Dropping the weight stigma: nostalgia improves attitudes toward persons who are overweight
Dropping the weight stigma: nostalgia improves attitudes toward persons who are overweight
Weight stigma, a negative attitude toward persons who are overweight, can lead to emotional detriment (increased vulnerability to depression and anxiety, decreased self-esteem) and discriminatory practices (denial of employment, lower wages, refusal of job promotion or college admission, healthcare deprivation), which have increased dramatically in the United States over the past decade. We report two experiments that implicate nostalgia as a resource or strategy for weight stigma reduction. We hypothesized and found that nostalgia about an encounter with a person who is overweight improves attitudes toward the group “overweight.” Undergraduates who recalled a nostalgic (vs. ordinary) interaction with an overweight person subsequently showed more positive outgroup attitudes. The effect of nostalgia on outgroup attitudes was mediated by greater inclusion of the outgroup in the self and increased outgroup trust (Experiments 1 and 2), as well as reduced intergroup anxiety and greater perceptions of a common ingroup identity (Experiment 2). The findings have interventional potential.
nostalgia, weight stigma, inclusion in the self, outgroup trust, intergroup anxiety, common ingroup identity
130-137
Turner, Rhiannon N.
82fdb08a-db63-490e-b5fa-93e4ed4b45a0
Wildschut, Tim
4452a61d-1649-4c4a-bb1d-154ec446ff81
Sedikides, Constantine
9d45e66d-75bb-44de-87d7-21fd553812c2
January 2012
Turner, Rhiannon N.
82fdb08a-db63-490e-b5fa-93e4ed4b45a0
Wildschut, Tim
4452a61d-1649-4c4a-bb1d-154ec446ff81
Sedikides, Constantine
9d45e66d-75bb-44de-87d7-21fd553812c2
Turner, Rhiannon N., Wildschut, Tim and Sedikides, Constantine
(2012)
Dropping the weight stigma: nostalgia improves attitudes toward persons who are overweight.
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 48 (1), .
(doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2011.09.007).
Abstract
Weight stigma, a negative attitude toward persons who are overweight, can lead to emotional detriment (increased vulnerability to depression and anxiety, decreased self-esteem) and discriminatory practices (denial of employment, lower wages, refusal of job promotion or college admission, healthcare deprivation), which have increased dramatically in the United States over the past decade. We report two experiments that implicate nostalgia as a resource or strategy for weight stigma reduction. We hypothesized and found that nostalgia about an encounter with a person who is overweight improves attitudes toward the group “overweight.” Undergraduates who recalled a nostalgic (vs. ordinary) interaction with an overweight person subsequently showed more positive outgroup attitudes. The effect of nostalgia on outgroup attitudes was mediated by greater inclusion of the outgroup in the self and increased outgroup trust (Experiments 1 and 2), as well as reduced intergroup anxiety and greater perceptions of a common ingroup identity (Experiment 2). The findings have interventional potential.
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Turner,_Wildschut,_&_Sedikides,_2011,_JESPgg.docx
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e-pub ahead of print date: 22 September 2011
Published date: January 2012
Keywords:
nostalgia, weight stigma, inclusion in the self, outgroup trust, intergroup anxiety, common ingroup identity
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Local EPrints ID: 205015
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/205015
ISSN: 0022-1031
PURE UUID: d70fb493-1157-482f-81c5-f10678b98e0a
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Date deposited: 05 Dec 2011 14:56
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:10
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Author:
Rhiannon N. Turner
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