Learning Explanation For AN Flashcards
What are the western cultural ideals for body shape?
For women they have to be ideally thin and what’s known as ‘size 0 is the best’. This was predominant in the early 2000s with cat walking and thin models.
How do cultural beliefs reduce rates of AN in non-western cultures?
Role models are not size 0 so there isn’t a pressure on everyone else to be slim and not heavy etc. For example in China they have a culture of respecting food which means that they do not consider weight but instead make people respect the art of food and enjoying that food.
How do social norms of different cultures explain the different rates of AN found in these groups?
If the social norm is to have a hourglass figure and be ‘seize 0’ then people are going to follow those societal norms and therefore rates of AN is going to increase. This promotes unrealistic ideologies.
How could the media influence social norms in culture in affecting the rate of AN.
If the media portrays people as what they ‘should look like’ or younger teenagers look up to these models etc they are going to start displaying symptoms of AN because they want to look ‘as slim as them’ or ‘be size 0’ which promotes anorexia behaviour therefore the more exposure to models in social media the higher prevalence rate of AN. This would typically be in younger people as they are easily accessible to social media.
Has AN prevalence changed over time?
It is becoming more and more popular in younger ages and there is becoming an increased number of anorexia diagnosed with males. The rate has increased through age therefore it must not be a biological factor but instead a social factor.
How can gender impact on the development of AN?
Females tend to be diagnosed for with AN - 9 in 10 females diagnosed with AN however the number of males being diagnosed is on the increase this may be due to factors such as talking more about mental health problems and as a result being diagnosed with AN.
What does role models suggest in social learning theory (SLT)?
You might look up to a celebrity that talks about their weight loss or how they managed to look so ‘slim’ etc. This may be cat walk celebrities. For westernised cultures the ideal size is ‘size 0’ (the US) and in the UK the ideal size for is ‘size 4). These are unrealistic ideologies however due to the exposure of social media (this could be a child’s favourite celebrity) they begin to believe that these ideas of being ‘size 0 or 4’ should be true and as a result start to loose excessive weight.
What is attention and observation in SLT for AN?
The individual observes the behaviour of their favourite celebrity or a person who they look up to (the role model). They attend to what they are posting on social media and they use cognitive processing (visual imagery and verbal descriptors) to silently process that information in their head. This is when they start to believe that they must also be ‘size 0’. Things such as diet programmes, exposure to celebrities in social media etc are s easily accessible in modern day, therefore its so easy to be exposed to this content where you feel as though you need to look like someone else.
What is retention in SLT to explain AN?
The behaviour that was attended to is really thought about and and processed. This leads to symptoms such as body dysmorphia which affect emotional processing and where the individual doesn’t see themselves in a positive way anymore and only thinks negative things when looking at themselves.
What is vicarious reinforcement to explain AN?
Other people perhaps on social media receiver nice comments about their weight loss or how good they look. This means that the individual would also want to relieve those comments from other people for motivation and therefore try to carry out excessive weight loss in order to receiver those messages. These individuals will often do whatever it takes for those ‘nice comments’ and intrinsic motivation from others.
What is self efficacy in explaining AN?
When someone has a high self efficacy they believe that they can carry out the same action as the behaviour in which they observed. This means that is someone observes someone dieting and receiving nice comments about how they look, they will also diet but excessively as they also want to receiver those comments from others about what they look like.
What is motor reproduction in explaining AN?
The individual now has enough motivation and self efficacy in order to excessively diet and lose weight.
Conclusions
It is thought that SLT causes the first initial stages of AN such as losing weight and excessively exercising etc. It also explains why there are cognitive dysfunctions with someone with AN.
What does operant conditioning suggest about the cause of AN?
Operant conditioning then takes effect after SLT as the administration from others further reinforces editing behaviour. Rewards may also come in the form of attention gained from parents by not eating.
What are positive reinforcers for AN?
A person may be exposed to a celebrity who has received nice messages online. The person gets positively reinforced and as a result have excessive eating patterns.
Comments and behaviour of others motivates and encourages them to carry on. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.
