Symptoms and Etiology of Anorexia Nervosa

By:  Kimberly Swanson, M.S. - Psychology, CNA

All over the world, there  are various views and ideology of what is considered beautiful especially when it comes to body images.  For example, in some African countries such as Nigeria,  a woman who has a few extra pounds or curves is considered attractive.  But in other countries such as the United States, being skinny  or thin is what is considered beautiful.  This strong powerful message of the standard of beauty is often times depicted in the media and is forever etched into the minds of women and female adolescents.  Professional models that grace the covers of fashion magazines are extremely thin and often times appear to be malnourished.  There have been some cases in the modeling industry where anorexia is a growing medical issue.  Some models starve themselves in an effort to try to keep up with the body image of the being extra thin.

"The average woman is 5”4’ and weighs 140 pounds. The average model is 5”11’ and weighs 117 pounds. Most fashion models are thinner than 98% of American women" (Smolak, 1996). 

History of Anorexia

Anorexia is not a new phenomenon that has occurred in modern times; it has been first identified in the late 1800’s by Charles Lasegue in Paris and Sir William Gull in London (Butcher, 2013).  This condition is more prevalent among women than men.    Tolman (1932) first developed the expectancy  theory in which “social  learning experiences” are developed into the ideology  that  a behavior has to be done continuously in order to fit into society.  There are many more current clinical studies done on the etiology of  anorexia (e.g. Eagles' et al., 2006, a case study on family composition in anorexia nervosa) and another modern research (e.g. Annus et al., 2008) on the etiology of eating disorders.  

Symptoms & DSM-5 Criterion for Anorexia

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), there are three criterion for the symptoms of anorexia.  The three  major symptoms for the diagnosis for  anorexia in DSM-5 are:  1.  “Restriction of energy intake”, 2.  “Intense fear of gaining weight”,  and  Interruption of  “body weight  or shape experienced” (APA, 2013).   

Etiology of Anorexia

Current studies has shown that the cause of eating disorders stems from the social ideology  the  being in control of your weight in order to be thin is what  really matters (Hohlstein, Smith, & Atlas, 1998).  According to Stice (2002), expectancy theory  is the learned behaviors that is based  on the ideology that being thin is important and is needed  in order to boost confidence and self-worth.  It is believed that the family makeup is a major contributing factor in to eating disorders (Eagles et al., 2006).  There is a correlation in family structures such as biological and sociocultural factors when it comes to eating disorders (Eagles et al., 2006).

Before (Annus et al., 2008) study, it is believed that women with anorexia nervosa supported  the idea that in order to be thin is to restrict food intake.  The intervention of changing the patient’s mindset on “expectancy” has been met with the success in previous research.  Even though, studies do not show proof that changing mind sets or personal beliefs reduces anorexia, results from previous studies show consistency in the effectiveness in reducing patient’s negative attitudes and reactions (Annus et al., 2008). 

  

References

American Psychiatric Association. (2013).  Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5^th ed.).  Washington, DC:  Author.

Annus, A., Smith, G., Masters, K. (2008).  Manipulation of Thinness and Restricting Expectancies in the Etiology of Eating Disorders.  Psychology of Addictive Behaviors.  22(2), 278-287.

Brown, T. A., & Barlow, D. H. (2011).  Casebook in abnormal psychology (4^th ed.).  Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Eagles, J., Johnston, M., & Millar, H. (2005). A case-control study of family composition in anorexia nervosa. The International Journal Of Eating Disorders,38(1), 49-54.

Hohlstein, L.E., Smith, G.T., & Atlas, J.G.  (1998).  An application of expectancy theory to eating disorders:   Development and validation of measures of eating and dieting expectancies.  Psychological Assessment, 10(1), 49-58.
Smolak L. (1996). National Eating Disorders Association/Next Door Neighbors puppet guide book.

Stice, E. (2002).  Risk and maintenance factors for eating  pathology:  A meta-analytic review.  Psychological Bulletin, 128(5), 825-848.

Toman, E.C. (1932).  Purposive behavior in animals and men.  New York:  Century.

Additional Source

The Alliance for Eating Disorders Awareness. (2015).  Eating disorder statistics.  Retreived from https://www.ndsu.edu/fileadmin/counseling/Eating_Disorder_Statistics.pdf.

Copyright in 2015 by ©Messenger Publishing, Inc. 

Word of the Week - Psychopathology

Psychopathology - [psy-cho-pa-thol-o-gy] (noun) - The scientific study of the mental and behavioral disorders.  Adjectives - psychopathologic, psychopathological

Wilhelm Wundt’s Methodology and Rules for Introspection

In psychology, introspection tests the state of mind.  Wundt’s methodology and rules of introspection are the following (Schultz, 2012):

• ·         Researcher must know when to start the experiment
• ·         Researcher must be focused and ready to conduct the study
• ·         Must be able to conduct experiment multiple times
• ·         And the experiment must be done in various “experimental” ways in which the “stimuli” can  be “controlled” and changed (Schultz, 2012).

Wundt favored quantitative introspection because he because he believes that basing your experiments on numbers is more accurate than basing it on how you feel or what you perceive as being correct without any supporting documentation/data.

Reference:

Schultz, D.P., & Schultz, S.E. (2012). Philosophical influences on psychology (10^th Eds.), A History of Modern Psychology (pp. 65-86) Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Press.

Copyrighted 2014 by Kimberly Swanson (Messenger Publishing, Inc.) all rights reserved

The Effects of Stereotyping (Part 2)

By:  Kimberly Swanson, MS-Psy, CNA

  Another example of perceived stereotypes is including disabled individuals in a classroom setting or in the work place.  These individuals may not feel that a disabled person should not be included nor have accommodations based on these negative stereotypes.  According to Hodson & Costello (2012), humans try to stay away from people with disabilities because of the fear of catching a contagious disease.  Often times these perceived thoughts of the outer group, the disabled, are based on ignorance and not taking the time to learn and educate themselves about the health condition of the person with the disability. 

These types of studies on human behavior can help prime people to become more aware of their views and to become more proactive in changing these negative behaviors that create more divisiveness and problems in the long run.  These interventions can prime men in male dominated jobs, such as the military, to be more aware of sexist views and sexual harassment in the work place against women. And it can also be applied for the disabled. Intervention on the inclusion of the disabled is an effort in priming people to be more open minded and understanding in both the school setting and the work place towards people with disabilities.

According to Williams & Burgh (2008) “warmth” is a healing behavior that “caregivers” use to help improve patients’ health.  William and Burgh’s (2008) study tested the theory on how “physical warmth” can affect a person’s behavior or how they respond to others.  This article studies the psychological effects of “warm” and “cold” personalities (Williams & Bargh, 2008).  This research can be applied in many social aspects such as the work place and any social environment in which there are social human interactions.

Updated 9/25/16

References
Hodson, G. & Costello, K. (2012).  Interpersonal Disgust, Ideological Orientations, and Dehumanization as Predictors of Intergroup Attitudes.  Psychological Science,18(8), 691-698.
Williams, L. E., & Bargh, J. A. (2008). Experiencing physical warmth promotes interpersonal warmth. Science, 322(5901), 606–607. doi:10.1126/science.1162548

Copyrighted 2014 by Kimberly Swanson (Messenger Publishing, Inc.) all rights reserved

The Effects of Stereotyping (Part 1)

By:  Kimberly Swanson, MS-Psy, CNA
A study was done based on three experiments on the perception of stereotypes.  The first experiment is based on the participant’s perception of rude behavior in contrast to “polite” behavior (Bargh, Chen, and Burrows, 1996).  The next experiment is based on the participant’s perception of the stereotype of senior citizens.  And the last experiment is on the subject’s perception on “African American stereotypes” (Bargh et al., 1996).  The experiments utilized methods for conducting their research based on previous studies done on the association process of perception, “priming” (Bargh et al., 1996).

This study can be applied to other principles or social matters in many different ways.  Some examples of some social issues that can possibly change people’s perception or prime them into action are gender roles, race relations, and the inclusion of people with disabilities. The goal of priming is to change the mind set or ideology of individual’s automatic response to certain groups of people that they perceive as different or inferior.

The experiment of 2 and 3 shows, that there may be a lesson in how stereotypes can negatively affect people’s psyche (Bargh et al., 1996).  When there are perceptions of stereotypes due to “physical” attributes and features (Bargh et al., 1996), a person’s biased views can cause them to react in a negative way.  For example if a person has a biased view towards women working in a male dominated job that has traditionally been dominated by males, she may find herself working in a negative environment.  These perceived stereotypes would be based according to her gender.

Reference

Bargh, J. A., Chen, M., & Burrows, L. (1996). Automaticity of social behavior: Direct effects of trait construct and stereotype activation on action. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71(2), 230-244.

Updated 9/20/2016

Copyrighted 2014-2016 by Messenger Publishing, Inc. all rights reserved

How to cite this article:

Swanson, K.  (2016).  The Effects of Stereotyping (Part 1).  Psychology Essence (Messenger Publishing, Inc.).  Retrieved from http://psychologyessence.blogspot.com/2014/09/blog-post.html.

What is Social Psychology?

By:  Kimberly Swanson, MS-Psy, CNA
What is social psychology?  Social psychology is the study of human behavior in a social group setting (Berkeley University, 2013).  This particular field of psychology explores the reasoning behind how and why a person “feel” and “think” about a certain event that impacted or created the circumstances in their life (Berkeley University, 2013).  According to Berkley University (2013), social psychology is similar to “sociology”, but social psychology focuses more on the individual’s thought processes instead of the entire group.

Reference
Berkeley University (Retrieved November 1, 2013).  What is social psychology?          
http://csua.berkeley.edu/~kaserina/psych/definition.html

Updated 9/21/16

Copyright in 2014-2016 by ©Messenger Publishing, Inc.

What is Structuralism in Psychology? (Part 2)

What is Structuralism in Psychology? (Part 2)

By Kimberly Swanson, MS-Psy, CNA

How Does Structuralism Gives a Framework to Psychology

The first thing that structuralism does is that it gives a framework to psychology.  Titchener first identified the problems with psychology which are (Schultz & Schultz, 2012):  1.  minimizing consciousness processing, 2.  determining “laws” based on consciousness, 3.  and  attaching “elements” to “physiological conditions”. 

Titchener, known for
developing structuralism for
 psychology

In 1896, Titchener created a system of  identifying the “elements of sensation”  which was based on his studies and research (Schultz & Schultz, 2012).  His system for elements of sensation was published in An Outline of Psychology.   The elements of sensation created a simplified framework for psychology by identifying “44,500 individualized sensation, 32,820  for visual sensation, and 11,600 auditory sensation” (Schultz & Schultz, 2012).

Titchener’s work brought more clarity to Wundtian theory of quality and intensity by creating a framework for psychology.  Bringing clarity to Wundt’s earlier work,  further explained how to gather “quality, intensity, duration, and clearness” to the conscious mind (Schultz & Schultz, 2012).

Another contribution that structuralism has done for psychology was give guidance as to how research and experiments  are suppose to be conducted.  Titchener developed the concept of introspection.  With introspection, researchers are trained to be more detailed and accurate while recording and documenting their data.  During Titchener’s time, he adopted Kulpe’s method of producing scientific reports that are more detailed, qualitative, and subjective (Schultz & Schultz, 2012).

Reference:  

Schultz, D.P., & Schultz, S.E. (2012). Philosophical influences on psychology (10^th Eds.), A History of Modern Psychology (pp. 65-86) Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Press.

Updated 10/01/16

Copyrighted 2013-2016 by Messenger Publishing, Inc. all rights reserved

How to cite this article:

Swanson, K.  (2016).  What is Structuralism in Psychology?   Psychology Essence (Messenger Publishing, Inc.).  Retrieved from http://psychologyessence.blogspot.com/2013/09/what-is-structuralism-in-psychology.html.