A Game to Understand Anorexia Nervosa
It is assumed that patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) are prone to high levels of guilt and jealousy. The ultimatum game (UG) will be a game that focuses on interpersonal behavior in splitting an amount of money between two players.
The ultimatum game is a game in experimental economics. In sociology, it is known for its aversion to inequity, even in situations where profits can be made.
From wikipedia
The study by UG shows that people tend to reduce the unfairness of outcomes, and concludes that economically irrational decisions can be explained by the fact that they may arise partly from guilt and jealousy. The researchers conducted an experiment in which they hypothesized that AN patients who reflected high levels of guilt and jealousy would act excessively and fairly in UG.
Using the UG.
The relationship between the UG results and the decision-making strategies identified by the post-experimental questionnaire was analyzed.
Results.
AN patients were found to provide more money to the responder than those who did not. On the other hand, as a responder, they also found that AN patients demanded a much higher allocation to accept the offer compared to those who did not. With regard to their strategy as responders, AN patients tended to place more emphasis on fairness and less emphasis on financial rewards compared to those who did not.
In conclusion, Japanese sufferers of anorexia nervosa were found to have
High guilt
High envy
but also showed a "strong preference for fairness".
High sensitivity to these emotions may also influence problems with eating and body shape, as well as interpersonal decision making.
Isobe, M., Kawabata, M., Murao, E. et al. Exaggerated envy and guilt measured by economic games in Japanese women with anorexia nervosa. BioPsychoSocial Med 12, 19 (2018). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13030-018-0138-8
Summary
This study used a game to understand the psychology of people with anorexia nervosa and checked their tendency or degree of desire for guilt and envy, and found that these desires were high. In other words, if you want to understand the feelings of anorexics, you may be able to understand the feelings of AN patients by playing these games, such as "over-offer" and "over-reject".
These results seem to be reproducible, explaining that people with a strong sense of guilt tend to be more fair-minded, and people with a high level of envy tend to reject unfair offers, and thus are more likely to act in the same way towards food and interpersonal relationships.
Another characteristic of people with a strong desire for fairness is a background of certainty, fear of social rejection, and a lack of psychological flexibility to accept negative evaluations by others. Because of this background, they tend to be overly dependent on social norms and rules, and may communicate inflexibly.
To understand anorexia nervosa, why not play the ultimatum game?
