Month: December 2019

While most disorders are worldwide, the western society seems to manifest the most eating disorders. Anorexia, bulimia, and body dysmorphia are three eating disorders that seem to affect people, men and women alike, with 30 million people diagnosed with an eating disorder in a year in the US. Why do we have such a high per number than other countries? It is because of the stigma placed on appearance in the United States that does not exist in other countries, or is not as aggressive.

Anorexia is the most diagnosed eating disorder, and it occurs when a person develops an unreasonable fear of being overweight. People with this disorder exhibits symptoms such as starving themselves, or exercising excessively. When a person reduces eating to the point of a weight loss of 15% below their expected body weight, it is officially diagnosed as anorexia nervosa and should immediately start to be treated. Therapy and rehab are two very good ways to help someone suffering from anorexia.

Bulimia is a condition where a person develops a cycle of binge eating and then using inappropriate  methods of purging, such as throwing up, to avoid gaining weight. Bulimia should also be treated immediately, and therapy and rehab along with different behavior changes in order to deal with stress or anxiety in everyday life.

The western society has been getting called out lately when it comes to exploiting women in magazines and advertisements by photoshopping them to look unnaturally skinny. Seeing these images when you are young, or even as an older person, has been linked to different self esteem issues in society. When it comes to eating disorders, men also suffer from wanting their body to look a certain way and using different but extreme methods to reach that.

In my life, I know multiple people, some of my closest friends, who have suffered from eating disorders. I have watched people lose so much weight, yet still look in the mirror and see a different image. Eating disorders really take over someone’s whole life, socially, emotionally, and physically. It is up to usas a society to try to change this stigma and start showing an average body weight in ads, and also reiterating the fact that skinny does not equal beautiful, and that fat does not equal ugly.

 

After the experiments conducted by Chartrand and John Bargh in 1999, they discovered what is formally known today as the Chameleon effect. The Chameleon effect is a phenomenon describing the tendency of unintentionally imitating other’s expressions, postures, and voice tones in society. Most often, an individuals efforts to mimic someone else tends to make them more likable and strengthen interpersonal relationships. Normally we are unaware of these kinds of situations. but if you pay closer attention you begin to notice the patterns. Individuals often strive to behave the exact same way as their surrounding peers.

Through personal experience, I can prove this phenomenon is accurate. The example I want to share is school related and commonly occurs throughout society. The context is when you are asked to answer a question and raise your hand to determine which is the correct answer although you might be unsure which one is right. When I am unsure of the correct answer to the question, I will wait to raise my hand until I notice the point in time when half the class begins to raise their hand. Despite their answers being wrong, it is much less embarrassing when you are not the only person who got the answer wrong.

Instead of trying to determine the correct answer on my own, I will unintentionally conform with the rest of the class when they all begin to raise their hand. An individual feels more comfortable getting an answer wrong when others get it wrong. The key idea in this situation represents how the Chameleon effect works.  I am unintentionally mimicking the behavior of my fellow classmates. This is a habit that carries with me in school and probably one that other students follow as well.