Learning Objective Question:

Do role models encourage anorexia because they lead to teenagers wanting to be impossibly thin?

Learning ApproachLesson objectives

• To be able to answer a key issue question-on anorexia nervosa

• To be able to describe and evaluate a treatment for anorexia nervosa

• To understand the methodology section of LA and recap all prior learning

Anorexia and anorexia nervosa

• Technically "anorexia" just means a loss of appetite, whereas anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder. In practice though, the vast majority of people just say "anorexia" because it's shorter.

• Bulimia nervosa is… having episodes of binge eating. This is followed by deliberately making themselves sick (self-induced vomiting) or other measures to counteract the excessive food intake.

What about makes?

Jeremy Gillitzer (Died aged 38

Eating Disorders

• The main two types of eating disorders are Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia.

• Do you know what the differences are?

• You only need to know anorexia nervosa.

Symptoms of Anorexia Nervosa

• Refusal to eat and maintain a minimum average expected body weight.

• Fear of gaining weight• Distorted body image• Amenorrhea (absence of at least three

consecutive menstrual cycles)• Weight less than 85% of expected

Learning Approach-Social Learning Theory

• SLT suggests anorexia nervosa may be due to role models in the media.

• Young people may feel they have to get to around the same weight as thin celebrities in order to be accepted

Social Learning Theory

• Teenagers pay attention to the fact that many celebrity role models are extremely thin.

• They retain this information.• They have the ability to reproduce being thin if they

diet excessively and will do it if they are motivated to do so.

• They can see that their role models are famous and rich and this may motivate them to be thin too. Teenagers may think that being thin is what is needed to be rich and famous or even just accepted.

Evaluation of the Learning Approach

+ Lai (2000) found that the rate of anorexia increased for chinese residents in Hong Kong as the culture slowly became more westernised.

+Crisp et al. (1976) found that dancers and fashion models were more likely to develop anorexia nervosa.

+Mumford et al. (1991) found that Arab and Asian women were more likely to develop eating disorders if they moved to the West.

- Doesn’t explain why the disorder usually develops in adolescence.

- Everyone sees the pictures of slim people, so why is it only some of the population develop an eating disorder?

- There are psychodynamic explanations for anorexia nervosa such as fear of growing up and family issues.

Key Issue-Describe the issue

• Do role models encourage anorexia because they lead to teenagers wanting to be impossibly thin?

• 1 in 100 girls said to suffer from an eating disorder

• 8% of 14 year old girls happy with their bodies

• Different explanations from each approach-Biological, psychodynamic, cognitive etc.

• Kate Moss and Victoria Beckham said by 95% of girls in a survey to be most influential role model

Explain the issue using L.A• SLT suggests that people imitate role models, especially those they see as

relevant to themselves. • One concept from the learning approach is identification. • When someone identifies with a role model they are likely to imitate their

behaviour. • It is therefore likely that teenage girls will imitate female models and media

celebrities where there is a trend to be very slim. • Studies by Bandura have shown that girls copy female models and boys copy

male models, so if female role models are slim then girls are likely to want to be slim.

• If someone observes behaviour but does not identify with the role model they are not so likely to perform the behaviour.

• Girls who want to be slim are likely to stop eating and can develop eating disorders such as anorexia.

Explain the issue using L.A

• Another concept from the learning approach is reinforcement.

• If a role model is reinforced for being slim, such as being praised, paid more or featured a lot in the media, then they might be imitated more.

Explain the issue using L.A• Studies by Bandura have shown that behaviour that is rewarded

is likely to be imitated more, such as in vicarious learning. • There is also negative reinforcement for being fat, through

criticism and teasing, to avoid being teased, fat children might starve themselves to slim down which may turn into anorexia.

• So not wanting to be fat to avoid criticism and wanting to be slim to get praise, might be two types of reinforcement that help to explain anorexia.

• However, anorexia could also be explained in a different way. • The psychodynamic approach suggests that a girl might starve

herself to avoid growing up (adults sexual role) because she is fixated at a certain psychosexual stage.

Explain the issue using L.A

• As well as this, support comes from the work of Bandura whose research can be criticised as lacking validity as it was carried out in an unnatural setting and used unnatural conditions so.

• Nevertheless anorexia is found around the world between different cultures and cross cultural studies support the idea that anorexia is learned.

Biological explanation:• One theory is that the system controlling a person’s sense of appetite

becomes disrupted. • The primary setting of many of these abnormalities originate in a the

limbic system. • A specific system called hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) may

be particularly important in eating disorders. • It originates in the following regions in the brain:• Hypothalamus. • The hypothalamus is a small structure that plays a role in controlling our

behavior, such as eating, sexual behavior and sleeping, and regulates body temperature, emotions, secretion of hormones, and movement.

• Appetite is controlled by the hypothalamus. • When your body needs more food, your hypothalamus releases

chemicals to stimulate your appetite.

Biological explanation:• Once you have eaten enough food, hormones signal to

your hypothalamus. • Your hypothalamus will then release a different set of

chemicals that essentially reward you for eating, and make you feel satisfied.

• It is thought that this ‘appetite-reward pathway’ becomes scrambled in people with anorexia.

• The feeling of fullness after a meal does not produce a sense of reward, but a sense of anxiety, guilt or self-loathing.

• In turn, feeling hungry may help reduce these negative feelings.

• Here is the one we completed from Autism… It may help.

D.A.R.C.O.C. – (Summarise)

(here you are describing the issue without using psychology)• A condition that children develop rather than a

disease.• Child is generally unable to empathise with others or

love and emotion (explain why this is a problem).• Low IQ.• There is an autistic spectrum, including Aspergers,

Syndrome, High functioning and low functioning autism.

D.A.R.C.O.C. – (Describe)

• Have a high systemising ability, sometimes in the form of an obsession (staring, memorising).

• Males are better at systemising and less good at emotions (girls like dolls, boys like building toys – girls quieter, boys play roughly – girls more verbal, boys more spatial)

• At the end say that ‘there are lots of research suggesting that autism could be linked to the male brain’…

D.A.R.C.O.C. – (Describe)

(here you explain the issue using concepts and ideas from the biological approach – explanation rests on the ideas that autism is an extreme version of the male brain…)• Males seem to use their right hemisphere more, so

more lateralised – girls more bi-lateral.• Boys brains grow more quickly than girls – autistic

children (b & g) show this to an extreme degree.• The amygdala (where emotional reactions are centered

including aggression) is larger in young children.

D.A.R.C.O.C. – (Application)

• Male foetuses produce testosterone in their testes and females in their adrenal glands – girls could be exposed to high levels of testosterone.

• Normal males have a smaller corpus callosum than normal females. In people with autism the corpus callosum is even smaller.

• Is this supported by any research?

D.A.R.C.O.C. – (Application)

• Baron-Cohen (2005) suggests that the brain structure of an autistic person is an exaggeration of normal male brain structure.

• He argues that there are many similarities between the brain structure of an autistic person and the brain structure of a normal male.

D.A.R.C.O.C. – (Research)

• Baron-Cohen (2005) suggests that the brain structure of an autistic person is an exaggeration of normal male brain structure.

• He argues that there are many similarities between the brain structure of an autistic person and the brain structure of a normal male.

D.A.R.C.O.C. – (Research)

• One study carried out by BC’s team showed girls are more empathising and boys more orientated to systems.

• 1-day-old babies set so they could look at either researchers face or a ball.

• 43% boys looked at the ball for 10 seconds longer than the face.

• 17% of girls looked at the ball for 10 seconds longer than the face.

D.A.R.C.O.C. – (Research)

• Studies generally show that women are better at making eye contact and better at understanding body language than men.

• Women are better at social contact, linked to testosterone levels in developing foetus.

D.A.R.C.O.C. – (Research)

• Other research…. Baron-Cohen, Leslie, Frith (1985)• Theory of mind is the ability to understand your own and other

peoples belief, desires, intentions and perspectives.• Where will Sally look for her marble? The TOM BIG question.- In the study 80% of autistic children got the wrong (4/20 got it

correct) .- 14% of children with Downs Syndrome got it wrong (12/14 got

it correct).- 15% of a typical child got it wrong (23/27 got it right)- What does this demonstrate about the issue?

D.A.R.C.O.C. – (Research)

• Other research…. Baron-Cohen, S., Jollife, T., Mortimore, C. & Robertson, M. (1997)

• Another advanced test of theory of mind: evidence from very high functioning adults with autism or Asperger syndrome.

• Mean score on the Eye Task- Adults with autism or Asperger syndrome = 16.3- 'Normal' adults = 20.3- Adults with Tourette syndrome = 20.4

D.A.R.C.O.C. – (Research)

• So clearly an extreme version of the male brain (keep referring back to the key issue)… this is backed up by physiological evidence…

• Herbert looked very carefully at autistic children's brains on MRI scans. She noticed their brains were bigger than those of children who did not have autism 2.

• Biological evidence backing up psychological concept as observed in BC…

D.A.R.C.O.C. – (Research)

• What are the problems with the research into autism (BC and autopsies)?

• Mind map with a partner…

D.A.R.C.O.C. – (Critisise)

• Genetic stance - Research using twins has found a concordance rate of 60-90% for autism in monozygotic twins, but only 5% in dizygotic twins.

• Genetic stance - Autism may be undiagnosed PKU-a genetic disorder not an extreme male brain condition.

• Environmental stance - Greenspan (2009), neglect is one of the causes for autism. Scientific studies have shown that neglect causes changes in brain physiology:

- A direct link between neglect in baby rats and autistic-like symptoms in their offspring, along with genetic changes that perpetuate the symptoms in the offspring's offspring.

D.A.R.C.O.C. – (Other suggestions/research)

- Explain that although nothing is conclusive you think….

D.A.R.C.O.C. – (Conclusion)