The influence of a defendant’s body weight on perceptions of guilt

• Published in: International Journal of Obesity 2013-09, Vol.37 (9), p.1275-1281
• Main Authors: Schvey, N A, Puhl, R M, Levandoski, K A, Brownell, K D
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 631/378/2649/1723; 692/699/1702/393; Adult; Bank fraud; Bias; Biological and medical sciences; Body Weight; Data encryption; Decision Making; Epidemiology; Female; Females; Fraud; Gender; Guilt; Health Promotion and Disease Prevention; Humans; Internal Medicine; Judgment; Judicial Role; Juries; Jury members; Law Enforcement; Male; Medical sciences; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Metabolic Diseases; Obesity; Obesity - epidemiology; original-article; Overweight; Physiological aspects; Psychological aspects; Public Health; Sex Factors; Social Class; Social Desirability; Social Perception; Surveys and Questionnaires; Thinness - epidemiology; Trials; United States - epidemiology
• ISSN: 0307-0565; 1476-5497
• DOI: 10.1038/ijo.2012.211

Objective: To investigate the influence of a defendant’s weight on simulated jurors’ perceptions of guilt. Design and methods: Participants were 471 lean and overweight adults (mean body mass index: 25.34±5.91) who read a vignette describing a case of check fraud while viewing one of four images of the alleged defendant (a lean male, a lean female, an obese male or an obese female). Participants rated the defendant’s culpability on a 5-point Likert scale and completed measures of anti-fat attitudes. Results: Male respondents endorsed greater overall weight bias than females (F (1470)=23.815, P