Psychological explanations for Anorexia nervosa: Social Learning Theory
SLT Definition: Social learning theory, developed by psychologist Albert Bandura, uses theories of
classical and operant conditioning. But in this theory, the environment plays a large part in learning.
We model the behaviour of the people around us, especially if we find these models like ourselves or
if we want to copy them.
Modelling: Anorexia can be acquired through observation of a model, who provides behaviour to
imitate. (Can be real of symbolic e.g., a cartoon). This behaviour establishes the perceived social
norms of this environment e.g., an older sister constantly restricting her food intake, the child may
see this as normal. Especially influential if someone identifies with the person they imitate or e.g.,
they admire their thinness.
Vicarious reinforcement: likelihood behaviour will be imitated based on its positive or negative
consequences. If a model is rewarded for losing weight, this increases likelihood of imitation as they
may also want this positive reinforcement. Family members/carers are main source of this.
Role of media: media is a powerful transmitter of cultural ideals about body shape and size in
the form of music videos, television, social media posts, adverts. E.g., size zero has been
promoted to young girls as the ideal size to be. Young women identify with media figures and so
conform to this thin ideal by exercising and dieting, this may be vicariously reinforced by
respect, validation, fame, and wealth that media figures gain.
Helga Dittmar (2006) barbie doll study
Studied the influence of exposure to common model barbie doll toy on children. If upscaled to adult
size her waist would be 39% smaller than most women with AN.
Procedure: British girls exposed to image of barbie doll, Emme dolls (more realistically shaped toys)
or a control of flowers and clothes. And asked to rate statements about their body esteem.
Findings: The girls who saw the barbie doll were significantly more dissatisfied with their body. They
concluded that girls who identify with barbie doll internalise the thin ideal that barbies’ proportions
promote.
Evaluation of SLT explanation for AN
One strength of SLT is that it can explain cultural changes in AN. Anorexia rates vary in different
cultures though this changes constantly e.g., rates are rising rapidly in Japan over the past 40 years,
researchers suggest that there has been a shift in indicator of health, plumpness in collectivist
cultures, whereas thinness is more a sign of this in individualist cultures. Further and these cultural
ideals may explain a rising male ideal ‘bigorexia’, developing muscles without getting fat.
One limitation of SLT is that it has had limited effectiveness on therapies for anorexia nervosa. The
explanation it proposes may aid other treatments but not enough to base its own therapy. This is in
clear contrast to other approaches e.g., neural explanations, that use drug treatments used for
extreme AN, and cognitive theories lead to highly successful CBT or family therapies. Therefore, the
practical value of SLT in helping people with AN is very limited.
