Psychological explanations of Anorexia Nervosa
One psychological explanation of anorexia nervosa is the behavioural approach. This approach explains that anorexia nervosa(AN) is learnt through both classical and operant conditioning as well as social learning theory. Classical conditioning is involved with making an association with eating and anxiety. Therefore anorexics seek to lose weight/not eat to reduce their anxiety. Once this association has been made operant conditioning starts playing its part through negative and positive reinforcement. An individual is rewarded by attention from others and also through escaping from an undesirable situation (anxiety.)
Furthermore, individuals learn bad eating behaviours through the observation of others, and then mimicking their behaviour as a result of vicarious learning. One major influence of this is culture and media. Media is a major source of influence for body images in the western community, showing that it is desirable to be think as individuals are rewarded for it, e.g. through gaining fame and stardom.
Support for the role of media influences and social learning theory comes from Becker Et al (2002) who found the Fijian girls showed an increased desire to lose weight and become more like western characters after watching TV that showed ‘ideal’ western movie stars. However a limitation of this research is that it was Correlational, despite the research showing a strong correlation is cannot be proven that the TV was the only influence in causing this change. Other factors could have had an influence but these were not taken into account. Furthermore, the rates of AN in western cultures has increased over the last 30 years, this supports the claim that media has an influence on weight gain because as time progresses more and more media influences are out there.
Further support for the behavioural approach for explaining anorexia comes from Sui-Wah who found that anorexia was rare in black populations in both western and non-western cultures. This shows
Furthermore, individuals learn bad eating behaviours through the observation of others, and then mimicking their behaviour as a result of vicarious learning. One major influence of this is culture and media. Media is a major source of influence for body images in the western community, showing that it is desirable to be think as individuals are rewarded for it, e.g. through gaining fame and stardom.
Support for the role of media influences and social learning theory comes from Becker Et al (2002) who found the Fijian girls showed an increased desire to lose weight and become more like western characters after watching TV that showed ‘ideal’ western movie stars. However a limitation of this research is that it was Correlational, despite the research showing a strong correlation is cannot be proven that the TV was the only influence in causing this change. Other factors could have had an influence but these were not taken into account. Furthermore, the rates of AN in western cultures has increased over the last 30 years, this supports the claim that media has an influence on weight gain because as time progresses more and more media influences are out there.
Further support for the behavioural approach for explaining anorexia comes from Sui-Wah who found that anorexia was rare in black populations in both western and non-western cultures. This shows