Previous research demonstrates that we tend to derogate individuals who are perceived to be in a social relationship with stigmatized persons. Two experiments examined whether this phenomenon also occurs for individuals seen in the presence of an obese person and whether a social relationship is necessary for stigmatization to spread. The results from both experiments revealed that a male job applicant was rated more negatively when seen with an overweight compared to a normal weight female and that just being in the mere proximity of an overweight woman was enough to trigger stigmatization toward the male applicant. Experiment 2 examined possible moderating effects of the proximity finding. Applicants seated next to heavy (vs. average weight) individuals were denigrated consistently regardless of the perceived depth of the relationship, the participant’s anti-fat attitudes or gender, and whether or not positive information was presented concerning the woman. The profound nature of the obesity stigma and implications for impression formation processes are discussed.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Allon, N. (1982). The stigma of overweight in everyday life. In B.B. Wolman (Ed.), Psychological aspects of obesity: A handbook (pp. 130-174). New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
2.
Berscheid, E., Dion, K., Walster, E., & Walster, G.W. (1997). Physical attractivness and dating choice: A test of the matching hypothesis. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 7, 173-180.
3.
Birenbaum, A. (1992). Courtesy stigma revisited. Mental Retardation, 30, 265-268.
4.
Crandall, C.S. (1994). Prejudice against fat people: Ideology and selfinterest. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66, 882-894.
5.
Crandall, C.S. (1995). Do parents discriminate against their overweight daughters?Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 21, 724-735.
6.
Crandall, C.S., & Martinez, R. (1996). Culture, ideology, and anti-fat attitudes. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 22, 1165-1176.
7.
Crocker, J., Cornwell, B., & Major, B. (1993). The stigma of overweight: Affective consequences of attributional ambiguity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64, 60-70.
8.
Crocker, J., & Major, B. (1989). Social stigma and self-esteem: The self-protective properties of stigma. Psychological Bulletin, 96, 608-630.
9.
DeJong, W., & Kleck, R.E. (1986). The social psychological effects of overweight. In C.P. Herman, M.P. Zanna, & E.T. Higgins (Eds.), Physical appearance, stigma and social behavior: The Ontario Symposium (pp. 65-87). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
10.
Devine, P.G., Monteith, M.J., Zuwerink, J.R., & Elliot, A.J. (1991). Prejudice with and without compunction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 817-830.
11.
Dovidio, J.F., Evans, N., & Tyler, R.B. (1986). Racial stereotypes: The contents of their cognitive representations. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 22, 22-37.
12.
Esses, V.M., & Webster, C.D. (1988). Physical attractiveness, dangerousness, and the Canadian Criminal Code. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 18, 1017-1031.
13.
Fallon, A. (1990). Culture in the mirror: Sociocultural determinants of body image. In T.F. Cash & T. Pruzinsky (Eds.), Body images: Development, deviance, and change (pp. 80-109). New York: Guilford.
14.
Fiske, S.T., & Neuberg, S.L. (1990). A continuum of impression formation, form category-based to individuating processes: Influences of information and motivation on attention and interpretation. In M.P. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 23, pp. 7-74). Orlando, FL: Academic Press.
15.
Flegal, K.M., Carroll, M.D., Kuczmarksi, R.J., & Johnson, C.L. (1998). Overweight and obesity in the United States: Prevalence and trends 1960-1994. International Journal of Obesity Related Metabolic Disorders, 22, 39-47.
16.
Friedman, M.A., & Brownell, K.D. (1995). Psychological correlates of obesity: Moving to the next generation of research. Psychological Bulletin, 117, 3-20.
17.
Gilbert, D.T., & Hixon, J.G. (1991). The trouble of thinking: Activation and application of stereotypic beliefs. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60, 509-517.
18.
Goffman, E. (1963). Stigma: Notes on the management of spoiled identity. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
19.
Goode, E., & Preissler, J. (1983). The fat admirer. Deviant Behavior, 4, 175-202.
20.
Griffitt, W. (1970). Environmental effects on interpersonal affective behavior: Ambient effective temperature and attraction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 15, 240-244.
21.
Harris, M.B. (1990). Is love seen as different for the obese?Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 20, 1209-1224.
22.
Harris, M.B., Harris, R.J., & Bochner, S. (1982). Fat four-eyed and female: Stereotypes of obesity glasses and gender. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 12, 503-516.
23.
Heatherton, T.F., Kleck, R.E., Hebl, M., & Hull, J. (2000). Stigma: Social psychological perspectives. New York: Guilford.
24.
Hebl, M., & Dovidio, J.F. (2002). Promoting the “social” in the examination of social stigmas. Unpublished manuscript, Rice University.
25.
Hebl, M., & Heatherton, T.F. (1997). The stigma of obesity: The differences are black and white. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 24, 417-426.
26.
Hebl, M.R., & Kleck, R.E. (2000). The social consequences of physical disability. In R.E. Kleck, T.F. Heatherton, M.R. Hebl, & J. Hull (Eds.), Stigma: Social psychological perspectives. New York: Guilford.
27.
Hebl, M.R., & Kleck, R.E. (2002). To mention or not to mention: Acknowledgment of a stigma by physically disabled and obese individuals. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 32, 223-249.
28.
Hebl, M.R., & Xu, J. (2001).Weighing the care: A field study examining how patient’s weight relates to assessments of medical care. International Journal of Obesity, 25, 1246-1252.
29.
Higgins, E.T., Rholes, C.R., & Jones, C.R. (1977). Category accessibility and impression formation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 13, 141-154.
30.
Jackson, L.A. (1992). Physical appearance and gender: Sociobiological and sociocultural perspectives. Albany: State University of New York Press.
31.
Kernis, M.H., &Wheeler, L. (1981). Beautiful friends and ugly strangers: Radiation and contrast effects in perceptions of same-sex pairs. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 7, 617-620.
32.
Kunda, Z., & Sherman-Williams, B. (1993). Stereotypes and the construal of individuating information. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 19, 90-99.
33.
Larkin, J.C., &Pines, H.A. (1979). No fat persons need apply: Experimental studies of the overweight stereotype and hiring preferences. Sociology of Work and Occupations, 6, 312-327.
34.
Levinson, R.M., & Starling, D.M. (1981). Retardation and the burden of stigma. Deviant Behavior, 2, 371-390.
35.
Mehta, S.I., & Farina, A. (1988). Associative stigma: Perceptions of the difficulties of college-aged children of stigmatized fathers. Journal of Social & Clinical Psychology, 75, 70-81.
36.
Miller, C.T., & Downey, K.T. (1999). A meta-analysis of heavyweight and self-esteem. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 3, 68-84.
37.
Miller, C.T., Rothblum, E.D., Felicio, D.M., & Brand, P.A. (1995). Compensating for stigma: Obese and nonobese women’s reactions to being visible. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 21, 1093-1106.
38.
Neuberg, S.L., Smith, D.M., Hoffman, J.C., & Russell, F.J. (1994). When we observe stigmatized and “normal” individuals interacting: Stigma by association. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 20, 196-209.
39.
Pingitore, R., Dugoni, B.L., Tindale, R.S., & Spring, B. (1994). Bias against job applicants in a simulated employment interview. Journal of Applied Psychology, 79, 909-917.
40.
Roehling, M. (1999). Weight-based discrimination in employment: Psychological and legal aspects. Personnel Psychology, 52, 969-1016.
41.
Rothblum, E.D., Miller, C.T., & Garbutt, B. (1988). Stereotypes of obese female job applicants. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 7, 277-283.
42.
Ruscher, J.B., & Hammer, E.Y. (1996). Choosing to sever or maintain association induces biased impression formation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70, 701-712.
43.
Sigall, H., & Landy, D. (1973). Effects of having a physically attractive partner on person perception. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 28, 218-224.
44.
Sigelman, C.K., Howell, J.L., Cornell, D.P., Cutright, J.D., & Dewey, J.C. (1990). Courtesy stigma: The social implications of associating with a gay person. Journal of Social Psychology, 131, 45-56.
45.
Snyder, M., Kleck, R.E., Strenta, A., & Mentzer, S.J. (1979). Avoidance of the handicapped: An attributional ambiguity analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37, 2297-2306.
46.
Sobal, J. (1991). Obesity and socioeconomic status: A framework for examining relationships between physical and social variables. Medical Anthropology, 13, 231-247.
47.
Swim, J.K., Ferguson, M.J., & Hyers, L.L. (1999). Avoiding stigma by association: Subtle prejudice against lesbians in the form of social distancing. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, pp. 61-68.
48.
Swim, J.K., & Stangor, C. (1998). Prejudice: The target’s perspective. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
49.
Weiner, B. (1995). Judgments of responsibility: A theory of social conduct. New York: Guilford.
50.
Word, C.O., Zanna, M.P., & Cooper, J. (1974). The nonverbal mediation of self-fulfilling prophecies in interracial interaction. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 10, 109-120.
51.
Zhong, Y., & Yang, Z. (1998). A study of the priming effect of impression formation in social cognition: Frequency and recency effect. Psychological Science, 21, 425-428.
