The Stigma of Overweight: Affective Consequences of Attributional Ambiguity

Attributing negative outcomes to prejudice and discrimination may protect the mood and self-esteem of some stigmatized groups. Thus, the overweight may be low in self-esteem because they blame their weight, but not the attitudes of others, for negative outcomes based on their weight. In an experimen...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of personality and social psychology 1993-01, Vol.64 (1), p.60-70
Main Authors: Crocker, Jennifer, Cornwell, Beth, Major, Brenda
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Affect
Attitude
Attitude towards mental illness
Attribution
Biological and medical sciences
Body Image
Consequence
Emotional States
Feedback
Female
Human
Humans
Internal-External Control
Male
Medical sciences
Obesity
Obesity - psychology
Overweight
Personality
Psychology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Self Concept
Self image
Self-esteem
Selfesteem
Social Desirability
Social Perception
Social psychiatry. Ethnopsychiatry
Social research
Stigma
Weight
Women
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Summary:Attributing negative outcomes to prejudice and discrimination may protect the mood and self-esteem of some stigmatized groups. Thus, the overweight may be low in self-esteem because they blame their weight, but not the attitudes of others, for negative outcomes based on their weight. In an experiment, 27 overweight and 31 normal weight college women received either positive or negative social feedback from a male evaluator. Relative to other groups, overweight women who received negative feedback attributed the feedback to their weight but did not blame the evaluator for his reaction. This attributional pattern resulted in more negative mood for these overweight women in comparison with other groups. Dimensions of stigma that may account for differences in the tendency to attribute negative outcomes to prejudice, and implications of these findings for weight loss programs and psychotherapy for the overweight, are discussed.
ISSN:0022-3514
1939-1315
DOI:10.1037/0022-3514.64.1.60