A Relational Frame Theory Contribution to Social Categorization

Obesity, 2012

International journal of obesity (2005), 2008

To compare the strength of weight bias to other common biases, and to develop a psychometrically sound measure to assess and compare bias against different targets. A total of 368 university students (75.4% women, 47.6% white, mean age: 21.53 years, mean body mass index (BMI): 23.01 kg/m(2)). A measure was developed to assess bias against different targets. Three versions of the universal measure of bias (UMB) were developed and validated, each focusing on either 'fat,' 'gay' or 'Muslim' individuals. These were administered to participants, along with two established scales of bias against each target and a measure of socially desirable response style. The UMB demonstrated good internal consistency, appropriate item-total and inter-item correlations, and a clear factor structure suggesting components of Negative Judgment, Distance, Attraction and Equal Rights. Construct validity was indicated by strong correlations between established measures of bias and eac...

Frontiers in Psychology, 2011

The implicit nature of the anti-fat bias has been investigated in most studies with the implicit association test (IAT; Greenwald et al., 1998). In this test, automatic associations held toward body weight are assessed through a series of sorting task requiring speeded responses. One task relates to body weight in which stimuli are classified as "thin" or "fat." In the second task, stimuli are categorized according to an evaluative attribute, e.g., "positive" vs. "negative." In the critical conditions, both tasks are to be performed in alternation, while the mapping of the response keys to both tasks is varied. It is assumed that behavioral responses mapping on the same response keys are easier to make when category and attribute task are associated with each other. Consistent with this notion, classifying the categories of (bad + fat) and (good + thin) on the same response keys results in better performance as compared to classifying categories of (bad + thin) and (good + fat) on the response keys. Across studies, a consistent and reliable anti-fat bias has been revealed in college students, health professionals, and recently, in a large online sample ranging in age from 13 to 79 years (

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 2019

Impressions of others are often influenced by the social categories to which they belong (Fiske & Neuberg, 1990; Freeman & Ambady, 2011). This tendency to categorize people is a robust and spontaneous process that occurs early in person perception (Ito & Urland, 2003; Stangor, Lynch, Duan, & Glas, 1992). Because social categories have associated stereotypes, when a person is categorized, they also are more likely to be judged according to group stereotypes

Obesity, 2006

SCHWARTZ, MARLENE B., LENNY R. VARTANIAN, BRIAN A. NOSEK, AND KELLY D. BROWNELL. The influence of one's own body weight on implicit and explicit anti-fat bias. Obesity. 2006;14:440 -447.

Health …, 2003

Three studies investigated implicit biases, and their modifiability, against overweight persons. In Study 1 (N ϭ 144), the authors demonstrated strong implicit anti-fat attitudes and stereotypes using the Implicit Association Test, despite no explicit anti-fat bias. When participants were informed that obesity is caused predominantly by overeating and lack of exercise, higher implicit bias relative to controls was produced; informing participants that obesity is mainly due to genetic factors did not result in lower bias. In Studies 2A (N ϭ 90) and 2B (N ϭ 63), participants read stories of discrimination against obese persons to evoke empathy. This did not lead to lower bias compared with controls but did produce diminished implicit bias among overweight participants, suggesting an in-group bias.

Current Psychiatry Reviews, 2009

Although overweight is undesirable from both public and personal health perspectives, the focus of this paper is on exploring the nature of fat prejudice within a social cognition framework. Fat prejudice refers to the tendency to form judgments about people on the basis of excessive body weight. Body size has been described as one of the few personal attributes considered an acceptable target of prejudice, despite the fact that targets of fat prejudice experience significant psychological distress. Fat prejudice is likely to become an increasingly common psychosocial problem in light of the obesity epidemic that is currently affecting many countries. The current paper reviews findings from nineteen experimental studies of implicit anti-fat attitudes; these studies have used either the implicit association test or the affective priming task. The empirical data highlight that implicit anti-fat attitudes are widely held and relatively universal. Robust implicit anti-fat bias is evident among many groups including university students, members of the general public, health professionals, and among those who are themselves overweight or obese. The current data suggest that, similar to findings with other attitudinal objects, the relationship between implicit and explicit measures of anti-fat attitudes is complex. The possibility of changing implicit anti-fat attitudes, either by modifying the underlying associative structures or by altering the pattern of activation, is discussed. Avenues for future research are offered, keeping in mind the challenge of formulating appropriate public health messages whilst also challenging weight bias, and promoting acceptance of diversity in body size.

Self and Identity, 2009

Evolution and Human Behavior, 2007

Humans possess pathogen-avoidance mechanisms that respond to the visual perception of morphological anomalies in others. We investigated whether obesity may trigger these mechanisms. Study 1 revealed that people who are chronically concerned about pathogen transmission have more negative attitudes toward obese people; this effect was especially pronounced following visual exposure to obese individuals. Study 2 revealed that obesity is implicitly associated with disease-connoting concepts; this effect was especially pronounced when the threat of pathogen transmission is highly salient. Evolved pathogen-detection mechanisms are hypersensitive, and they appear to play a role in the stigmatization of obese people.

Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, 1991

In Experiment 1, subjects acquired conditional equivalence classes controlled by three male and three female names as contextual stimuli. When equivalence relations were tested using new names not used in training (three male and three female), contextual control remained intact. Thus, generalized control of the composition of conditional equivalence classes by characteristically gender-identified names was shown. A basic analysis of this finding was tested in Experiment 2. Contextual equivalence classes were established using as contextual stimuli nonrepresentational visual figures that were members of additional pretrained three-member equivalence classes. When other stimuli in the pretrained equivalence classes were used as contextual stimuli, the conditional equivalence classes remained intact. Control subjects showed that this effect depended on the equivalence relations established in pretraining. The results show that contextual control over equivalence classes can transfer through equivalence classes. The implications of this phenomenon for social stereotyping are discussed.

2011

This dissertation examined whether factors specific to the perceiver influence whom he/she labels as "fat." Building upon research examining the role that one"s level of identification with a group (Castano, Yzerbyt, Bourguignon, & Seron, 2002; Leyens & Yzerbyt, 1992) and one"s prejudice level (Allport, 1954; Allport & Kramer, 1946) play in the process of categorizing others, this dissertation examined whether one"s body weight centrality and prejudice against fat people influence whom he/she labels as "fat." Further, to understand the mechanism explaining the link between these factors and the labeling process, this dissertation also explored whether motivational factors underlie whom a perceiver labels as "fat." Undergraduate females who self-identified as "not fat" were recruited for two studies that addressed these goals. Study one examined whether perceivers" prejudice levels and body weight centrality levels influenced how they categorized others based upon body weight and whether this categorization process represented a threat to the self. Study two examined further examined the role of prejudice and body weight centrality in body weight-based categorization as well as whether the desire to protect the in-group from contamination motivates the categorization process. Hypotheses were tested through a series of multiple regression analyses. Findings suggest that both prejudice towards fat people and the importance that one places upon body weight in one"s feelings of self-worth predicted the fat threshold. Further, evidence did not support the hypothesized impact of motivational factors on the link between prejudice or body weight centrality and the fat threshold. Implications and limitations are discussed. There are many people without whom this dissertation would not have been possible. First, I would like to thank my advisor Dr. Elizabeth C. Pinel for her constant support and guidance throughout my graduate school career. An amazing stroke of luck allowed me to work with Dr. Pinel and I am thankful each day for the wonderful opportunity to work with and learn from her. Dr. Pinel taught me to approach each new idea with the lens of a scientist and the training and support that I received from her throughout my career at the University of Vermont truly shaped the social psychologist that I am today as well as the social psychologist that I hope to become in the future.

Obesity, 2008

individuals, not only those who have faced discrimination, through internalization of negative social messages about being overweight. Knowledge of how these internalized messages affect overweight individuals may help to address mixed results in our understanding of the development and/or maintenance of psychopathology seen in this group (e.g., refs. 7-9). Much research examining weight bias has focused on the existence of antifat attitudes in the general population. Several measures of explicit antifat attitudes have been developed to examine the existence and correlates of weight bias, including the Antifat Attitudes Questionnaire (AAQ) (10), the Antifat Attitudes Test (11), and the Attitudes Toward Obese Persons and Beliefs About Obese Persons scales (12). These questionnaires have been used to measure weight bias in nonoverweight people, but they have begun to be used with samples of people who are overweight and obese (e.g., ref. 2). Studies using these scales have shown that antifat attitudes are held by both nonoverweight and overweight individuals (13) and that overweight persons do not hold more favorable attitudes toward other overweight persons (14). This finding of strongly held antifat attitudes among overweight adults has also been shown among overweight children (15).

Scandinavian Journal of …, 2006

In Study 1 ( N = 230), we found that the participants' explicit prejudice was not related to their knowledge of cultural stereotypes of immigrants in Sweden, and that they associated the social category immigrants with the same national/ethnic categories. In Study 2 ( N = 88), employing the category and stereotype words obtained in Study 1 as primes, we examined whether participants with varying degrees of explicit prejudice differed in their automatic stereotyping and implicit prejudice when primed with category or stereotypical words. In accord with our hypothesis, and contrary to previous findings, the results showed that people's explicit prejudice did not affect their automatic stereotyping and implicit prejudice, neither in the category nor stereotype priming condition. Study 3 ( N = 62), employing category priming using facial photographs of Swedes and immigrants as primes, showed that participants' implicit prejudice was not moderated by their explicit prejudice. The outcome is discussed in relation to the distinction between category and stereotype priming and in terms of the associative strength between a social category and its related stereotypes.

Journal of personality and …, 1993

Journal of personality and social psychology, 1989