Exam Questions

Sample Questions

Outline one explanation for anorexia (3 marks)

One explanation of anorexia is the cognitive explanation which involves a mis-perception and faulty reasoning about the body. Faulty reasoning includes perceiving the body as being overweight when it is underweight and basing feelings of self worth on physical appearance. It also involves basing sense of self on control over eating and having irrational beliefs about food/dieting behaviours. Cognitive errors include things such as all or nothing thinking for example “I ate one biscuit and its ruined everything” or minimising such as “my weight loss isn’t serious”.

Evaluate the above explanation of anorexia (4 marks)

One weakness of this explanation is that there is not much evidence to support the view that faulty reasoning precedes other psychological symptoms therefore meaning a cause and effect relationship cannot be determined. Another weakness of this explanation is that it is associated with biases and distortions in thinking however most women are unsatisfied with their body image and not all of them develop an eating disorder.

Describe the symptoms and features of anorexia (4 marks)

One symptom of anorexia is refusal to eat and maintain a minimum average body weight due to fear of gaining weight or becoming fat. 90% of cases of anorexia occur in females between 13 and 18. 20% have one episode then complete recovery yet 60% gain weight and then relapse. People suffering from AN will have a distorted perception of body weight and shape and end up suffering from Amenorrhea (absence of 3 consecutive periods). 20% of sufferers continue to be affected and require hospitalization and of these 20%, 10% die of starvation or suicide.

Describe the genetic explanation of anorexia (3 marks)

The genetic explanation states that we inherit genes from our parents and members of the same family have similar genetic profiles. For this reason disorders with a genetic component tend to run in families meaning if eating disorders are influenced by genetics then we would expect to find that people closely related to someone with anorexia would be at higher risk of developing it themselves. Strober and Humphrey (1987) found that relatives of eating disorder patients were between 4 and 5 times more likely than members of the general population to develop an eating disorder.