correlation between
children and parents
regarding eating
motivation and body
dissatisfaction
Meyer and Gast
(10 to 12 year olds) positive
correlation between peer
influence and disordered
eating - demonstrating they
are eaily impressionable and
manipulated
Media
MacIntyre et al
media can impact on
individuals attitudes to
some foods
- individual differences e.g. low
income/household circumstances
relates to inability to afford healthy
foods, and so associated with negative
feelings
- disregards evolutionary
approach, adaption for survival
Mood
Garg et al
comfort eating: sad film (36% more
popcorn eaten) compared to happy
film, where ppts ate more nutritionally
food use as restoration of mood
- Parker et al: eating chocolate (as an
emotional eating strategy) prolongs
negative mood, not alliviates
manipulation of NPY, injecting into rats which then
continued eating, even when experiencing satiation
neurotransmitter controls eating,
supporting dual control theory
stimulant
- Marie et al
no consequential decrease in eating
behaviour of mice when genetically
manipulated to produce no NPY
Hyperphagia = overeating due to damaged to VMH
particularly paraventicular nucleus
Gold
it is only when PVN was
included in brain damage
hyperphagia occured
PVN detects specific food
for our body's needs, so
responsible for cravings
Leptin
protein which regulates fat storage, those who don't
eat much use up fat and cells cease to secrete leptin
Zhang et al
injecting ob/ob mice caused
them to dramatically lose weight
real world application
treating obesity, targeting
those with high levels of leptin
Gherlin
stimulant
comfort eating
homeostasis
Amydala, Inferior Prefrontal Cortex
cognitive factors e.g. sights and
smells, lead to feelings of hunger
select food on based
on previous experiences
Rolls and Rolls
removing amydala from rats showed
they'd eat familiar and unfamiliar food
Kluver Bucy syndrome
eating indiscriminately
and non-food items
Evolutionary
approach to eating
behaviour
environment of evolutionary adaptation
(EEA)
Denton
innate preference for
salt - survival value
Stanford
(monkey brains)
humans adapted to eat
diverse foods
adaptive advantage to meat eating
Desor
newborns prefer sweetness
Garcia
taste aversion
+ helps explain neophobia
(fear of foods)
through lab experiment with rats who became ill after consuming saccharin,
discovered ancestors past to avoid poisonous substances
- masks proximate causes e.g. laziness, advertising/media influence
weaknesses
cultural variations e.g. can't
explain spicy foods in Asia
fossils are difficult to analyse
have we stopped evolving?
surely we no longer desire fatty
foods because we don't need them
Dieting
Restraint Theory
Herman and Mack
preload test (1) high cal (2) low cal
"eat as much ice cream as you like"
ppts ask if there were a
restrained/unrestrained eater (self
report)
restrained eater from high cal preload ate
more ice cream than low cal preloaders
positive correlation between amount eaten after
high restraint score and the more they consume,
demonstrating the 'what the hell' affect =
behvaioural inhibiton
Cognitive
Boundary Model
Herman and Polivy
unrestrained eaters eat until satisfied,
restrained eaters eat until they reach cognitive
boundary (self determined)
experiment results: low cal preload stay within boundary
high cal preload pushed beyond, disinhibits behaviour
+ implications for obeisty =
don't restrain individuals
2) Overgeneralisations = relating a past experience to present/future
3) Catastrophising = fixating on small things
4) Megical Thinking = happiness is achieved once a goal has been reached
+ Fairburn et al
greatest risk factors are perfectionism
and negative self image
- Halmi et al
perfectionism tends to run in families
(genetic predisposition) so genes increase
risk of developing personality type which will
develop AN
+ Fallon and Rozin
use student ppts to rate body silhouettes
both men and women rated thinner
silhouettes to be more attractive,
women wished they were smaller
than 'current' size
Biological approach to
Anoxeria Nervousa
Neural
anorexia is a symptom of anxiety due to high
levels of seratonin
Bailer et al
persistant disruption of seratonin levels
may lead to increased anxiety
AO3: drug treatment e.g. SSRIs (Selective
Seratonin Reuptake Inhibitor), to treat AN
- makes no difference
Kaye et al
prevents relapse
- lack of food prevents
SSRIs functioning
Kaye et al
used PET scans to compre dopamine
activity in 10 women recovering from
AN and 12 healthy women
AN due to overactivity in dopamine
receptors in the basal ganglia,
which interprets harm and
pleasure hence why sufferers
have difficulty with associating
good feelings with food
+ Castro Fornieles et al
homovanillic acid (waste
product of dopamine) higher
in girls with AN
neurodevelopment
pregnancy
birth complications
Lindberg and Hjern
association between premature birth and AN,
brain damage cause hypoxia which impairs
neurodevelopment
Builk
mother with eating disorder leads to malnurished child
Favaro et al
perinatal complications associated with risk of developing AN e.g.
placenal infarcion and early eating difficulties and low birth weight
season of birth
Eagles
individuals with AN more likely to be born
in Spring time (3rd or 4th child)
due to infections in 2nd trimester (winter)
higher temperature during conception
critical period for brain development
- in equatorial countries AN patients
had no seasonality effect
Evolutionary
reproductive suppression
hypothesis
Surbey
AN is a result of trying to control the
onset of sexual maturation which
ceases the menstrual cycle
benefical as individuals adapt to EEA
therefore AN is a disordered
variant of adaptive ability to alter
timing of reproduction
Guisinger
AN linked to migrating populations
single minded search for food -> losing weight ->
psychological mechanisms conserve energy ->
increase desire for food
anorexics feel full
twins
Holland
higher concordance rate of MZ to DZ twins,
significant genetic involvement in the cause of AN
however, twins share shame
environment, difficult to
conclude single cause