Weight Stigma: Do We Believe that Everyone Can Enjoy Healthy Behaviors?

Abstract

Weight-based stigma is prevalent, increasing, and has many negative consequences. This research examines people's beliefs about what other people with heavy versus thin body types enjoy, in terms of food and activities. Predictions of others' enjoyment are important, as they can shape various downstream judgments, including beliefs about other people's likely goal pursuit success, and recommendations and choices for others. Six pre-registered experiments compare predictions of others' enjoyment of healthy and unhealthy foods and activities, based on whether others have heavy versus thin body types. These experiments show that whereas beliefs about what people with thin body types enjoy are flexible, beliefs about what people with heavy body types enjoy are narrow and inflexible. Specifically, if people with thin body types engage in counter-stereotypical unhealthy behavior, they are perceived to enjoy such behavior as much as people with heavy body types. By contrast, even if people with heavy body types engage in counter-stereotypical healthy behavior, they are perceived not to enjoy such behavior as much as people with thin body types. The potential wide-ranging implications of the belief that heavy people have narrower ranges of potential enjoyment are discussed.

Keywords: obesity, person perception, health, stereotypes, weight stigma