Word Association Test and Psychosexual Cues in Eating Disorders Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards based on the study by Berry et al. (1998) investigating psychosexual conflicts and food-related concerns in eating disorder patients using the Word Association Test.

Word Association Test

A diagnostic method introduced by Carl Jung in 1903 that tests perceptual sensitivity to stimulus words, eliciting spontaneous responses to detect emotionally charged complexes through disturbances in response latency.

Jungian Complex

A conglomeration of psychic contents characterized by a peculiar or painful feeling tone, usually hidden from conscious view, which creates response disturbances when touched by related stimulus words.

Modified Stroop Colour-Naming Test

A psychological task requiring subjects to name the ink color of printed words to detect selective information processing biases related to food, eating, shape, or weight.

Eating Attitudes Test-26 (EAT-26)

A 26-item short self-report scale adapted from EAT-40 by Garner and Garfinkel (1979) to detect eating disorder symptoms in populations at risk, demonstrating high internal consistency ($\alpha = 0.94$).

Psychosexual Stimulus Words

In the study's Word Association Test, a target group of stimulus words consisting of period, sexuality, guy, pregnancy, hair, and lips used to detect psychosexual development conflicts.

Food-Related Stimulus Words

In the study's Word Association Test, a stimulus category consisting of biscuits, apple, pills, bloated, ice cream, fridge, and bread designed to measure concern with food and eating.

Emotionally Loaded Stimulus Words

In the study's Word Association Test, non-psychosexual terms with psychological connotations (such as independence, growing, alone, to merge, to leave, to separate, in control, appreciation, angry, to receive, to give, loved, to take, and I) used to elicit emotional reactivity.

Neutral Stimulus Words

In the study's Word Association Test, non-emotionally charged baseline words (to walk, chair, radio, hand, street, butterfly, and thoughts) unrelated to eating disorder conflicts.

Bruch's Psychosexual Development Theory

A clinical hypothesis by Bruch (1973) asserting that adolescent anorexic patients lack interest in heterosexual relationships due to an unconscious attempt to repress femininity and body size changes.

Edelstein's Neutral Being Hypothesis

A theory by Edelstein (1989) proposing that anorexic patients seek to become 'neutral' beings by avoiding female physical characteristics and suppressing vital drives, such as hunger.

Response Latency

The time delay (measured in seconds) between presentation of a stimulus word and the subject's first spoken association, serving as the primary practical indicator of psychological conflict in association tests.

Selective Information Processing in Bulimia Nervosa

A cognitive bias identified by Fairburn et al. (1991) where bulimic individuals exhibit differential processing speeds when presented with stimuli specifically related to eating, body shape, and weight.