IS THE INFLUENCE OF ROLE MODELS AND CELEBRITIES SOMETHING THAT CAUSES ANOREXIA?”

Remember it’s a Key QUESTION. If the Examiner asks you what it is, don’t write “Anorexia”. “Anorexia” isn’t a question. Questions have question marks at the end and start with a word like “how”.
The exam may ask you to “summarise” your Key Question. This means giving some of the information below.

THE FEATURES OF ANOREXIA NERVOSA

“Features” means facts about your Key Issue – what forms does it takes, what types are there? (You’re not talking any Psychology here. It’s general knowledge really.) Later you can explain the learning theory behind eating disorders like this

Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder that may affect up to 5% of girls and young women in the UK. It is a form of intentional self-starving that begins as dieting but goes to extremes.

Symptoms of anorexia include:

• Extreme weight loss for no discernable medical reason
• Ritualistic food habits, such as excessive chewing
• Denying hunger and exercising excessively
• A person with anorexia may be excessively thin but still sees themselves as overweight.

The average age for onset of the illness is 16, although the age range of anorexia is between 10 and 40. Around 90% of cases are female. Most have no history of being overweight.

Over 25% of anorexics are so weak that they require hospitalisation. This may involve force feeding as well as advice on healthy eating and counselling.

Many doctors believe that once a person's bodyweight has fallen below a certain level, they are no longer capable of making rational decisions.

There has been wide-ranging debate over whether anorexics should be force-fed or whether they have the right to literally starve themselves to death.

Around one third of patients recover fully; another third improve significantly and the last third do not recover.

SIZE ZERO MODELS

Size Zero clothing is designed to fit measurements of chest-stomach-hips 84-64-89 cm. It is the equivalent of UK Size 4; by comparison, the average female clothing size in the UK is Size 16. It is also a term used for extremely thin models popular on fashion catwalks.

Concern about Size Zero models began when, in 2006, the model Luizel Ramos died of a heart attack brought on by anorexia. Madrid Fashion Week banned Size Zero models the following month and the Milan fashion show followed. Fashion houses like Prada, Versace and Victoria Beckham have also banned Size Zero models from representing them.

Nonetheless, even as Western people get fatter, the models used in the media get thinner. Kate Moss famously quipped: “Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.” Katie Green was a shopgirl who won a competition to become the new model for Wonderbra. She quit the campaign when she was expected to drop from Size 12 to Size 10; she went on to found the Say No To Size Zero Campaign.

One reaction to this has been the popularity of Plus Size models who wear UK Size 10-16. A famous example is Sophie Dahl who has appeared on covers for Elle and Vogue.

Plus Size models have also been criticised for setting bad examples in diet and weight management. For example, they often eat too much salt, which helps them retain fluids.

PHOTOSHOP & WOMEN'S BODIES

Photo Manipulation involves altering photographs after they have been taken. This has been made  digital photography and software like Photoshop. There is concern that the fashion industry uses photo manipulation to make models and celebrities look thinner than they are.

There are two types of photo manipulation:

• Technical re-touching: this sharpens the image, removes shadow and background clutter but it is also used to smooth skin imperfections and alter skin colour
• Creative re-touching: this alters the shape of the image and is often used to “stretch” arms and legs or flatten stomachs on photographs of models
  

Several celebrities have complained about their images being altered on magazine covers, including Brad Pitt, Kate Winslett and Jennifer Laurence. In 2010, Britney Spears agreed to release "un-airbrushed images of herself next to the digitally altered ones" to "highlight the pressure exerted on women to look perfect".

Some companies have turned against photo manipulation, including Dove Soap who launched their “Campaign for Real Beauty”. Other companies have decided to continue with it. The editor of the French magazine Marie Claire stated that their readers are not idiots and that they can tell when a model has been retouched.

A survey by New Look found that 15% of readers thought that cover images represented how the model looked in real life; 33% of women surveyed were aiming for a body image it was impossible for them to achieve.

APPLYING PSYCHOLOGY TO THE KEY QUESTION
AO2

Any question on your Key Question will be assessing you on AO2 (Application of Concepts and Ideas) so as well as telling the Examiner about anorexia and what may encourage it, you need to explain the psychology behind these ideas.

• You might get a question in two parts: one part asking you to summarise your Key Question and then another part asking you to use your psychological knowledge (the “apply” command from AO2).
• Or you might get one question which asks you to explain and apply psychology to your Key Question: in this case, it’s a good idea to write the answer in two “halves”, getting all the explanation out of the way then dealing with the AO2 application.

THE FEATURES OF ANOREXIA NERVOSA

Anorexia could be explained by Operant Conditioning. When people lose weight, they are complimented (positive reinforcement) and this conditions them into losing more and more weight. If people gain weight, they are criticised (punishment) or the compliments stop; by losing weight again, they end the criticisms (negative reinforcement).

This might explain why anorexia is less common in some ethnic minorities. If there are different views about body shape and beauty in other cultures, girls might receive fewer compliments for losing weight or fewer criticisms for gaining it. For example, the Contemporary Study by Becker et al. (2002) looks at Fiji, where girls are complimented for gaining weight.

However, many anorexics get so thin they are no longer considered attractive by other people and they get criticism instead of compliments, so another explanation may be needed to explain why they persevere with extreme weight loss. Cognitive Psychology suggests these people may perceive their bodies differently from healthy people. This mental disorder is called body dysmorphism.

SIZE ZERO MODELS

Social Learning Theory (SLT) would explain this by role models who are extremely thin. Bandura’s research shows that we are more influenced by role models who are the same gender as us but who have status, so young girls will be influenced by female cover models and celebrities.

Size Zero Models would not just be endangering their own lives; by acting as role models, they would be encouraging women to imitate them and aim for impossible or dangerous weight loss, which is a symptom of anorexia. This is another reason for banning them from magazine covers or catwalks.

Plus Size models may have the opposite effect, encouraging women to imitate a larger size. However, since there is a greater health risk in society from being overweight than underweight (and the average UK woman is already larger than most Plus Size models), this is not necessarily a good thing.

PHOTOSHOP & WOMEN'S BODIES

If people believe photoshopped images are real, then Social Learning Theory says they will try to imitate a standard of beauty that is impossible even for celebrities and professional models – a standard that is only possible with “creative re-touching”. This may well lead to eating disorders like anorexia.

Classical Conditioning suggests that men and women may come to associate thinness (which ought to be a Neutral Stimulus) with glamour and beauty (an Unconditioned Stimulus); this happens because both get the same approval and admiration (the Unconditioned Response). Phoroshopping may make extreme thinness a Conditioned Stimulus and attraction to it a Conditioned Response; this may also encourage anorexia.

Celebrities who expose photoshopping with their own images may be role models for healthier types of beauty. However, most of these celebrities are very slim anyway and appear on a lot of adverts and magazine covers, so the negative effects probably outweigh the positives.

EXEMPLAR ESSAY
How to write a 8-mark answer

Summarise  the key question you have studied from the Learning Approach and use psychology to explain it. (8 marks)

• A 8-mark “apply” question awards 4 marks for summarising and 4 marks for AO2 (Apply). Don't forget to add a conclusion so that you can get into the top band (7-8 marks).
  

The Key Question
My Key Question was “Is the influence of role models and celebrities something that causes anorexia?”

Summary
Anorexia is an eating disorder. The symptoms are extreme dieting and weight loss, leading to illness and death. It may affect 5% of British girls.
An example is the tragic death of the Size Zero model Luizel Ramos who died from a heart attack brought on by her anorexia.
After Ramos’ death, most of the Italian fashion shows banned the use of Size Zero models and designers like Victoria Beckham have done the same because they think using these models might encourage anorexia
There is a similar concern that anorexia may be caused by magazines using photoshop to make models look thinner. This was exposed by Britney Spears who released “before” and “after” photographs of herself, showing how she had been “creatively re-touched” to look thinner.

Application
Operant Conditioning suggests people will lose weight if they are praised for their slimness or find people are attracted to them more. This is positive reinforcement and it may lead to anorexia if it goes too far.
Negative reinforcement also explains extreme dieting, because women may stop getting criticism for their appearance when they lose weight.
Size Zero models may be role models for young women, who see the status they have from being on magazine covers and identify them because they are the same sex and age. This may lead them to imitate the anorexic diet of models like Luizel Ramos.
If people see a role model getting rewarded for losing weight, this is vicarious reinforcement and they are more likely to imitate it. This is what happened to Katie Green and she quit rather than be a role model for extreme weight loss.

Conclusion
Learning Theory explains why some women may feel a pressure to lose weight to receive reinforcement or imitate role models. However, there are probably other explanations for anorexia from the cognitive approach, such as distorted body image or low self-esteem.

• Notice that for a 8-mark answer you don’t have to include everything about anorexia. I haven’t mentioned the other symptoms or the differences between different ethnic backgrounds. I haven’t mentioned the examples of Kate Moss or Sophie Dahl. I haven’t described Classical Conditioning or mentioned Bandura. But I have tried to make the two halves – Summary and Application – evenly balanced.