The influence of role model on anorexia
§ Anorexia is an eating disorder characterized by being extremely underweight and refusing to eat properly if eating at all.
§ People who are suffering from anorexia tend to see themselves as being fat, even though they are very thin.
§ Anorexia is gotten through the refusal of food or too much exercise and sometimes can be a combination of both.
§ Anorexia starts in teenage years especially in girls
§ As a result of anorexia, girls who have it stop menstruating; they are always tired and have stomach pains.
§ Anorexia is gotten through the refusal of food or too much exercise and sometimes can be a combination of both.
§ Anorexia sufferers could die without treatment and their body is prone to different illnesses.
§ Boys also suffer anorexia, but girls suffer anorexia the most.
§ A survey carried out by ‘’Girlguiding’’ found out that in over 3000 girls, half of them said that the media made them feel that being thin and pretty are the most important thing.
Explaining the issue using learning approach
§ Social Learning Theory explains that people learn by imitating celebrities who they see as their role model.
§ Bandura showed that people are more likely imitate celebrities of the same sex, therefore a boy can imitate a celebrity who is a man and a girl will imitate a celebrity who is a woman.
§ However, bandura study was a laboratory experiment and therefore lacked ecological validity and findings lack validity.
§ Media serves as rewards and reinforcements. Thin role models are successful; this can be seen as a reward so children will imitate them in other to get the reward of being famous.
§ If role models are punished for their behaviour, then it is less likely that children would imitate them by being anorexic; they would learn from the role models and not be anorexic in other not to be punished (vicarious reinforcement).
§ Operant conditioning explains that learning is through consequences; therefore if anorexic role models are banned from the industry, this would be seen as a punishment and therefore teenagers would not imitate it.
§ However, some teenagers would still want to become anorexic in order to gain attention.