|
Many
Have Subconscious Bias Against Obese
New study findings show that even when people don't believe
they are biased against the overweight, those biases often
exist at subconscious levels, and may creep out in subtle
ways.
Dr. Bethany A. Teachman and her colleagues discovered that
even when people say they do not have negative feelings
toward the overweight, a word association exercise shows
that they do.
These negative stereotypes about the overweight appeared
even when people were told before the word exercise that
obesity mostly results from a person's genetic makeup, the
authors report.
People who are overweight are the subjects of discrimination
in many areas of life, Teachman said, and these "anti-fat"
societal messages may influence our thinking in subtle ways,
even if we try to fight against them.
"One possibility is that despite our best intentions
to be tolerant and nonjudgmental, we are still greatly affected
by the cultural message that being overweight is a moral
weakness, and messages that negatively portray overweight
people in the media," Teachman said.
"Another possibility is that implicit biases reflect
attitudes and beliefs that a person is aware of, but does
not feel it is socially acceptable to report," the
University of Virginia researcher added.
During the study, Teachman, along with Dr. Kelly Brownell
and colleagues asked 144 people to report how they felt
about what "fat people are like." Some participants
were first shown a made-up "research study" that
said obesity was caused primarily by genetics; other participants
were given a different "study" to read, this one
said extra pounds were most often due to overeating and
lack of exercise. A third group was given no study to read.
The participants then completed a word exercise designed
to tease out negative biases that they might unconsciously
hold against the obese.
In the current issue of Health Psychology, Teachman and
her colleagues report that the word exercise revealed that
many people--even those who say they have no anti-fat biases--have
subconscious, negative associations with being overweight.
These subconscious biases may crop up in many situations
of daily life, Teachman said in an interview, such as when
we walk down the street, hear a "fat joke," or
any situation in which we have to react spontaneously to
an overweight person.
"For example, past research has found that implicit
anti-fat biases predicted how far people wanted to sit from
a person who was overweight," she said.
Other studies have shown that focusing on images of positive
African-American role models can help people overcome their
unconscious race biases, and the same technique could help
combat the stigma of obesity, Teachman offered.
"I hope that we will continue to see changes in the
media's presentation of overweight persons," she added,
"including more common portrayals and reflections of
overweight persons in all of life's diverse professional,
family, and romantic roles, rather than the typical negative
portrayal."
Other changes that could dispel some negative stereotypes
about the obese include discouraging "fat jokes,"
and encouraging education about the causes of obesity, "so
that the current myths that obesity is entirely an individual's
fault because of lack of will power and over eating can
be corrected," Teachman said.
The research was funded by the Rudd Foundation.
SOURCE: Health Psychology 2003;22:68-78.
Article Source: Reuters Health
Article Author: N/A
Net Reference 89
|
