultures
learning/ SocioCultural explenation
of AN
SLT causing AN
Role Modles
• people may see people in media (such as models) as role models and aspire to be like them (usually thin)
• and therefore try to lose weight, may do this too much and develop anorexia
Attention
• ideal thin body Images are always in the media (in a fashion magazines for example) as they have thin models
• therefore they’re always being seen by people, so paying attention to them is easy
Retention
• see lots of magazines in shops or in fashion ads and on the internet
• so you’d see the ideal body image more and more
– and therefore be more easily remembered due to seeing it so often
Vicarious Reinforcment
• Magazines and articles on celebrities that gained weight have been criticized and those who lost it were praised
• and therefore people are more likely to try to lose weight to also get praised like those celebrities
Self-efficacy
• people believe they can lose weight like these celebrities due to advertisements they do on diets and pills or Exersise Routeens etc
• and therefore they are easy to follow people can believe that they can lose weight too
• but diets are often tailored to the celebrity this means they are often incredibly unhealthy for a person
– and they will often gain weight making them want to loose more
– or lose way too much and develop anorexia
Reproduction
• therefore people will take the
– diet (which may include substitute for important foods such as meats or proteins),
– drugs, exercise routines
– to try to lose the weights
• and end up either:
– gaining weight and then wanting to lose it more
– or losing lots of weight as they’ve done all of the things at once to look like the praised celebrity
– but end up developing anorexia
This is how at the different stages of social learning theory anorexia can be developed
learning/ SocioCultural explenation
of AN
opperant conditioning and AN
• open conditioning that can then take effect as the admiration from others reinforces their dieting behavior
• rewards may also come in the form of attention gain from parents by not eating
Positive Reinforcment
• this is when the design behaviour is given a reward increasing its chances of being repeated
• In this case losing weight would lead to praise which would make someone feel good
• and encouragement to lose more weight developing anorexia
negative reinforcment
• this is when a negative consequence is removed for showing the desired behaviour making it more likely to be repeated
• in this case by losing weights one may be insulted less making feel better and repeat the behavior
– so they are not insulted anymore and therefore lose more weight
– developing anorexia
learning/ SocioCultural explenation
of AN
Fear 1999 + (fiji and the influence of western cultures)
Fear 1999
found that in Fiji before television the traditional body standard was robust and muscly for everybody
after TV was introduced with the Western Body Image being shown since 1995
they find in a study in 1998 74% of Fiji teenager girls report feeling too ‘big and fat’
• there has been an increase in anorexia and eating disorders since this
• showing that western Media was introduced in Fiji and then affected the teenagers girls perception of their Body Image
• supporting the socio-cultural/learning explanation that media has an influenced on the Body Image leading to anorexia
learning/ SocioCultural explenation
of AN
Barlow and Durand 1995
media influences body size/ ideals
Barlow and Durand 1995
Find over half of the contestants in the Miss America contest were 15% or more below the expected body weight for their Heights
showing Media’s influenced over the popular beauty standards and ideal body weight leading them to being lower than expected
These contestants could be role models and people may attempt to replicate their weight as they are being praised on the competition which may lead to other people developing anorexia also
These two factors demonstrate how Media influences the body size and ideas in Society
Meaning that Barlow and Durand 1995 support the socio cultural explanation of anorexia
learning/ SocioCultural explenation
of AN
western cultures effect on beauty standards leading to AN when the culture influences other cultures
Lai 2000 +
Lai 2000
• Finds that the rate of anorexia has increased in China and Hong Kong as culture has become the Westernised
– and the Western culture has the ideal of body image of skinny people
– therefore people in Hong Kong and China have lost weight to try to fit in with that Body Image
– and have developed anorexia
• this supports the socio-cultural explanation as it demonstrates how the body ideals of Western cultures
– directly influences Body Image when it is introduced into another culture
learning/ SocioCultural explenation
of AN
Nasser et al 1986 + egypt london
Nasser et al 1986
Looks at 50 Egyptian women in London university
and 16 Cairo Egypt
and finds its the Western culture in London of thin and beautiful bodies
has had an impact on these Egyptian girls studying in London as 12% of them has developed anorexia
and zero have developed it in Cairo
showing the influence of Western cultures cultural ideas of thin body beauty standards
and how it may lead to the development of AN in the population
Providing evidence supporting the socio-cultural explanation
as nasser et al 1986 shows how Media standards influenced Body Image
learning/ SocioCultural explenation
of AN
Culture can effect body image ideals differently in other cultures to fit that culture reducing the risk of AN
Dr Hans Hoek +
Dr Hans Hoek in curaco island in the Caribbean
where larger body types are considered beautifully
finds zero doctors reported eating disorders when they’re asked about it
and 8/140,000 medical records searched had anorexia
showing how cultural ideas are a major Factor in the development of anorexia
as if Body Image is not thin in the cultural ideals
then there is a lesser likelihood of people developing annorexia
which this study by Dr Hans Hoek demonstraights
thus supporting the socio cultural expansion’s idea of Culture effecting Body image
learning/ SocioCultural explenation
of AN
bio explenation not socio-cultural
Yagger et al 1986 –
Yagger et al 1986
Support the genetic cause as they point out blind people can’t be affected by Body Image as they can’t see it
but they still develop anorexia
suggesting that it is not a major Factor in its development
Therefore Yagger et al 1986 supports the genetic cause of anorexia and thereby opposes the socio cultural explanation
as they deny Media’s effects on body image and AN
learning/ SocioCultural explenation
of AN
deterministic –
It’s deterministic as it suggests that the environments shapes people’s behaviors
and not their free will
and ignores free will of the people to reject the environments influence on their behavior and not develop anorexia which ppl may do (the explenation seemingly ignores this tho)
This is a weakness of the socio cultural explanation
As it ignores this critical point about the environments influence on behavior being more prevalent than people’s own free will
which is invalid as it may not be the case as ppl may use thier free will to negate the enviroment (media and culture ect.) effectand not fmdev AN
learning/ SocioCultural explenation
of AN
Personality could be a factor so reductionist
Poliry and Harman 2002 -
Poliry and Harman 2002
Suggest an interaction of socio-cultural, family and personality factors cause anorexia to develop
not just one Factor alone is likely to cause it
so just considering socio-cultural explanation is reductionist
As it doesn’t include other environmental factors that could cause anorexia
Therefore this is a weakness of the associate cultural explanation as by not considering other environmental factors
it may not be able to show the full picture of an environmental cause of anorexia possibly leading it to be invalid
learning/ SocioCultural explenation
of AN
ALT PSYCHODYNAMIC THEORY
––––
The socio-cultural explanation considers anybody at any age who diets could develop anorexia
It doesn’t explain why it mainly occurs in adolescence
• Freud suggests that anorexia could be caused by children not wanting to move into an adult sexual role results in getting starvation to maintain a childlike frame
• the psychodynamic explanation also suggests fatness is symbolic of pregnancy and therefore young girls starve themselves
– as they unconsciously believe eating could lead to pregnancy
• so the Psychodynamic Theory provides an alternative explanation and the cause of anorexia by explaining why if occurs largely in adolescence
unlike the socio-cultural explanation which does not do this
therefore meaning that it’s better explanation of the cause of anorexia
therefore showing a weakness of the socio cultural explenation
learning/ SocioCultural explenation
of AN
con + diathesis + Eysneck and Flanagan 2000
+ treatmenT TEP
This explanation has largely supportive research on the influence of social and cultural factors on the mindset of anorexia
and showing how the learning theory aspects of the explanation shows how it causes anorexia
However research also suggests that this alone does not cause anorexia as other factors such as genes and other biological explanations could also cause anorexia therefore this explanation is considered reductionist
Alternative would be the diathesis stress model which incorporates the social, learning and cultural factors as well as biological factors e.g. genes
as they suggest that both of them together will cause anorexia
as it includes both nature and nurture reducing the reductionism of the explanation
Be found in research by Eysneck and Flanagan 2000
Who said that if it was found that socio-cultural explanations was the only cause of anorexia
then everybody in the Western cultures should get it due to the presence of the ideal body type in media
however as this does not occur there has to be other factors
meaning it supports the diaphrases stress mode
With knowledge of this explanation causing anorexia via learning factors then a learning treatment such as a token economy program can be put in place to attempt to treat it
By using different schedules of reinforcement every single time a certain amount of weight is gained
such as gaining a token to eventually exchange for privileges or then the treatment and reduction of anorexia can be encouraged
This is how this explanation can be used to develop a treatment for anorexia
