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Prejudice Against Fat People: Ideology and Self-Interest
Abstract
Prejudice against fat people was compared with symbolic racism. An anti-fat attitudes questionnaire was developed and used in several studies testing the notion that antipathy toward fat people is part of an "ideology of blame." Three commonalities between antifat attitudes and racism were explored: (a) the association between values, beliefs, and the rejection of a stigmatized group, (b) the old-fashioned antipathy toward deviance of many sorts, and (c) the lack of self-interest in out-group antipathy. Parallels were found on all 3 dimensions. No in-group bias was shown by fat people. Fatism appears to behave much like symbolic racism, but with less of the negative social desirability of racism.
... This indicates that other influences may be at play, and that weight-stigmatizing attitudes may be rooted in more fundamental beliefs and values. US studies into ideological correlates of weight stigma have reported associations with 'just world beliefs' (the belief that people largely get what they deserve in life), and the Protestant work ethic (the belief in the moral value of hard work and self-discipline) (Carels et al., 2009;Crandall, 1994;Ringel and Ditto, 2019). They also suggest that conservatives may have more weight-stigmatizing attitudes than liberals (Ringel and Ditto, 2019;Nosek et al., 2007). ...
... To our knowledge, this has never been explored using survey data. However, a US study reported a connection between attitudes about obesity and about people affected by poverty (Crandall, 1994). Moreover, evidence suggests that a person's views about welfare recipients are in turn underpinned by their core political values: how right-wing (as opposed to left-wing) and how authoritarian (as opposed to libertarian) they are. ...
... Our results therefore suggest not only that weight stigma and welfare stigma are connected, but that they may share common roots in fundamental political values. This may centre on the perceived moral importance of work or effort, which would accord with reported links between views about obesity and the Protestant work ethic (Carels et al., 2009;Crandall, 1994), and evidence that people who lose weight are judged differently if it was via surgery or diet and exercise (Ringel and Ditto, 2019). Our results may also reflect the consequences of a political framing of welfare dependency, and obesity, as similar kinds of moral failure (conservativehome.com, ...
Obesity-related stigma is increasingly recognised as a public health issue, with serious implications for mental and physical health. However, very little is known about what drives inter-individual differences in obesity-stigmatizing views, and how they are distributed in the population. If views about obesity are not independent of a person's wider beliefs and values, this must be understood so that obesity stigma can be effectively tackled. In a representative sample of British adults aged 18-97 (N = 2186), we explore predictors of weight-stigmatizing attitudes. We consider demographics, socioeconomic position, factors related to one's own weight and health, and beliefs about the causes and consequences of obesity. We explore the role of core political values which predict views about other stigmatized groups, and views about welfare recipients, who are frequently linked with obesity in public and political discourse. Finally, we assess to what extent demographic differences in weight-stigmatizing attitudes are explained by individual body mass index (BMI), attitudes, and beliefs. Consistent with previous studies, women were less weight-stigmatizing than men. People in late middle-age were less weight-stigmatizing than younger or older adults. Adjusted for age and gender, an index of weight-stigmatizing views was positively associated with income, and highest in intermediate categories of education and occupational social class. Weight-stigmatizing attitudes were associated with more right-wing values, more authoritarian values, and more stigmatizing views about welfare recipients. Factors including own BMI, beliefs about causes of obesity, welfare-stigmatizing attitudes and authoritarian values contributed to socioeconomic differences. Weight-stigmatizing attitudes show clear differences between demographic groups, but also vary according to wider social attitudes, beliefs, and a person's core political values. Efforts to reduce weight stigma, and other kinds of stigma, may be more effective if they recognise these links.
... In Experiment 3, we seek to extend these studies by examining if these findings extend to implicit attitudes. Attitudes towards overweight individuals was chosen because the stigma towards overweight individuals is pervasive among men and women and even health professionals (Crandall, 1994;Teachman and Brownell, 2001;Wang et al., 2004;Brown, 2006;Brochu and Morrison, 2007). Furthermore, research consistently finds that overweight individuals do not exhibit any ingroup favorability towards other overweight individuals; therefore, participant's own weight should not play a role in their expression of explicit or implicit attitudes (Crandall, 1994;Teachman and Brownell, 2001). ...
... Attitudes towards overweight individuals was chosen because the stigma towards overweight individuals is pervasive among men and women and even health professionals (Crandall, 1994;Teachman and Brownell, 2001;Wang et al., 2004;Brown, 2006;Brochu and Morrison, 2007). Furthermore, research consistently finds that overweight individuals do not exhibit any ingroup favorability towards other overweight individuals; therefore, participant's own weight should not play a role in their expression of explicit or implicit attitudes (Crandall, 1994;Teachman and Brownell, 2001). ...
... We measured participant's explicit views towards overweight people using Crandall's (1994) Anti-fat Attitudes Scale. This scale consists of 10 questions that measure overall attitudes towards overweight individuals and includes questions such as: "I do not have many friends that are fat, " "Fat people tend to be fat pretty much through their own fault, " and "I worry about becoming fat. ...
Bandura argues that individuals are more likely to engage in social learning when they identify with a social model and when they are motivated or rewarded. Therefore, in the present work, we investigate how these two key factors, perceived similarity and affiliative motivation, influence the extent to which individuals engage in social tuning or align their views with an interaction partner—especially if their partner’s attitudes differ from the larger social group. Experiment 1 (170 participants) explored the role of perceived similarity through group membership when needing to work collaboratively with a collaboration partner whose climate change beliefs differed from a larger social group. Experiment 2 (115 participants) directly manipulated affiliative motivation (i.e., length of interaction time) along with perceived similarity (i.e., Greek Life membership) to explore if these factors influenced social tuning of drinking attitudes and behaviors. Experiments 3 (69 participants) and 4 (93 participants) replicated Experiment 2 and examined whether tuning occurred for explicit and implicit attitudes towards weight (negative views Experiment 3 and positive views Experiment 4). Results indicate that when individuals experience high affiliative motivation, they are more likely to engage in social tuning of explicit and implicit attitudes when their interaction partner belongs to their ingroup rather than their outgroup. These findings are consistent with the tenets of Social Learning Theory, Shared Reality Theory, and the affiliative social tuning hypothesis.
... An additional objective was to test the relation between explicit measures of values and attitude toward fat people in the male targets condition and in the female targets condition. We had revealed mixed relations between these measures in the third pilot study (in a neutral gender condition), which used the Anti-Fat Attitude Questionnaire (AFA, Crandall, 1994, see Tables S7 and S8). In Study 2, we tested how implicit and explicit measures of values may relate to explicit attitudes toward fat people using the AFA. ...
... One hundred and sixty-eight participants ( Next, participants completed the AFA questionnaire (Crandall, 1994), a 10-item version of the Schwartz's Values Survey (SVS) measuring importance attached to power and egalitarian values (Schwartz, 1992), and semantic differential scales measuring attitudes toward power, egalitarianism, slim people and fat people. ...
... Participants completed the AFA (Crandall, 1994) and then a shortened 10-item version of the SVS (Schwartz, 1992). We translated the AFA (Crandall, 1994) into French, using a back-translation procedure. ...
Many domains of research suggest that high favorability to social power and low favorability to egalitarian ideals predict more prejudice against other groups. In the present article, we describe theory and evidence suggesting that the relations between power, egalitarianism, and prejudice may be reversed for one group: fat men. Using both implicit and explicit measures, we found across four studies (N = 602) that target gender moderated the relation between values and attitude toward fat people. For male targets, implicitly but not explicitly measured positivity toward power (over egalitarian) values predicted significantly more spontaneous positive attitudes toward fat (over slim) people. Further, implicit attitude toward power (over egalitarian) values predicted the time-pressured decision to choose a fat male. Together, the implicit evaluation of values allows us to identify processes in intergroup attitudes and behaviors that would not be possible to detect using explicit measures of values alone.
... There were 122 men (39.2%) and 189 women (60.8%). The following instruments were used: Explicit Anti-Fat Attitudes (AFA; Crandall, 1994) and the Body Esteem Scale for Adolescents and Adults (BESAA; Mendelson et al., 2001). The Body mass index (BMI) was operationalized by asking respondents for data on their height and weight and calculating their BMI. ...
... The results of previous studies also include gender as an important variable. Crandall (1994) shows that females are more afraid of gaining weight. Further, females are more likely to be on restrictive diets and show higher body dissatisfaction (Aruguete et al. 2006). ...
... Explicit Anti-Fat Attitudes (AFA; Crandall, 1994) was used to measure prejudice against obese people. The instrument contains three measurement subjects: (1) Fear of fat, (2) Dislike, and (3) Willpower, which refers to the respondent's belief that obese people are obese only through their own fault and that they do not have the willpower needed to solve their weight problem. ...
The main aim of this study was to check the role of Gender, BMI, and Body self-esteem in the prediction of anti-fat prejudices. The sample was a convenience one and included 311 members of the student population, both sexes, with an average age of 20 years (M = 20.39, SD = 2.58). There were 122 men (39.2%) and 189 women (60.8%). The following instruments were used: Explicit Anti-Fat Attitudes (AFA; Crandall, 1994) and the Body Esteem Scale for Adolescents and Adults (BESAA; Mendelson et al., 2001). The Body mass index (BMI) was operationalized by asking respondents for data on their height and weight and calculating their BMI. The data were analyzed using JAMOVI and linear regression. The gender of the respondents, their BMI, and Body self-esteem were predictors, while dimensions of anti-fat prejudices (Dislike, Fear of fat, and Willpower) were criterion variables. The results show that all three regression models were statistically significant. The explained percentage of variance for Dislike was 13.8%, for Fear of fat 18.4%, and for Willpower 19.7%. The results suggest that women are more afraid of gaining weight, while men tend to have higher scores on Dislike towards individuals suffering from obesity and are more prone to believing that individuals suffering from obesity do not have enough Willpower to change. BMI is also a significant predictor, but Body self-esteem is more important than BMI, and Attribution is the only dimension of Body self-esteem whose higher scores are connected to higher levels of prejudices.
... Hence, our aim was to address this gap by investigating the level of rejection and experiences of stigma related to obesity within the Spanish population, encompassing individuals with a diverse spectrum of weights, ranging from normal weight to morbid obesity. For this purpose, we administered three well-validated questionnaires as the Antifat Attitudes Scale (AAS), Stigmatizing Situations Inventory (SSI) and the Weight Bias Internalization Scale (WBIS) (Crandall, 1994;Myers and Rosen, 1999;Durso and Latner, 2008). Furthermore, we sought to identify the primary factors Frontiers in Psychology 03 frontiersin.org ...
... Three questionnaires were administered to all participants. The AFA is a tool developed by Crandall (1994) to measure prejudice against people with obesity in the United States. The scale is a numerical response scale, with a range between 1 ("not at all agree") and 7 ("strongly agree"). ...
Introduction
This study aims to assess the extent of rejection and instances of stigmatization linked to obesity within the Spanish population, encompassing a diverse spectrum of weights ranging from normal weight to morbid obesity. Additionally, the study seeks to identify the primary factors influencing these experiences and further examines the impact of bariatric surgery on such dynamics.
Materials and methods
Multicenter observational study with involving a total of 1,018 participants who were recruited from various Obesity Units. Negatives attitudes towards people with obesity were assessed through three questionnaires: (i) Antifat Attitudes Scale (AFA), (ii) Stigmatizing Situations Inventory (SSI) and (iii) Weight Bias Internalization Scale (WBIS). Subjects were categorized into four groups based on their BMI and history of prior bariatric surgery.
Results
The cumulative score across all questionnaires (AFA, SSI and WBIS) exhibited a progressive increase, from participants with normal weight to those with obesity ( p < 0.001 for all). Within the AFA questionnaire, males showed more rejection towards people with obesity than women, also perceiving obesity as a disease linked to a lack of willpower ( p = 0.004 and p = 0.030, respectively). The overall SSI score was negatively associated with age ( r = −0.080, p = 0.011), with young participants encountering more stigmatizing experiences than their adult counterparts. Neither employment status nor educational demonstrated a significant association with any of the questionnaires. Interestingly, patients who underwent lost weight following bariatric surgery did not exhibit improved outcomes.
Conclusion
Individuals with obesity demonstrate a heightened level of aversion towards the disease compared to those with normal weight. Concurrently, the incidence of stigmatizing encounters displays a concerning escalation among younger individuals.
... It cannot explain, for instance, why millions of non-slave owners-including Aristotle (Kraut, 2002)-came to believe that systems of slavery were legitimate, desirable, and morally defensible. Nor can self-interest alone explain many other important phenomena, including working class conservatism (Jost, 2017b), the devaluation of dark skin among people of color (Choma & Prusaczyk, 2018), women's endorsement of hostile and benevolent forms of sexism (Cassese & Barnes, 2019;Drolet & Drolet, 2019), obese people's adoption of anti-fat ideology (Crandall, 1994), and various forms of internalized homophobia (Hoffarth & Jost, 2017;Pacilli et al., 2011). ...
Scholars of ideology in social-scientific disciplines, including psychology, sociology, and political science, stand to benefit from taking seriously the philosophical contributions of Professor Peter Railton. This is because Railton provides much-needed conceptual precision—and a rare sense of epistemological and moral clarity—to a topic that is notoriously slippery and prone to relativistic musing and the drawing of false equivalences. In an essay entitled “Morality, Ideology, and Reflection: Or, the Duck Sits Yet,” Railton (2000/2003) aptly identified the purpose of ideological analysis as the unmasking of “nonepistemic” interests—that is, interests other than truth-seeking, accuracy, or warrant —that contribute to the development, adoption, and dissemination of political and religious belief systems.
... The Anti-Fat Attitudes Questionnaire (AFA) was used to assess explicit weight bias. This validated questionnaire contains 13 items separated into three subscales that represent the three main domains of explicit anti-fat attitudes: Dislike (n = 7 items), Fear of Fat (n = 3 items), and Willpower (n = 3 items) [20,22]. The Dislike subscale assessed negative attitudes toward individuals with obesity, (e.g., "I really don't like obese people much"). ...
Background
Explicit weight bias is known as negative attitudes and beliefs toward individuals due to their weight status and can be perpetuated through misconceptions about the causes of obesity. Individuals may also experience weight bias internalization (WBI) when they internalize negative weight-related attitudes and self-stigmatize. There is a paucity of research on the beliefs about the causes of obesity and the prevalence of WBI among public Canadian samples. The aim of this study was to describe these attitudes and beliefs about obesity among a large Canadian sample across the weight spectrum.
Methods
A Canadian sample of adults (N = 942; 51% Women; mean age group = 45–54 years; mean body mass index [BMI] = 27.3 ± 6.7 kg/m²) completed an online questionnaire. Participants completed the Modified Weight Bias Internalization Scale, the Anti-Fat Attitudes Questionnaire, and the Causes of Obesity Questionnaire.
Results
Mean WBI score within the entire sample was 3.38 ± 1.58, and females had higher mean scores as compared to males (p < 0.001). Mean scores were also higher among individuals with a BMI of > 30 kg/m² (4.16 ± 1.52), as compared to individuals with a BMI of 25–30 kg/m² (3.40 ± 1.50), and those with a BMI of 20–25 kg/m² or below 18.5 kg/m² (2.81 ± 1.44) (p < 0.001 for all). Forty four percent of Canadians believed behavioural causes are very or extremely important in causing obesity, 38% for environmental causes, 28% for physiological and 27% for psychosocial causes. Stronger beliefs in behavioural causes were associated with higher levels of explicit weight bias. No BMI differences were reported on the four different subscales of the Causes of Obesity Questionnaire.
Conclusions
Weight bias internalization is prevalent among Canadians across all body weight statuses, and the public endorses behavioural causes of obesity, namely physical inactivity and overeating, more than its other causes. Findings warrant the reinforcement of efforts aimed at mitigating weight bias by educating the public about the complexity of obesity and by highlighting weight bias as a systemic issue that affects all Canadians living in diverse body weight statuses.
... Toplulukçu kültürlerde ise, bireyci kültürlerden farklı olarak gruba aidiyetin ön planda olduğu, kişisel amaçlar yerine toplumun amaçlarına önem verildiği ve sorumluluğun topluma ve gruba olduğu bir yapı vardır (Hofstede, 2011). Kilo damgalamasının ortaya çıkması için gereken koşulları yarattığı öne sürülen Amerikan ideolojisi (Crandall, 1994) bireyci bir kültür yapısına dayanmaktayken, mevcut çalışmanın gerçekleştirildiği Türkiye toplulukçu kültür özellikleri göstermektedir (Hofstede, 2011). Crandall ve Martinez (1996), Amerika'da ve toplulukçu bir kültür olan Meksika'da kilo damgalamasını karşılaştırmışlar ve Meksikalı katılımcıların, Amerikalılara kıyasla, şişmanlıktan daha az rahatsız olduklarını ve kilonun bireyin özgür iradesinde olduğu fikrine daha az katıldıklarını göstermişlerdir. ...
z Bu çalışmanın amacı, 18 ve 25 yaş aralığındaki üniversite öğrencilerinin Instagram kullanımları ile kendini nesneleştirme, diğerlerini nesneleştirme ve kilo damgalaması düzeyleri arasındaki ilişkiyi incelemektir. Alanyazındaki sosyal medya konulu çalış-maların çoğunlukla korelatif çalışmalar oldukları ve bu nedenle neden-sonuç çıkarı-mına imkân sağlamadıkları görülmüştür. Bu eksikliği gidermek amacıyla mevcut ça-lışmada hem korelatif hem de deneysel yöntemler kullanılmıştır. Biri korelatif (N=104) ve ikisi deneysel (sırasıyla N=70 ve N=80) olmak üzere üç çalışma gerçek-leştirilmiştir. İlk çalışmada katılımcıların günlük Instagram kullanım sıklıkları, ken-dini nesneleştirme, diğerlerini nesneleştirme ve kilo damgalaması düzeyleri incelen-miştir. Instagram kullanım sıklığı arttıkça kendini nesneleştirme ve diğerlerini nesne-leştirme düzeylerinin de arttığı görülmüştür. İkinci ve üçüncü çalışmalarda ise katı-lımcılar, seçkisiz olarak atandıkları gruplarda farklı Instagram fotoğraflarına maruz bırakılmışlar (idealize beden, şişman beden ve uzay) ve bunun kendini nesneleştirme (Çalışma 2), diğerlerini nesneleştirme (Çalışma 3) ve kilo damgalaması düzeylerine olan etkisi incelenmiştir. Bulgulara göre Instagram fotoğraflarına maruz kalmak, di
... Willpower subscale of the AFA Questionnaire. Participants completed the 3-item Willpower Subscale of the Anti-Fat Attitudes (AFA) scale [36], which assesses the extent that people believe obesity is attributed to lack of personal willpower. Items are rated on a 10-point Likert scale (0 = very strongly disagree, 9 = very strongly agree), with higher scores indicating stronger attributions that people with obesity lack willpower. ...
Aims:
Adults with type 2 diabetes (T2D) report experiencing stigma across multiple settings, including stigmatizing interactions with their healthcare providers. However, research examining physician biases toward patients with T2D is scarce. Identifying stigma-related barriers in diabetes care is essential to prevent providers' biases from impairing health care delivery. This study assessed attitudes towards individuals with T2D and obesity among physicians who treat T2D.
Methods:
Physicians specializing in internal medicine or endocrinology (n=205) completed a series of online questionnaires assessing their attitudes towards patients with T2D and obesity, and their attributions of controllability and blame of individuals with T2D and obesity.
Results:
While 85% of physicians felt professionally prepared and confident to treat patients with T2D, 1/3 reported being repulsed by patients with T2D and view them as lazy (39%), lacking motivation (44%), and non-compliant with treatment (44%). Many witnessed professionals in their field making negative comments about patients with T2D (44%). Physicians endorsed worse levels of bias towards patients with obesity than T2D, but differences were small.
Conclusions:
Findings highlight the need for stigma reduction interventions for physicians addressing both T2D and obesity. Research assessing the effects of T2D stigma on quality of patient care and health outcomes is needed.
... Explicit weight bias was assessed with the Anti-Fat Attitudes Questionnaire (AFA) (31). The thirteen-item questionnaire contained three subscales which assessed different dimensions of explicit weight bias: Dislike, Fear of Fat and Willpower. ...
Introduction:
Weight discrimination of individuals with overweight or obesity is associated with adverse mental and physical health. Weight discrimination is prevalent in many sectors such as within workplaces, where individuals with overweight and obesity are denied the same opportunities as individuals with lower weight status, regardless of performance or experience. The purpose of this study was to understand the Canadian public's support or opposition of anti-weight discrimination policies and predictors of support. It was hypothesized that Canadians will show support of anti-weight discrimination policies to some extent.
Methods:
A secondary analysis was conducted on a previous cross-sectional sample of Canadian adults (N = 923, 50.76% women, 74.4% White) who responded to an online survey assessing weight bias and support of twelve anti-weight discrimination policies related to societal policies (e.g., implementing laws preventing weight discrimination) and employment-related policies (e.g., making it illegal to not hire someone due to their weight). Participants completed the Causes of Obesity Questionnaire (COB), the Anti-Fat Attitudes Questionnaire (AFA) and the Modified Weight Bias Internalization Scale (WBIS-M). Multiple logistic regressions were used to determine predictors of policy support.
Results:
Support for policies ranged from 31.3% to 76.9%, with employment anti-discrimination policies obtaining greater support than societal policies. Identifying as White and a woman, being over the age of 45 and having a higher BMI were associated with an increased likelihood of supporting anti-weight discrimination policies. There were no differences between the level of support associated with attributing obesity to behavioral or non-behavioral causes. Explicit weight bias was associated with a reduced likelihood of supporting 8/12 policies. Weight Bias Internalization was associated with an increased likelihood of supporting all societal policies but none of the employment policies.
Conclusions:
Support for anti-weight discrimination policies exists among Canadian adults, and explicit weight bias is associated with a lower likelihood of supporting these policies. These results highlight the need for education on the prevalence and perils of weight discrimination which may urge policy makers to consider weight bias as a form of discrimination that must be addressed. More research on potential implementation of anti-weight discrimination policies in Canada is warranted.
The effects of persuasive messages on attitudes toward having an AIDS-infected co-worker are explored. A message addressing the instrumental considerations of interacting with AIDS-infected co-workers produced attitude change only in individuals who did not hold negative attitudes toward homosexuality. To account for these findings, the authors propose that attitudes toward AIDS-related issues can serve both instrumental and symbolic functions. The expression of a negative attitude toward a person infected with AIDS may reflect a response to the possible consequences of interacting with this person or a response to what AIDS symbolizes. For those who hold negatiue attitudes toward homosexuality, AIDS may symbolize homosexual promiscuity and moral decadence. The results are discussed with regard to their relevance for AIDS education programs.
Allport's The Nature of Prejudice is a social psychological classic. Its delineation of the components and principles of prejudice remains modern, especially its handling of cognitive factors. The volume's cognitive contentions are outlined, and then extended with an application from attribution theory. An "ultimate attribution error" is proposed: (1) when prejudiced peonle perceive what they regard as a negative act by an outgroup member, they will more than others attribute it dispositionally, often as genetically determined, in comparison to the same act by an ingroup member: (2) wlhen prejudiced people perceive what they regard as a positive act by an outaroup member, they will more than others attribute it in comparison to the same act by an ingroup member to one or more of the following: (a) "the exceptional case," (b) luck or special advantage, (c) hig,h motivation and effort, and (d) manipulable situational context. Predictions are advanced as to which of these responses will be adopted and under which conditions the phenomenon will be magnified.
Twenty-five years ago, the under representation of the obese at high-prestige colleges was demonstrated. This article looks at the problem of who pays for the higher education of heavy-weight adolescents. Three studies (total N = 833) demonstrate that heavy-weight college students rely more on jobs, savings, or financial aid than do normal-weight students, who rely primarily on family support. This effect appears in two different universities and is more reliable for women than for men. The effect remains even when parents' educational level, parents' income, race, family size, and number of children attending college are factored out. Several possible explanations for this effect, including parents' attitudes toward their children, are discussed.
Two experiments were conducted to investigate: (a) the influence of the "subjugation control over nature" value orientation, a dimension of cultural variation, on attribution processes; and (b) the effect of activation of beliefs associated with this value orientation on attribution processes and helping behavior. In Experiment 1, introductory psychology students were classified as either "control" or "subjugation" oriented according to scores obtained from a measure of the value orientation. Results suggest an effect of value orientation on attributions for a behavioral outcome. In Experiment 2, an attribution empathy model of helping behavior was examined in relation to activation of beliefs associated with the "control over nature" value orientation. This model was tested using Bentler's program for the analysis of structural equations. Results show that beliefs interact with empathy to influence helping behavior. Overall, the two studies suggest the importance and feasibility of investigating cultural factors in models of social behavior even when studies are conducted within a single culture.
This article contrasts the “self-interest” and “symbolic politics” explanations for the formation of mass policy preferences and voting behavior. Self-interested attitudes are defined as those supporting policies that would maximize benefits and minimize costs to the individual's private material well-being. The “symbolic politics” model emphasizes pressures to make adulthood attitudes consistent with the residues of preadult socialization. We compare the two models in terms of their ability to account for whites’ opposition to busing school children for racial integration of the public schools, and the role of the busing issue in presidential voting decisions, using the 1972 Center for Political Studies election study. Regression analysis shows strong effects of symbolic attitudes (racial intolerance and political conservatism) on opposition to busing, and of the busing issue on presidential voting decisions. Self-interest (e.g., having children susceptible to busing) had no significant effect upon either. It is concluded that self-interest is often overestimated as a determinant of public opinion and voting behavior because it is too rarely directly assessed empirically. © 1979, American Political Science Association. All rights reserved.
This study combines the methodological advantages of a fully experimental design and a genuinely representative survey sample to explore the nature and workings of contemporary racial prejudice. The correlational results both replicate and extend the findings of earlier work. Political conservatism, for example, was found once again to be correlated with opposition to policies to assist blacks and with support for negative images of blacks as lazy and irresponsible. The experimental results, however, pose fundamental challenges to symbolic and modern racism theories, which contend that there is a new kind of racism in America that takes the form of racial prejudice plus traditional, conservative values. The experimental results demonstrate, on the one hand, that conservatives are not more likely to refuse government help to blacks who have violated traditional values; on the other hand, the results demonstrate that conservatives are more likely to favor government help for blacks who have acted in accord with traditional values. The experimental results, moreover, identify a key condition for the expression of discrimination--a focus on group rather than individual claimants--and demonstrate that discrimination is not encouraged by a particular ideological outlook, conservative or liberal, but rather is most common in the absence of any ideological stance.
This article contrasts short-term self-interest and longstanding symbolic attitudes as determinants of (1) voters' attitudes toward government policy on four controversial issues (unemployment, national health insurance, busing, and law and order), and (2) issue voting concerning those policy areas. In general, we found the various self-interest measures to have very little effect in determining either policy preferences or voting behavior. In contrast, symbolic attitudes (liberal or conservative ideology, party identification, and racial prejudice) had major effects. Nor did self-interest play much of a role in creating @'@issue publics@' that were particularly attentive to, informed about, or constrained in their attitudes about these specific policy issues. Conditions that might facilitate more self-interested political attitudes, specifically having privatistic (rather than public-regarding) personal values, perceiving the policy area as a major national problem, being high in political sophistication, perceiving the government as responsive, or having a sense of political efficacy, were also explored, but had no effect. The possibility that some long-term self-interest might be reflected in either group membership or in symbolic attitudes themselves is examined. While such possibilities cannot be definitively rejected, problems with interpreting standard demographic findings as self-interest effects are discussed.
This paper argues for the value of a reformulated and reoperationalized functional approach to attitudes. The development of two new procedures for directly assessing functions is described. First, a content analysis procedure was devised, using essays written by undergraduate students describing their attitudes toward lesbians and gay men. Patterns of themes were identified in the essays that indicate the presence of three functions: Experiential-Schematic, Defensive and Self-Expressive. Correlations with theoretically relevant measures indicate that the content analysis procedure effectively assesses attitude functions. In a second study, an objectively-scored method, the Attitude Functions Inventory (AFI), was developed and used to assess the functions served by attitudes toward lesbians and gay men and toward persons with three stigmatizing disabilities: AIDS, mental illness and cancer. In the AFI, the Self-Expressive function observed in the first study was subdivided into Social-Expressive and Value-Expressive functions. Preliminary data support the AFI's validity. Theoretical and methodological implications for future research are discussed.
The 1972-84 trend in antiblack prejudice in the United States is decomposed with the use of a better method for isolating the cohort replacement component of a trend. Three major findings emerge. First, antiblack prejudice (as measured by questions in the General Social Survey) has declined in recent years; this is true for the South, for the non-South, and for the United States as a whole. Second, the decline in prejudice stems from cohort replacement (the replacement of older, more prejudiced birth cohorts with younger, less prejudiced ones) as well as from attitude change itself; in fact, in some instances cohort replacement is the more important source of the decline. Third, antiblack prejudice is declining more rapidly in the South; as a result, the regional difference in antiblack prejudice is shrinking.
CASUAL observation had suggested to us that obesity was less prevalent in high-ranking, so called "prestige" colleges than in public high schools. We therefore decided to investigate whether or not obesity affected college acceptance. If it did, it would have important implications for public-health programs directed at obesity. We chose for our investigation an outstanding high-school system and an Ivy League and a Seven Sister college.§ Our results did, indeed, indicate that there was less obesity in the colleges than in the high schools. No differences were found in academic criteria and application rates between obese and nonobese high-school students. . . .