PSY 202 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Human Body Weight, Bulimia Nervosa, Anorexia Nervosa
18 Apr 2017
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Document Summary
Obesity: there is no formal definition of obesity. Obesity tends to run in families with heritability estimates between 60 and 80 percent. Identical twins raised apart do not significantly differ in weight from identical twins raised together. Genetics appears to determine a person"s sensitivity to becoming obese. Epigenetics is the study of heritable changes in gene expression caused by mechanisms other than alterations in dna. Findings show that obesity in a mother can result in a fetal over- nutrition can result in changes in gene expression leading to increased sensitivity to obesity. Exemplified by media images of extremely thin, perhaps anorexic, models. In the united states the standard represented models is 7 inches taller and 55 pounds lighter than the average woman. Cultural variability body weight: in 1951, anthropologists concluded that heavier women were universally found to be more attractive. In western africa, the term fat is often viewed as complimentary, indicating strength and beauty.
