Impact of exposure to counterstereotypic causality of obesity on beliefs about weight controllability and obesity bias Author Sara Lin, Lauren Stutts Publication Year 2020 Type Journal Article Abstract Individuals with obesity often report experiencing prejudice and discrimination due to their weight. Past research on obesity bias reduction strategies have yielded mixed results. The present study investigated the effectiveness of manipulating information about weight controllability in reducing obesity bias. Participants (N = 350) were randomly assigned into one of three conditions: counterstereotypic, stereotypic, or control. Each condition consisted of four short vignettes. The counterstereotypic condition provided an uncontrollable explanation of obesity (e.g., genetics) in each vignette describing a person with obesity, while the stereotypic condition emphasized lifestyle choices as the main cause of obesity. The control condition included a vignette in which weight was not addressed. Participants completed questionnaires about weight controllability and obesity bias pre- and post-exposure. There was a significant interaction between time and condition on beliefs about weight controllability and obesity bias. Participants in the counterstereotypic condition increased in belief about the uncontrollability of weight and decreased in obesity bias, while participants in the stereotypic condition decreased in belief about the uncontrollability of weight and increased in obesity bias. Obesity bias reduction strategies that utilize information about weight controllability can be effective. However, perpetuating stereotypic causes of obesity can worsen the problem. Keywords obesity, attribution, stereotypes Journal Psychology, Health & Medicine Volume 25 Pages 730-741 Type of Article Journal Article DOI 10.1080/13548506.2019.1653484 Full text The following is an excerpt of the intervention methodology. For more information, please see the full text of the article on the publisher's website or through your institution's library. Method Participants Participants included 350 participants from Amazon Mechanical Turk (Mturk) [...]. Procedure [...] After providing consent, participants completed the Fat Phobia Scale – Short Form and the Beliefs about Obese Persons Scale. Participants were then randomly assigned to read four vignettes from one of three conditions: counterstereotypic, stereotypic, and control [...]. Participants in the counterstereotypic condition were exposed to four individuals with obesity due to uncontrollable factors (e.g. genetics), whereas those in the stereotypic condition read about four individuals with obesity for controllable reasons (e.g., overeating and lack of exercise). Participants in the control condition read about four individuals who were going on a honeymoon and weight was not addressed. [...] After reading each vignette, participants in the counterstereotypic and stereotypic condition responded to a multiple-choice question about the main cause of obesity in the vignette [...]. Participants in the control condition answered a question on the honeymoon destination in the vignette they read. After the four vignettes, participants took the Beliefs about Obese Persons Scale and the Fat Phobia Scale – Short Form again. [...] Measures Beliefs about obese persons scale (BAOP) The BAOP is an 8-item measure about beliefs about weight controllability. [...] Fat phobia scale – short form (FPS-SF) The FPS-SF assesses individuals’ beliefs about individuals with obesity. It consists of 14 pairs of adjectives used to describe people with obesity [...]. Participants are asked to indicate which adjective among the pair most resembles their feelings on a 5-point scale. [...] Demographic information Information on gender, race, age, height, weight, education attainment, household income, and location were collected to assess the generalizability of the sample. Type of Prejudice/Bias Body size Country United States Method Online / Survey Setting Online Google ScholarDOIBibTeX
