how does the influence of role models affect anorexia nervosa?

what have claims said anorexia could be caused by?

cultural images, such as size-zero models

what is anorexia?

an eating disorder characterised by being extremely underweight

when is anorexia diagnosed?

when BMI falls below 17.5

what are features of anorexia?

body image distortion, anxiety and excessive fear of becoming fat, and amenorrhoea (absence of periods for over 3 months caused by reduced weight)

when is anorexia nervosa most likely to occur?

mid-teenage years

how many teenagers over 15 does anorexia approximately affect?

1 in 150 females, and 1 in 1000 males

what percentage of 16-18 year olds have anorexia?

1%

how many anorexia sufferers recover?

40% recover completely, though 30% continue to experience the illness long term

where is anorexia less common?

the western world

what does the anorexia nervosa and associated disorders website state?

1 in 10 people receive treatment, and 35% of those receive treatment at a specialist facility

what percentage of people with anorexia does Crow et al. say experience death?

4%

what percentage of anorexia sufferers does Crow et al. state are between 12-29 years old?

95%

what percentage of women on a university campus did Crow et al. find to have attempted to control their weight by dieting?

91%

what professions is anorexia most common in?

models and ballet dancers

why is anorexia an issue for society?

it is a disorder predominant in young people that is often long lasting and can lead to death

what does social learning theory suggest?

people imitate role models, celebrities and people with prestige

what does the national association of anorexia nervosa and associated disorders state?

5% of women in the US match the size shown in advertising as the ideal

why are girls more likely to imitate female role models than male role models?

we tend to imitate people we perceive ourselves as similar to

why is wanting to be thin the commonplace in young people with the principles of social learning theory?

the trend for size-zero catwalk models is ongoing

how can operant conditioning explain anorexia through negative reinforcement?

if overweight individuals are made fun of by peers they may be inclined to stop eating to be thin, or if peers are envious of thin individuals they might develop anorexia to achieve the same

how can operant conditioning explain anorexia through positive reinforcement?

not eating may result in the gain of attention which may be seen as a reinforcement for the individual, encouraging them to repeat the learnt behaviour

what will the current focus on the obesity crises lead to?

an increased desire to be thin in order to avoid criticism of being obese (negative reinforcement)

what would the psychodynamic approach state?

anorexia may prevent a girl, who may want to remain a child from growing up, if fixation occurred at an early stage in development

why do cross-cultural differences in levels of anorexia tend to support the explanation given by the learning approach?

different behaviours or social norms are likely to be modelled in different countries, if a country has less emphasis on being thin, fewer people will try to be

how can classical conditioning be used to explain anorexia?

if people lose weight successfully they may gain the intrinsic reward of feeling better, though they may begin to associate the fear of weight gain with eating, and a classically conditioned anxiety response develops which may be reduced by not eating

how can social learning theory be used to explain anorexia?

individuals may be influenced by role models such as media and pictures of women below the national average size, individuals may become anorexic by paying attention to these images, retaining them, and being motivated to reproduce it

how could preventing anorexia save money?

anorexia costs the NHS money in order to treat the disorder

who was Ana Carolina?

a brazilian fashion model who passed away at 21 years old from a generalised infection caused by anorexia

when was Ana Carolina's eating disorder believed to have started?

when she was sent to work abroad in Guangzhou where she took comments about her body seriously

how was Ana Carolina shown to have suffered from anorexia?

she followed a strict diet of apples and tomatoes and was also said to struggle with bulimia, leading her to a BMI of just 13.5 when she died

how could Ana Carolina show examples of negative reinforcement?

by the removal of the undesired comments about her body, she was likely to feel encouraged to continue to restrict her eating habits

when were the Ramos sisters deaths?

Eliana Ramos collapsed at age 18, 6 months after her sister Luisel had a heart attack during a fashion show at age 22

what was the cause of the Ramos sisters deaths?

Eliana was found dead due to symptoms of malnutrition, it was believed she followed after Luisel who had been told she would be successful if she lost a significant amount of weight

how could the Ramos sisters show examples of positive reinforcement?

by putting themselves under pressure to lose weight they were able to pursue their modelling careers, due to being told they would gain the desired reward of being successful

what is the size-zero campaign?

a campaign aiming to end the fashion industry's promotion of ultra-thin models through aiming to ban models with an unhealthy BMI from walking catwalks

who was the size-zero campaign launched by?

UK model Katie Green and formal lib dem MP Lembit Opik in 2009, decided after her agency told her to lose an unhealthy amount of weight

how could the size-zero campaign aim to encourage negative reinforcement?

by removing the undesired pressure of seeing underweight role models, and therefore reinforcing people to not change or adopt unhealthy eating habits

what are pro-ana blogs?

the promotion of behaviours related to anorexia nervosa by including role models with slim figures, to encourage individuals to aim for a thinner body

what are pro-ana group members likely to deny?

the negative aspects of their eating disorder as they are being encouraged by others in the group

how can pro-ana blogs show examples of positive reinforcement?

individuals are encouraged to obtain a slim figure through the use of desired encouragement and attention from others

how do pro-ana blogs support the use of social learning theory?

individuals are encouraged to lose weight by imitating images of role models that are praised by others