NOT ON ALEVEL 4.4 key question Flashcards
what was the learning theories key question
Is the influence of role models and celebrities something that causes anorexia nervosa
what is anorexia
Anorexia is an eating disorder and a serious mental health condition that results in preoccupation with weight: either a fear of being fat or a pursuit of extreme fitness. People with anorexia try to keep their way as low as possible by not eating enough food, counting calories or exercising too much, and anorexia actually has the highest mortality rate of any mental illness: of those surviving 50% Recover, where is 30% improve and 20% remain chronically ill
Furthermore it has been illustrated for many Years that social media in particular the influence of role models is a huge problem with weight and body image issues.
How can operant conditioning link to anorexia
operant conditioning specifically the positive/negative reinforcement and punishments can actually be a treatment for anorexia but they can even be a cause. For example if a person with anorexia, has noticeably lost weight and starts to receive compliments the positive reinforcement, they will continue the behaviour e.g. of continuing to count calories to keep receiving the compliments and therefore this reinforces the anorexic behaviour. However on the flipside operant conditioning can be used as a treatment, if example the people with anorexia were given compliments, items or extra activities etc token economy for positive behaviour like eating everything at mealtimes, which again would positively reinforce the person to continue to get better.
also in terms of negative reinforcement, this can also be a treatment as something unpleasant is removed e.g. curfew at the hospital following a positive behaviour e.g. eating more food, which again reinforces the positive behaviour. And this is clearly illustrated in a 2010 study Where operant conditioning was apply to 32 female anorexic patients in order to restore the normal way.
A comparative study was carried out on two groups of 16 patients each, and they found that group B who had the positive reinforcements e.g. flexible contacts, achieved a greater rate of weight gain compare to group A with an average of 1.75 and 1.30 per week
How does social learning theory link to anorexia
in terms of learning theories size 0 models and their influence is a good illustration of social learning theory due to the wider population identifying the size 0 models as role models due to the fact that they are celebrities and imitating the pro anorexic behaviours. especially if the models diets are publicised as they are paying attention to the fact that only these particular sizes are walking the wrong way. However social learning theory does have some limitations e.g. utterly underestimate how complex human behaviour is even though there is a huge amount of genetic research into anorexia. For example scientists from the University of Iowa found that individuals with mutations in to genes had a 90% and 85% chance of developing And eating disorder. Therefore although the side zero models would have a lot of influence in terms of nature, biologically you could be a lot more prone to anorexia to, illustrating the anorexia is a just cause by nurture by nature to
