Contemporary study - Guardia et al (2012) Flashcards
(27 cards)
What are the aims ?
- To investigate whether problems in judging body actions occurred when judging ones own body or overall judgement problems
- To continue previous research that showed patients with AN misjudged ability to fit through a door clearly too big for them
Who were the participants ?
- 50 young females
- 25 controls, 25 with AN from ED clinic
- From Lille, France
What experimental design was used ?
Matched pairs
What were participants matched on ?
Age & education
What did they check for ?
- No perceptual problems
- AN patients fulfilled DSM-IV-IR
- Interview = no co morbidities
What were the average BMIs of each group ?
Controls = 22.06
AN = 15.645
What did they assess for before ?
- Body Shape Questionnaire = controls (66.708) & AN (123.96)
- Height, shoulder width & weight assessments = standardised
- Changes over time in nutritional status = looked at weight before disorder, 6 months before study & at time of study
- Data on body dissatisfaction & concern about weight using questionnaires = Eating Disorder Inventory-2
What was the presented to participants ?
- 51 different openings
- 30-80cm
- Projected onto wall in random order
- Presented 4 times
- Opening from floor to ceiling like door
What was the first condition ?
- 1PP
- Judged whether own body would fit through opening
- Had to imagine themselves walking through
- State whether they could walk through at normal speed without turning sideways
What was the second condition ?
- 3PP
- Judge whether experimenter could walk through without turning
- Could move to get better view of experimenter
What were characteristics of the experimenter ?
- 28 years old
- 1.60m tall
- 52kg
- Shoulder width 38cm
- Stood 5.9m away from wall projection
When was an opening classed as a perceived critical opening ?
If had 50% ‘yes’ response
How was a ratio obtained ?
Dividing perceived critical opening by shoulder width of participant
What did it mean if perceived critical opening was 1 ?
Equal to shoulder width so no chance of passing through
What were the results of condition 1 ?
- AN = significant overestimation of their own body size
- Mean perceptual ratios different
- AN = 1.321
- Controls = 1.106
What were the results of condition 2 ?
- More accurate in predicting body size
- Mean perceptual ratios similar
- AN = 1.227
- Controls = 1.137
What were other results ?
- AN rated their own body differently to experimenter’s
- Correlation between judgements bY AN group & pre-illness body weight
- Those lost weight 6 months before showed greater difference in own & experimenter’s possibility perceptions
What did the study conclude ?
- AN = overestimated own possibility & said they ‘felt larger than they were’
- Controls = same in 1PP & 3PP
- Overestimation thought to be own body schema issues
- Patients not adapted to internal body image to take into account ‘new’ body size & brains still perceive their bodies to be larger despite visual info contradicting this
How does the study lack generalisability ?
- Screen out co morbidities
- Elimination of groups cannot be representative of society
How is the study ethnocentric ?
- From Lille, France
- Only western cultures
- Cant be generalised to all women with anorexia
How is the study reliable ?
- Standardised procedures
How is the study high in internal validity ?
- Lab experiment
- High control
- Eliminates EVs = co morbidities
How is does the lack ecological validity ?
- Lab experiment
- Participants may be aware
- Demand characteristics
How is the study high in mundane realism ?
- Usual daily behaviour to judge whether we can fit through a gap
- Reflects actions on day to day basis
