Anti-fat Bias Information
Anti-fat bias refers to the prejudicial assumption of personality characteristics based on a visual assessment of a person as suffering from obesity based on physical characteristics. Anti-fat bias can be found in many facets of society, and the media’s portrayal of obese individuals has often been blamed for the pervasiveness of this phenomenon.
Contents |
Trait attribution
Anti-fat bias leads individuals to label obese members of society with negative traits such as "lazy", "greedy", "stupid", "smelly", "slow", and "unmotivated." This bias is not restricted only to clinically obese individuals, but also encompasses those whose body shape is in some way found unacceptable (although still within the normal or overweight BMI range).[1]
Anti-fat bias can be moderated by giving a mitigating context to the individual’s appearance of obesity.[2] For example, when told an individual was obese because of "overeating" and "lack of exercise", a higher implicit bias was found among study participants than those told that the individual’s obesity was due to "genetics". The group told that "genetics" were to blame did not exhibit a lowered implicit bias after the explanation, however. Thus, anti-fat bias may result from disgust.
Anti-fat bias is not a strictly Western cultural phenomenon. Instances of implicit anti-fat bias have been found across several cultures.[3]
Media
The media is often blamed for the strong negative trait associations that society has toward overweight individuals. There is a great deal of empirical research to support the idea of Thin Ideal Media, or the idea that the media tends to glorify and focus on thin actors and actresses, models, and other public figures while avoiding the use of overweight individuals.
In a study of children’s movies and books for messages about the importance of appearance, media targeted for children were heavily saturated with messages emphasizing attractiveness as an important part of relationships and interpersonal interaction.[4] Among the movies used in the study, two Disney movies contained the highest amount of messages about personal beauty. This study also found 64% of the videos studied portrayed obese characters as unattractive, evil, cruel, unfriendly, and more than half of the portrayals involved the consideration or consumption of food.
Representation of overweight individuals in prime time programming is not representative of the actual proportion in the population.[5] Only 14% of females and 24% of males featured in the top ten prime-time fictional programs of 2003 were overweight. Those that were shown had few romantic interactions, rarely shared affection with other characters, and were frequently shown consuming food.
In 2007, another analysis sampled 135 scenes featuring overweight individuals from popular television programs and movies and coded for anti-fat humor.[6] The majority of anti-fat humor found was verbal and directed at the individual in their presence.
Effects
Anti-fat bias can be found in the educational system. When compared to a group of psychology students of the same age, a group of students training to become physical education (PE) teachers were more likely to display implicit anti-fat attitudes.[7]
One dangerous effect of anti-fat bias is the presence of this bias in healthcare professionals, whose biases could result in a lower quality of treatment for overweight patients. Even those medical professionals who specialize in the treatment of obesity have been found to have strong negative associations toward obese individuals.[8]
Anti-fat bias can also be found at an early age. Preschool-aged children reported a preference for average-sized children over overweight children as friends.[9] As a consequence of anti-fat bias, overweight individuals often find themselves suffering repercussions in many facets of society, including legal and employment issues.[10]
References
- ^ Lerner, R.; Gellert, E. (1969). "Body build identification, preference and aversion in children". Developmental Psychology 1 (5): 456–462. doi:10.1037/h0027966.
- ^ Teachman, B.A.; Gapinski, K.D.; Brownell, K.D.; Rawlins, M.; Jeyaram, S. (2003). "Demonstrations of implicit anti-fat bias: The impact of providing causal information and evoking empathy". Health Psychology 22 (1): 68–78. doi:10.1037/0278-6133.22.1.68. PMID 12558204.
- ^ Crandall, C.; D’Anello, S.; Sakalli, N.; Lazarus, E.; Nejtardt, G.; Feather, N. (2001). "An attribution-model of prejudice: Anti-fat attitudes in six nations". Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 21 (1): 30–37.
- ^ Herbozo S.; Tantleff-Dunn, S.; Gokee-Larose, J.; Thompson, J.K. (2004). Beauty and thinness messages in children's media: A content analysis. Eating Disorders, 12: 21-34.
- ^ Greenberg, B.; Eastin, M.; Hofschire, L.; Lachlan, K.; Brownell, K. (2003). "Portrayal of overweight and obese individuals on commercial television". American Journal of Public Health 93 (8): 1342–1348. doi:10.2105/AJPH.93.8.1342. PMC 1447967. PMID 12893625.
- ^ Himes, S.M.; Thompson, J.K. (2007). "Fat stigmatization in television shows and movies: A content analysis". Obesity 15 (3): 712–719. doi:10.1038/oby.2007.635.
- ^ O’Brien, K.S.; Hunter, J.A.; Banks, M. (2007). "Implicit anti-fat bias in physical educators: Physical attributes, ideology and socialization". International Journal of Obesity 31 (2): 308–314. doi:10.1038/sj.ijo.0803398. PMID 16733526.
- ^ Teachman, B.A.; Brownell, K.D. (2001). "Implicit anti-fat bias among health professionals: Is anyone immune?". International Journal of Obesity 25 (10): 1525–1531. doi:10.1038/sj.ijo.0801745. PMID 11673776.
- ^ Musher-Eizenman, D.; Holub, S.; Miller, A.; Goldstein, S.; Edwards-Leeper, L. (2004). "Body size stigmatization in preschool children: The role of control attributions". Journal of Pediatric Psychology 29 (8): 613–620. doi:10.1093/jpepsy/jsh063. PMID 15491983.
- ^ Puhl, R.; Brownell, K. (2001). "Bias, discrimination, and obesity". Obesity Research 9 (12): 788–805. doi:10.1038/oby.2001.108. PMID 11743063.
Categories: Obesity
|