Shedding the Pounds but not the Stigma: Negative Attributions as a Function of a Target's Method of Weight Loss

Abstract

Overweight individuals are perceived as possessing several negative attributes, which often leads them to attempt to lose weight. The current research examined if method of weight loss influences participants' attributions and perceptions of a formerly overweight target individual. Participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: weight loss via diet/exercise, weight loss via surgery, or control (no description of weight loss). Results indicated that, in general, the surgery targets were perceived more negatively than the diet/exercise targets. Moreover, diet/exercise targets were perceived as being less healthy, and, for female participants, more responsible for their weight than control targets. These data suggest that individuals who lose weight are still prone to the negative attributions associated with the overweight.

Changes in weight bias following weight loss: the impact of weight-loss method

“…For example, a recent study found that describing an obese person as having high social status resulted in increased ratings of competence and decreased ratings of laziness, but there was no change in ratings of warmth. 27 Furthermore, consistent with the findings of this study, Mattingly et al 24 found no difference in the likability ratings of individuals who had lost weight through dieting and exercise, who lost weight through surgery or who were always thin. Thus, warmth does not appear to be a core feature of the stereotypes of obese individuals.…”

“…Some of the key findings that differentiated weight-loss methods related to effort and laziness, which might also be related to the view that body weight is under personal control. Indeed, Mattingly et al 24 found that weight loss through diet and exercise was associated with greater perceptions of responsibility for weight loss than did weight loss through surgery. Thus, future research could examine participants' beliefs in the controllability of body weight as a mediator or moderator of attitude change as a function of weight-loss method.…”

“…24 Participants rated the woman as more healthy and more physically attractive when they learned that she had lost weight through diet and exercise than when she lost weight through surgery, but there were no differences between weight-loss methods in terms of how likeable the target was. On the basis of these results, Mattingly et al 24 suggested that individuals who lose weight through surgery might continue to be treated like an overweight person because they continue to be seen as lazy, and lacking willpower and personal responsibility. That study, however, did not examine changes in impressions of the target from pre-weight loss to post-weight loss, and those data therefore cannot speak to how people's impressions of an individual change as a function of losing weight.…”

The Effect of Effort and Weight Controllability on Perceptions of Obese Individuals

“…For example, previously overweight or obese individuals who had lost weight through diet and exercise (high effort) were perceived more positively than were targets who had lost weight via surgery (low effort) (Fardouly & Vartanian, 2012;Mattingly, Stambush, & Hill, 2009;Vartanian & Fardouly, 2013, and this difference appears to be due to people viewing surgery patients as less responsible for their weight loss (Vartanian & Fardouly, 2013. Furthermore, Bullock, Stambush, and Mattingly (2011) showed that the difference between positive evaluations of high-effort targets relative to low-effort targets was most evident among individuals who were high in anti-fat attitudes.…”

Impact of Weight-Related Discrimination, Body Dissatisfaction and Self-Stigma on the Desire to Weigh Less

“…Unrealistic goals might also lead to disappointments when goals cannot be reached, and, in the worst case, this could provoke weight regain due to maladaptive eating patterns or eating disorders that arise from frustration and psychological distress [66] resulting in even more negative psychological consequences [67]. Moreover, research has shown that even weight reduction methods that can lead to greater weight loss, such as bariatric or metabolic surgery, can bring out stigmatization in response to choosing this particular method [68,69,70]. One possible psychological effect of not meeting one's (unrealistic) goals or expectations might be that it is interpreted as failure by the patients themselves, doubling the internalized stigma, such as ‘I never put in enough effort'.…”