Year 12 Psychology: Biological Approach (AJW)



The growing prevalence of anorexia nervosa in societyTo eat or not to eat; that is the question! Britain is body image meltdown! An obesity crisis is set to fuel prejudice of the overweight even more and fears are mounting for our teenagers, for whom the prevalence of eating disorders is rising every year.22 year old Uruguayan model Luisel Ramos died of heart failure at a fashion week catwalk show after a 3 month crash diet; her agency told her she could make it big if she lost weight, at 5’9 she weighed a little over 7 stone when she died.This sparked a media frenzy about ‘size zero’ models who were banned from Madrid fashion week London fashion executives have not followed suit saying this ban is a knee jerk reaction and designers should be allowed to exercise creative control over their showsMany people think that these super-thin women along with diet-obsessed celebrities like Victoria Beckham provide negative role models for impressionable young people and blame them for the rise in diagnoses of eating disordersEvidence for our lust for images of thin celebrities is born out in the sales figures for Heat magazine which can be up to 580,000 copies a week!Eating disordersanorexia affects 0.5 to 1% of the adolescent population; 10 x as many girls as boys; commonest age of onset is between 15-17 years; up to 1% of 17 year-old girls; 8% of sufferers die within 5 yearsA person with anorexia’s body mass will be less than 85% of the expected weight for their height; may suffer from malnutrition, distorted perception of body image, extreme fear of weight gain; may be secretive and dispose of food; menstruation may stop (amenorrhea)Bulimia involves weight loss, not as drastic as in anorexia; sufferers binge eat and then purge themselves with laxatives or by making themselves sick; this relieves anxiety or guilt associated with bingeingDiagnoses of eating disorders are increasing in Britain but is less common outside the Western WorldCan psychology help to understand this? Are young girls simply imitating the behaviour role models? Why do some girls become affected others not? Why are eating disorders more common in the Western World?Explain Social learning theory could be used to explain the link between the media and fashion industries in terms of observation, imitation, role models and vicarious reinforcementYoung girls may perceive the fashion and film world as glamorous and see the models and actresses as successful and sought after; this means that they are more likely to identify with them due to their perceived high status in societyOnce they have been identified with, attention may be given to their lifestyle and habits and girls will read magazines and visit websites exposing themselves to further contact with the world of fashion and celebritiesThe girls learn more about the eating and exercise habits of these super-thin women in order to attain a similar body image which has become associated with acceptance and desirabilityThese habits are then imitated and this is even more likely if vicarious reinforcement has taken place, i.e. the observers have noted that the thinnest girls or women in their own social world are most popular and receive the greatest attention.Finally, girls who have started to diet and so on may visit pro-ana websites where they seek ‘thinspiration’, images of more super thin women; these websites also provide stories about how to lose weight and this creates the disinhibiting effect where girls will be more likely to participate in activities that may not have considered before e.g. using laxatives or deliberately making oneself sick, because they see the girls receiving reward in the form of support from others and no negative consequences in terms of nasty comments or punishmentIt is also possible that in some girls an association has formed between eating and anxiety, for example, if family rows became common at the dinner table and were a source of anxiety to the child (unconditioned stimulus), this tension may become associated with food (conditioned stimulus). This anxiety and fear is then maintained through operant conditioning; the anxiety is relieved through avoidance of food (negative reinforcement). Also, the child may have gained attention for not eating (positive reinforcement); even if this attention was negative the child may have found the emotional arousal reinforcing, making the avoidance of food more likely.Some people may experience fears about obesity due to health problems but also from prejudice and discrimination including ridicule, bullying and even the possible withdrawal of health services in some areas; behaviours such as losing weight may be negatively reinforced in that teasing stops, and positively reinforced, people make compliments Evaluate ...(ao2)The social learning explanation of eating disorders is tempting as it accounts for why eating disorders are more common in Western societies and goes some way to explain why the prevalence of eating disorders is increasing as media sales of celebrity magazines are also increasing. SLT is further supported by the rarity of eating disorders in collective cultures such as China which value contribution to family and community over personal success and physical appearance. Evidence to support the impact of differing values and role models across cultures comes from Fearn (1999) who found that when Western TV channels were introduced to the island of Fiji in 1995, within 3 years, 74% of women asked said they were “fat or too big” and 15% had developed bulimia. This is however a natural experiment; control of control confounding variables is limited; the demand for these TV channels in the first place suggests there was a move towards more Western culture and ideals and the television may not have solely responsible for the changes in the young people’s behaviour and attitudes. important not to over exaggerate the role of the media as Eysenck and Flanagan note in Western societies we are all exposed to celebrity magazines yet only 2-3 % become eating disordered.Must be other factors involved which explain why some people’s dieting behaviour becomes out of control and others don’t and why some people pay more attention to celebrity role models than others. For example, there may be a genetic predisposition towards eating disorders; Holland et al (1988) found that when one twin already has anorexia, 56% of MZ twins went onto develop the condition compared with 9% of DZ twins, suggesting a definite genetic component in anorexia. ................
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