Anorexia: Socio-Cultural Explanation Flashcards
(18 cards)
What is the socio-cultural explanation?
It looks at the causes of human behaviour based on factors from the environment, such as: race, gender, family.
How does the socio-cultural explanation explain anorexia?
It is caused by pressure of Western society to conform to an idealised notion of beauty being thin with celebrities for women as well as rising anorexia in males being due to slimmer ideals being portrayed in the media.
Identify 3 main ways we can explain the development and maintenance of AN.
- classical conditioning
- operant conditioning
- social learning theory
Describe the effect of the type of society on the development of anorexia nervosa.
- Belonging to a westernised society vs a non-westernised society can affect development of AN
- Industrialised vs non-industrialised has an effect
- Westernised societies value thinness as beauty for women idolising size 0
- Non-westernised society value plumpness due to its association with fertility and prosperity
- Therefore differing social norms will lead to differing socialisation of the ideal body shape as fear of weight gain may not exist in some cultures
Describe the effect of social class and gender on the development of anorexia nervosa.
- Anorexia may occur in middle classes due to their access to gym facilities for excessive exercise and weight loss products
- Anorexia may occur in lower classes via restricting diet to save money
- It is mainly women who develop anorexia due to female celebrities from the environment being valued for their thinness
- There is no set role model for males with differing body shapes of muscular to thin compared to women having skinny models as theirs
Describe the effect of the media on the development of anorexia nervosa (SLT).
- Celebrities in the media are presented as desirable due to their thinness
- People who idolise them as their role models will want to replicate this thinness and so develop AN from this
- Affects young girls due to being young and impressionable so take on these social norms
- The principles of social learning theory can explain how AN is developed through idolising role models
- Attention is paid to celebrities who are praised for their thinness and their grand lifestyle are constantly observed as in media
- Due to their presence in the media their thinness is retained by rehearsal mental images and dietary plans if they publish any, so this can easily be retained
- People will reproduce the behaviour of thinness through restricting diet or excessive exercise
- Vicarious reinforcement of the celebrity praised for their weight loss and thinness alongside celebrities who put on weight being criticsed, likes on social media
- self-efficacy- may publish easy to follow diets that are affordable and accessible
Using the acronym ‘EACH’, evaluate 2 ‘supporting evidence’ points.
Nasser (1986) supports. She compared Egyptian students studying in London and Cairo and found that 12% of the 50 studying in London had developed EDs since arriving compared to none of the 60 studying in Cairo. This therefore shows the influence of Western standards of idealised body image having an effect on developing AN, and by idolising these role models in western culture, this has led to the development of eating disorders. This therefore shows that AN can be a product of your culture/learning, supporting the socio-cultural explanation.
Using the acronym ‘EACH’, evaluate a ‘rejecting evidence’ point.
Eysenck and Flanagan (2000) reject. They pointed out that almost all Western women are exposed to the media yet only 3% of them develop AN. Therefore suggesting that this theory is not sufficient enough to explain individual differences- as if most people in western cultures are exposed to the same role models in the media, the rest of the population should have AN- supporting the idea that there may be biological predispositions to developing AN.
Using the acronym ‘EACH’, evaluate 2 ‘how’ points.
Nasser (1986) has low validity, as it uses correlational data. She found a correlation between Western society and AN due to 12% of the 50 Egyptian students studying in London compared to none of the 60 developing it in Cairo. Therefore, due to not being able to manipulate the variables she cannot establish a cause and effect relationship therefore there may be other third factors involved.
Are there any applications?
A strength of this is the positive applications that this can have to society. The socio-cultural explanation has identified factors that can lead to the development of AN such as the influence of the media’s portrayal of ideal body shape. Therefore, we can aim to prevent idealised images in the media to reduce rates or increase the representation in media advertisements of all body shapes to provide equal representation of each as desirable.
Using the acronym ‘EACH’, evaluate 3 ‘credibility’ points.
A weakness of this explanation is that it is highly reductionist, as it only considers nurture. It does not consider other explanations of AN such as biological factors. Grice et al found evidence of a genetic link in AN- following 192 families with at least two individuals who had received a diagnosis, before focusing on a subgroup of 37 families with a restrictive type of AN. Grice et al found a defect on chromosome-1 of the anorexics, and suggested that there is a biological predisposition to AN. If you have a first degree relative with AN, you are 7-12x more likely to develop an eating disorder yourself- supporting the idea that it is not simply the culture which you are raised in which influences your body ideals, but also a biological basis for AN, which this theory cannot explain.
Deterministic- states that we are a product of our environment, and if we are exposed to unrealistic and unrepresentative body ideals then we will develop AN- but this ignores the element of free will which we posses. Can make own decisions and reject the influence of the environment- cannot explain how only 3-4% of the western population have ED.
What are the western cultural ideals for body shape?
Positive, desirable attributes are thin, flat stomach and toned body, hourglass figure, small waist etc.
How do cultural beliefs reduce rates of AN in non-western cultures
Larger= connotations of wealth, health and seen as more desire, child bearing hips etc
How has AN prevalence changed over time for gender and culture?
Incidence of male AN increased- narrowed focus on what a good male should look like, buff, muscles etc
Culture- non-western cultures AN increased due to the introduction of social media.
Explain how classical conditioning can explain the development of AN
- anorexic individual will learn to associate eating with anxiety
- this results from their fear that eating will lead to weight gain- making them unattractive.
- therefore, the person loses weight which reduces their anxiety.
- gaining weight is the UCS
- fear/anxiety response about being unattractive is the UCR
- NS- food gets paired with UCS to produce UCR
- generalisation to all foods
What can operant conditioning explain?
The maintenance of anorexia and the fear around food
How can operant conditioning explain the maintenance of AN
- Reinforcers increase the likelihood of a behaviour occurring
- Positive reinforcers= social praise “you look amazing” so this will increase the likelihood of restrictive behaviour occurring
- sense of control or achievement can also act as pos reinforcers- feeling proud or in control when you resist food
- negative reinforcers- avoiding something unpleasant increase probability of desirable behaviour occurring
- negative reinforcers= avoiding food which avoids the fear/anxiety response about feeling unattractive
- purging or excessive exercise removes the feeling of guilt following eating
- punishment- decreases probability of a behaviour occurring Positive
- weight gain could trigger negative comments from others
- gaining weight from eating food- positive punishment
