Cognitive Explanations

• Distorted thoughts:

  • Involves a distorted way of thinking or incorrect perceptions of the reality as a result of making comparisons with others (eg models in the media).
  • This leads to the person feeling like they are overweight, or that they consume too much and therefore feel disgust towards themselves (seeing their body bigger than it is, for example).
• Irrational beliefs:

  • Involves faulty beliefs about oneself or the world around you (thinking "if I were thin, everyone would like me").
• The Cognitive Behavioural Model incorporates both cognitive & behavioural aspects (ie faulty thinking & environmental stimuli). Certain traits were recognised by Garner & Bemis.
• Cognitive Behavioural Model:

  1. High achieving perfections (cognitive factors)
  2. Introverted (cognitive)
  3. Self-doubting (cognitive)
  4. Over importance placed on body weight & shape (cognitive)
  5. Irrational belief that thinness= happier (cognitive)
  6. Exposure to westernised cultural ideals- social learning (behavioural factors)
  7. Weight loss reinforced by feeling good/ positive comments- operant conditioning (behavioural)
• • Once the idea that becoming thin is of ultimate importance, anxiety around food arises, resulting in a fear of food, eating & weight gain- this leads to food avoidance & the sufferer becomes socially isolated.
  • This isolation means they're even more detached from the reality of what's important & healthy, and their distorted thoughts on body shape and the importance of being thin are intensified.
• Evaluation of cognitive explanations- strength:

  • If a treatment on explanation works, likely explanation holds value. CBT is quite successful, supporting cognitive explanation. Fairburn et al compared CBT for ED (CBT-E) with interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT)- a leading treatment with no cognitive aspects. Randomised 130 patients with ED(so CBT-E or IPT) for 20week therapy period. At end of weeks, 2/3 of the CBT group met criteria for remission compared to 1/3 of the IPT group. Shows cognitive therapy helped most patients & is effective, supporting cognitive factors role in AN development.
• Evaluation of cognitive explanations- strength: 1

  • Research support for cognitive factors- Lang et al compared 41 children & adolescents with AN to 43 healthy controls on a range if cognitive factors. Found no significant difference in IQ, but found AN group displayed more inflexible cognitive processing style. Meant they were unable to overcome previously held beliefs/ habits in the face of new information (may explain why they're able to starve themselves despite family/ doctors telling them of the damage they're doing).
• Evaluation of cognitive explanations- strength: 2

  Characteristic true irrespective of clinical (length/ illness severity) or demographic (education) factors, & so was therefore concluded to be an underlying characteristic of AN.
• Evaluation of cognitive explanations- strength:

  • Cognitive factor of AN= anxiety related to food & eating; was thought that in using a food stroop test (words of food presented in different colours) & (saying colour not name of food), the sufferers attention would be biased towards these words as they were perceived as threatening. Patients with AN found it hard to colour-name words that were relevant to their weight concerns, suggesting a preoccupation to those concerns. Shows the cognitive factor of food anxiety to be present.
• Evaluation of cognitive explanations- weakness:

  • Studies tend to be clinical observations & self-reports rather than empirical research testing cognitive hypothesis'- this results in a weaker theory that lags behind cognitive explanations of other disorders such as depression.