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A Meta-Analysis of Empirical Studies of Weight-Based Bias in the Workplace
Abstract
For nearly 30 years researchers have investigated how bodyweight affects evaluative workplace outcomes, such as hiring decisions and performance appraisals. Despite this, no meta-analytic review has been undertaken to quantify the negative impact that bodyweight has on such outcomes. The results of this meta-analytic study suggest that in relation to non-overweight individuals in the workplace, overweight individuals may be disadvantaged across evaluative workplace outcomes (d = −.52). Further, differences in magnitude of the effects of weight-based bias were found for hiring (d = −.70) and performance (d = −.23) outcomes.
... Finally, most research on workplace weight discrimination has focused on outcomes associated with evaluators' judgments of heavier employees (e.g., hiring decisions, performance evaluations; Rudolph et al., 2009) rather than the firsthand experiences of individuals negatively impacted by weight discrimination. By centering the experiences of those affected by weight discrimination, the current work adds a critical first-person perspective to a literature that has primarily focused on biases in third-person judgments (Johnson & Kunstman, 2024;Rudolph et al., 2009). ...
... Finally, most research on workplace weight discrimination has focused on outcomes associated with evaluators' judgments of heavier employees (e.g., hiring decisions, performance evaluations; Rudolph et al., 2009) rather than the firsthand experiences of individuals negatively impacted by weight discrimination. By centering the experiences of those affected by weight discrimination, the current work adds a critical first-person perspective to a literature that has primarily focused on biases in third-person judgments (Johnson & Kunstman, 2024;Rudolph et al., 2009). ...
... Third, the current work contributes to research on workplace weight discrimination by centering the firsthand experiences of heavier employees. By comparison, past research has largely focused on perpetrators' biases against heavy individuals (e.g., discriminatory judgments about the hire-ability and promotability of heavier employees; Rudolph et al., 2009). Although these findings are valuable for understanding how weight discrimination is perpetrated, the tendency to focus on evaluators' perspectives fails to fully account for higher-weight employees' experiences (Johnson & Kunstman, 2024). ...
Workplace weight discrimination is pervasive and harms both individuals and organizations. However, despite its negative effects on employees and employers, the social and psychological processes linking weight discrimination and workplace outcomes remain unclear. Rooted in evidence that people regularly dehumanize and dismiss the emotions of heavier individuals, the current work tests one socioemotional pathway linking workplace weight discrimination and professional outcomes: social pain minimization (SPM). SPM refers to feelings of emotion invalidation when people share negative social experiences with others and feel their hurts are discounted and dismissed by their colleagues. Across two studies using cross-sectional and prospective designs (Ntotal = 661), the current work provides evidence that workplace weight discrimination increased feelings of SPM, which in turn was associated with greater burnout, lower job satisfaction, and more counterproductive work behaviors. In the wake of workplace weight discrimination, subsequent SPM negatively affects workplace outcomes. For those experiencing workplace weight discrimination, mistreatment and invalidation frequently operate as a one-two punch to critical organizational outcomes.
... More specifically, algorithmic bias might emerge because the predicted values (e.g., interview performance) reproduce existing biases that interviewers hold (Mehrabi et al., 2021). For instance, previous research suggests that the interview process is contaminated with biases regarding ethnicity (Zschirnt & Didier, 2016), age (Bal et al., 2011;Morgeson et al., 2008), attractiveness (Barrick et al., 2009;Hosoda et al., 2003), attire (Martín-Raugh et al., 2022;Tu et al., 2022), or body size (Rudolph et al., 2009). In the case of AVIs, video meta-information (e.g., physical background, lighting, audio quality) might further affect how interviewees are perceived (Lukacik et al., 2022;Ryan & Ployhart, 2014). ...
... In the present study, we explored whether the predicted values were significantly different compared to the observed ones. We mainly focused on three variables (i.e., gender, age, attractiveness) that have been found to bias the selection procedure in offline settings (Bal et al., 2011;Barrick et al., 2009;Hosoda et al., 2003;Martín-Raugh et al., 2022;Morgeson et al., 2008;Rudolph et al., 2009;Tu et al., 2022;Zschirnt & Didier, 2016). However, for exploratory purposes, we also included seven more variables (i.e., AVI meta-information; for instance, physical background, audio quality) to address calls from previous researchers (Lukacik et al., 2022;Ryan & Ployhart, 2014) to explore the possible role of meta-information in AVIsnaturally, this is not an exhaustive list of variables that might relate to algorithmic bias. ...
... It is important to note a conceptual distinction in the use of the word 'bias' between psychology research and computer science. In the phrase 'rater bias' (i.e., in psychology), bias has a negative connotation, implying an undesirable systematic difference, such as employees with larger body size receiving lower interview performance ratings (e.g., Rudolph et al., 2009). However, in 'algorithmic bias' (i.e., in computer science), bias simply denotes the statistical difference from a standard (Danks & London, 2017), such as the human-based ground truth measures of the present study (regardless of whether such ground truth measures might contain rater biases or not). ...
... As such, we write this commentary because organizations have been called out as complicit in antifat bias, and they urgently need our council. Our field needs evidence-based research on the experience of fat embodiment, beyond economic discrimination research (which has been well established; e.g., Agerström & Rooth, 2011;Rudolph et al., 2009;Vanhove & Gordon, 2014) and toward the lived, nuanced experiences of fat workers. We also write this commentary because many of us, as researchers, may be hesitant to broach the topic of weight at work because it is fraught, sensitive, and embedded in larger, less comfortable conversations around controllability, social dominance, acceptance, and inclusivity (Lemmon et al., 2022). ...
... For instance, organizations are less likely to select fatter employees (Agerström & Rooth, 2011;M. V. Roehling et al., 2007;Rudolph et al., 2009;Vanhove & Gordon, 2014). Once employed, managers and customers rate fatter employees as poorer performers, irrespective of objective outcomes (Rudolph et al., 2009;Ruggs et al., 2015), and-creating a double-bind-train their fatter employees less effectively (Shapiro et al., 2007). ...
... V. Roehling et al., 2007;Rudolph et al., 2009;Vanhove & Gordon, 2014). Once employed, managers and customers rate fatter employees as poorer performers, irrespective of objective outcomes (Rudolph et al., 2009;Ruggs et al., 2015), and-creating a double-bind-train their fatter employees less effectively (Shapiro et al., 2007). Interpersonal mistreatment from customers, toward fatter workers, for example, also occurs commonly (Ruggs et al., 2015). ...
Popular and influential social commentators have called organizations complicit in perpetuating weight-based bias and mistreatment. Although our field has advanced our understanding of the economic consequences of being fat at work (e.g., salary; job performance; and promotions), we urgently need more research on the interpersonal experiences of this swath of workers so that we can appropriately advise organizations. In this article, we describe how organizational psychology researchers can answer this call to do more research on weight at work (a) even while feeling uncomfortable with a topic that can feel personal, medicalized, and/or overly intertwined with other DEI-based topics; (b) by incorporating insightful research from outside disciplines that centers weight controllability and weight-based mistreatment deservedness; and, critically, (c) while approaching weight at work research with a respectfulness that conveys an understanding of the complexities intertwining weight, health, and personal agency. In culmination, this article offers to our field a flexible, living document entitled Best Practices for Weight-Based Research in Organizational Studies.
... Also, this work contains weaknesses that limit the extent to which results can be generalized to workplaces (Johnson & Schminke, 2020). Thus, there is potential for misplaced confidence in studies that have explored the relationship between objective body fat levels and performance ratings (Rudolph et al., 2009). Lastly, scholars regularly acknowledge that the processes that connect stigmatized identities to work outcomes are not well understood, and this lack of understanding is partially due to this literature looking-almost exclusivelyto factors like gender and race rather than exploring other stigmas like obesity (Roberson, 2019;Roberson et al., 2017). ...
... This devaluation process suggests that someone like a supervisor views the employee as having poorer capabilities (i.e., is devalued) because they possess the stigma. Indeed, some experimental research has been devoted to understanding objective fat level's impact on performance ratings and has shown a significant negative relationship between them (e.g., Levine & Schweitzer, 2015;Rudolph et al., 2009). ...
... The results of this research make significant theoretical contributions to work on obesity. Our first contribution addresses the concern that the workplace obesity literature, despite its growth (Johnson & Schminke, 2020;Rudolph et al., 2009), has viewed body fat issues exclusively as an objective phenomenon, ignoring work in other areas demonstrating a subjective nature to similar constructs (e.g., socioeconomic status, Adler et al., 2000;power, Anderson & Berdahl, 2002). This view ignores the fact that people often form a self-image of body fat that is discrepant with objective reality. ...
Personal, work, and societal concerns about obesity and body fatness have triggered research on it across multiple domains. However, the organizational literature has been hampered by a significant shortcoming in considering it solely as an objective construct, despite research in other disciplines demonstrating a critical subjective component to how body fatness is experienced. To address this conceptual and theoretical challenge, we draw on stigma theory to explore the workplace implications of subjective fatness, or how big one feels in their own mind. We utilize and extend stigma theory by integrating it with medical research. In doing so, we shed new light on the subjective nature of the self‐devaluation process that occurs in stigmatized individuals. We argue that this self‐devaluation process is the mechanism by which subjective body fatness influences work performance. We test these hypotheses across three studies that constructively replicate results across multiple design types (multi‐rater, time‐lagged, & bivariate latent‐change model) and diverse geographic samples. Results consistently show that subjective fatness exerts a stronger impact on performance than objective fatness, and this influence is mediated by self‐devaluation. In all, our work indicates it is not how big one is but how big one feels that most affects work performance.
... As for the loss of income in relation to obesity, this was reported less often by German participants, but there was a significant difference concerning the average level of discrimination between the two countries. Our findings are in line with previous studies that documented associations between perceived weight-based discrimination and problems experienced by employees [28][29][30]. Roehling et al. reported that employees with a BMI over 30 kg/m 2 are even 37-fold more likely to suffer from employment discrimination than their normal-weight counterparts. Moreover, they concluded that given the particularly high levels of weight bias and discrimination in an employment setting, antibullying legislation is needed to develop a novel stigma-prevention policy and improve the situation of overweight people in the workplace [28]. ...
... A few experimental studies showed that inequities and disparities resulting from weight discrimination persist even when normal-weight and overweight applicants have similar job qualifications and credentials and, in some cases, even when normal-weight applicants have worse qualifications [30][31][32]. Our findings concerning obese employees are also in line with previous research conducted by Cawley et al. and Maranto et al. [33,34]. ...
Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare the level of discrimination among patients with obesity living in Poland and Germany. Methods: This was a retrospective cross-sectional international multicenter survey study including 564 adult participants treated for morbid obesity at selected healthcare facilities in Germany (210 patients) and in Poland (354 patients). Discrimination was evaluated using a custom-made questionnaire based on the related literature. Results: The level of obesity discrimination did not differ between German and Polish patients (p = 0.4282). The presence of obesity was reported to be associated to a large or a very large extent with the feeling of social exclusion and discrimination by 46.63% of German participants and 42.09% of Polish ones (p = 0.2934). The mean level of discrimination related to the lack of employment was higher in patients who underwent bariatric surgery or endoscopic method than in those who underwent conservative treatment (for Germany: 2.85 ± 1.31 (median, 3) vs. 2.08 ± 1.31 (median, 1), p = 0.002; for Poland: 2.43 ± 1.15 (median, 2) vs. 1.93 ± 1.15 (median, 1), p = 0.005). The level of discrimination was associated with sex, age, the degree of obesity, and treatment-related weight loss (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Our findings confirm that obesity significantly affects the social and economic well-being of patients. There is a great need to reduce weight stigma and to take measures to alleviate the socioeconomic and psychological burden of obesity.
... Commonly reported types of weight-related biases include disrespectful comments, poorer treatment in healthcare and education settings, poorer or denied service, and threats/harassment [11][12][13]. Furthermore, meta-analyses have demonstrated negative associations between higher body weight and workplace-related outcomes, such as lower likelihood of hiring [14] and lower performance evaluations [15], with some evidence that effects are moderated by gender (i.e. weight-biases disproportionately impact females; [16]. ...
... Taken together, these findings may contribute to the robust association between obese weight status and reduced income (SMD = -0. 15 [-0.30, -0.01]; [17]. ...
Background/Objectives
Cross-sectional research has demonstrated weight-related stigma and discrimination, however experimental research providing causal evidence of financial-based weight discrimination is lacking. The aim of these preregistered experiments was to examine whether a novel paradigm in which participants attributed financial rewards and punishments could be used to detect weight bias.
Subjects/Methods
One-hundred and twenty-one individuals participated in experiment 1 and one-hundred and sixty-six individuals participated in experiment 2. Both studies were conducted online, and participants were provided with biographies of hypothetical individuals in which weight-status was manipulated (normal weight vs. overweight/obesity) before being asked to provide rewards and punishments on their cognitive performance. In experiment 1 (within-participants design) participants observed one individual they believed to be normal weight and one individual they believed to be overweight/have obesity. In experiment 2 (between-participants design) participants observed one individual whilst also being provided with information about food addiction (Food addiction is real + individual with overweight/obesity vs. food addiction is a myth + individual with overweight/obesity vs control + individual with normal weight).
Results
In experiment 1, participants punished individuals who were described as having overweight/obesity to a greater extent to individuals who were normal weight (Hedge’s g = −0.21 [95% CI: −0.02 to −0.41], p = 0.026), but there was no effect on rewards. They were also less likely to recommend individuals with overweight/obesity to pass the tasks (X ² (1) = 10.05, p = 0.002). In experiment 2, participants rewarded individuals whom they believed were overweight/obese to a lesser extent than normal-weight individuals (g = 0.49 [95% CI: 0.16 to 0.83]. There was no effect on punishment, nor any impact of information regarding food addiction as real vs a myth.
Conclusion
Using a novel discrimination task, these two experiments demonstrate causal evidence of weight-based discrimination in financial decision making.
... The findings are consistent with a prior study, with a simulated experimental design, that found participants with negative attitudes toward smoking viewed job candidates who smoked negatively for both public-facing and nonpublic-facing roles (Roulin & Bhatnagar, 2018). Relatedly, a meta-analysis found weight stigma was prevalent in hiring decisions across both public-facing and nonpublic-facing job roles (Rudolph et al., 2009). Similar to our study, but tested with an experimental design, a prior study reported that heavier candidates were viewed as less hireable than thinner candidates, and for women, the difference in hireability between thinner and heavier candidates was greater for public-facing than nonpublic facing roles (Nickson et al., 2016). ...
... Hiring managers also may have to explain their decisions in real hiring situations and thus may attempt to correct for their biases. However, study findings are consistent with prior research demonstrating that jobseekers who smoke have a more difficult time securing reemployment than those who do not smoke (Prochaska et al., 2016) and with evidence of discrimination against overweight job candidates in hiring decisions (Rudolph et al., 2009). Future research could use additional stigmatized attributes for comparison, such as physical disability and old age. ...
Objective:
Prior studies indicate lower employment and greater difficulty securing reemployment among individuals who smoke or are overweight. In an anonymous online survey, we examined willingness to hire candidates who smoke cigarettes or are overweight for different job types and tested respondents' smoking history and body weight as moderating factors.
Method:
Employed U.S. adults (N = 1,107) were recruited online in 2019-2020. Respondents indicated their willingness to hire and hiring preferences for six different job roles in reference to eight different attributes, which included smoking and overweight status. Analyses tested differences by job type and respondents' own smoking and overweight status.
Results:
Percent willing to hire candidates who smoke (are overweight) was 7.6% (40.3%) for health aide, 15.3% (66.2%) for receptionist, and 53.6% (58.1%) for groundskeeper. Ever-smoker respondents were more likely than never-smokers to be willing to hire candidates who smoke (odds ratios [OR] = 1.98-3.00) and less likely to identify smoking as a least preferred attribute (ps < .009). Overweight respondents were more likely than nonoverweight respondents to be willing to hire overweight candidates (OR = 1.47-1.99) and less likely to identify overweight as a least preferred attribute (ps < .002). Moderating effects of respondent smoking or overweight status were greater for the public-facing receptionist versus groundskeeper position.
Conclusions:
In hypothetical hiring decisions, smoking and overweight were viewed as undesirable, particularly among respondents without the attribute tested. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).
... Unfortunately, the employment context is no exception. Employees with overweight or obesity are stereotyped to lack self-discipline, self-control, and willpower (2,3), and are seen as less competent and conscientious (4). In light of these stereotypes, it is not surprising that cross-sectional surveys, population-based research, and experimental studies demonstrate that people with overweight or obesity experience bias with regard to a variety of workplace outcomes (1). ...
... Although the stereotypes about employees with overweight or obesity are varied, many focus on the notion that they are less capable (4). Over time, people from stereotyped groups can internalize the stigma about their group (16). ...
Employees with overweight or obesity are often stereotyped as lazy, unmotivated, and less competent than employees with normal weight. As a consequence, employees with overweight or obesity are susceptible to stereotype threat, or the concern about confirming, or being reduced to, a stereotype about their group. This survey study examined whether employees with overweight or obesity experience stereotype threat in the workplace, whether it is associated with their perceived ability to meet their work demands (i.e., work ability), and whether high levels of knowledge about one’s self (i.e., authentic self-awareness) can offset a potential negative association.
Using a correlational study design, survey data were collected from N = 758 full-time employees at three measurement points across 3 months. Employees’ average body mass index (BMI) was 26.36 kg/m² (SD = 5.45); 34% of participants were employees with overweight (BMI between 25 and <30), and 18% of participants were employees with obesity (BMI > 30).
Employees with higher weight and higher BMI reported more weight-based stereotype threat (rs between 0.17 and 0.19, p < 0.001). Employees who experienced higher levels of weight-based stereotype threat reported lower work ability, while controlling for weight, height, and subjective weight (β = −0.27, p < 0.001). Authentic self-awareness moderated the relationship between weight-based stereotype threat and work ability (β = 0.14, p < 0.001), such that the relationship between stereotype threat and work ability was negative among employees with low authentic self-awareness (β = −0.25, p < 0.001), and non-significant among employees with high authentic self-awareness (β = 0.08, p = 0.315).
The findings of this study contribute to the literature by showing that weight-based stereotype threat is negatively associated with employees’ perceived ability to meet their work demands, particularly among those employees with low authentic self-awareness.
... Literature on aesthetic labour has focused on individuals with the 'right' and 'wrong' looks and the impact of their appearancewhat is often described as lookism, the prejudicial and differential treatment that workers face because of their appearance (Warhurst & Nickson, 2020). For example, Tews et al. (2009) demonstrate how applicant 'attractiveness' positively influences employability ratings in customer-facing roles, while Rudolph et al. (2009) and Levay (2014) show the negative effect of obesity on people's job opportunities and its enduring workplace bias. However, it is not only at the point of entry into organisations that an employee's appearance will be evaluated. ...
Research on body art as a component of aesthetic labour has predominantly focused on individuals with tattoos in the global north, but little is known about tribal marks as a key
element of aesthetic labour that leads to discriminatory or prejudicial attitudes in the workplace. Tribal marks are facial inscriptions that symbolize clan, family, and ethnic affiliation, and serve to distinguish one sociocultural group from another. In this article, we examine the lived experiences of people with tribal marks in Nigeria by developing a theoretical framework based on literatures on aesthetic labour, social stigmatisation, and discrimination. Drawing on the accounts of 42 individuals with tribal marks, we demonstrate how aestheticized work environments, biased assumptions, and negative perceptions about individuals with tribal marks can lead to discriminatory or prejudicial behaviours at work. We further discuss the psychosocial consequences and explain why tribal marks are now perceived to be outdated and damaging to those individuals who have them. We offer a novel perspective on the existing knowledge about aesthetic labour and broaden our understanding of another form of ‘lookism’ in a non-Western context.
... Weight discrimination, defined as the unfair treatment of individuals due to their weight, is pervasive throughout all facets of society (1), including education, healthcare, employment, and in interpersonal relationships and public settings (2). For example, within the workplace, individuals with overweight or obesity are often not given the same opportunities, compensations or promotions as individuals with lower weight status, regardless of performance, education or experience (1,(3)(4)(5). Among U.S. women classified as having below average weight, gaining 25 pounds predicted a decreased annual salary exceeding $13,000 (6). ...
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.
... This suggests that the complex political and interpersonal relationships that exist between public servants illustrate a survival imperative that Rhodes identifies as impacting ministers and their public service staff. Other research has clearly revealed forms of discrimination illustrated in hiring and promotion based on race (Jones et al. 2017;Bartkoski et al. 2018;Zschirnt and Ruedin 2016;Quillian et al. 2017), gender (Koch et al. 2014;Jones et al. 2017;Davison and Burke 2000), weight (Rudolph et al. 2009), physical attractiveness (Hosoda et al. 2003) and age (Ng and Feldman 2010). The public service is not immune to these forms of discrimination that occur in the wider societies, of which the public services are part. ...
The purpose of this paper was to develop a better understanding of the causes of career plateau in the public service, focusing on 67 people who we determined to be career plateaued. Our interviews identified examples of incidents describing successes and interruptions in careers in developing an overall picture of the reasons for people being plateaued. We identified ten themes, which were grouped into three areas: deficiencies in experience, skills and education (four themes); competition skills (four themes); and perceptions of favoritism and discrimination (two themes). In addition to feeling plateaued because of the inability to demonstrate experience, education, and knowledge, many people offered examples of being plateaued because of the lack of interviewing skills or evidence of favoritism and discrimination. Those who are plateaued because of favoritism or discrimination verbalize feelings of disgust and frustration and illustrate a tendency to become less engaged with their work. We think that the negative impacts of favoritism or systemic discrimination have important implications because they are likely to have an impact on employees and their engagement in their work and life. However, as our results are based a sample of 67 government employees in the Canadian public service, they require verification in other settings.
... Deprez-Sims and Morris [16] found that those making hiring decisions often favored those with accents most similar to their own. Rudolph et al. [49] found that overweight individuals faced worse outcomes in performance evaluations and hiring decisions. In a literature review of studies on gender discrimination, Badgett et al. [2] found that 20-57% of transgender participants reported experiencing workplace discrimination in studies from 1996 to 2006. ...
Workplace bias creates negative psychological outcomes for employees, permeating the larger organization. Workplace meetings are frequent, making them a key context where bias may occur. Video conferencing (VC) is an increasingly common medium for workplace meetings; we therefore investigated how VC tools contribute to increasing or reducing bias in meetings. Through a semi-structured interview study with 22 professionals, we found that VC features push meeting leaders to exercise control over various meeting parameters, giving leaders an outsized role in affecting bias. We demonstrate this with respect to four core VC features -- user tiles, raise hand, text-based chat, and meeting recording -- and recommend employing at least one of two mechanisms for mitigating bias in VC meetings -- 1) transferring control from meeting leaders to technical systems or other attendees and 2) helping meeting leaders better exercise the control they do wield.
... This general trend is seen across several specific forms of discrimination, including gender discrimination (Grandey, Gabriel, & King, 2020;Triana, Jayasinghe, Pieper, Delgado, & Li, 2019), racial discrimination (Mays, Cochran, & Barnes, 2007;Triana, Jayasinghe, & Pieper, 2015), and discrimination based on sexual preference (Meyer, 2003;Murphy, Thomas, Cobb, & Hartman, 2021). Those who are overweight are subject to similar forms of discrimination (Rudolph, Wells, Weller, & Baltes, 2009), although the health-based outcomes are not as well established for weight-based discrimination. ...
How can work be accomplished while sustaining the human capital that enables it? To date, research on this question has been piecemeal and indirect with different literatures and paradigms offering important but not integrated insights. In this meta-synthesis, we reviewed 368 meta-analyses and review articles published this millennium, sampled from the vast body of research relevant to employee health and well-being. We organize our review using dynamic energy budget theory (DEB), a life-sciences framework that describes how nonhuman animals achieve biological sustainability by balancing maintenance, growth, and generativity. After identifying the ways this research fits within DEB, we develop restricted employee sustainability theory (REST), which describes the ways in which human sustainability goes beyond the fundamental biological necessities outlined in DEB and encompasses the functions (maintenance, growth, generativity) that enable humans to sustain their physical, psychological, and social health. Organization of this vast literature allows us to identify synergies and dynamic balances among the life functions; understand how humans recover after a dramatic crash in health; and articulate the distinctions among subsisting, surviving, and thriving at work. We conclude this meta-synthesis and theory development by offering a roadmap to advance research on human sustainability at work as a unified area of study, guided by our new framework—restricted employee sustainability theory (REST).
... Myriad other findings suggest that linguistic, cultural, and physiological differences can negatively impact the perception of job candidates. Race/ethnicity (Bertrand & Mullainathan, 2004;Zhao & Biernat, 2017), body size (Rudolph et al., 2009), geographical origin and accent (Timming, 2017), age (Rupp et al., 2006;Zaniboni et al., 2019), and disability (Louvet, 2007) have all been shown to produce negative judgments with respect to professional competence. Notably, many of these effects are interconnected (e.g., Busetta et al., 2020;Dryden & Dovchin, 2021;Ramjattan, 2019), and many are reported to have more pronounced effects on judgments of women compared to those of men. ...
Purpose
This letter to the editor discusses recommendations and publicity from a recent article by Gallena and Pinto (2021) that appeared in Perspectives of the ASHA Special Interest Groups. We contextualize the recommendations made by Gallena and Pinto that young women actively suppress their use of vocal fry, a normal part of linguistic and sociolinguistic variation, to make themselves more marketable to employers who discriminate on the basis of vocal fry use. By reviewing research on vocal fry, social evaluation, and linguistic discrimination, we show how this recommendation is fundamentally flawed and how it perpetuates sexist tropes about language use. We argue that this is particularly dismaying when publicized by a journal of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, which aims to promote the universal use of language, in all its forms, as a human right.
Conclusions
People stigmatize linguistic differences to devalue those who have less power. Vocal fry is not a problem; the problem is absurd sexist judgments against those who use vocal fry. The recommendations made in Gallena and Pinto (2021) and Perspectives' publicity about those recommendations both contribute to sexist linguistic discrimination. Rather than recommending that victims of sexism change their behavior to suit the biased views of others, we should use our energy to eradicate the underlying sexism.
... Weight based discrimination in the work place can take the form of discriminatory hiring practices or promotions. 149 Weight status is not a guaranteed protected class when considering anti-discrimination policies. Furthermore, the reality of living in a larger body can lead to multiple daily stressors due to structures and systems of our current society. ...
The Body Positivity Movement (BP) arose from Fat Liberation and aims to promote body inclusivity and rejection of societal ideals around weight. There is evidence to suggest that BP may be beneficial in reducing risk factors for disordered eating (DE). While this is promising, there is no existing unified and user-generated definition of BP, and little is known about how BP is associated with anti-fat attitudes (AFA). Accordingly, Aim 1 assesses how young adult university students who identify as female define BP and how agreement with BP and fat liberation is associated with risk and protective factors for DE and AFA. Aims 2 and 3 assess how exposure to different types of BP content is associated with changes in risk and protective factors for DE and AFA. For Aim 1, 5000 female identifying undergraduate students between 18-25 years of age were sent recruitment emails via the Registrar’s Office at the University of Michigan to partake in a survey about social media and health. This cross-sectional survey assessed individual definitions and agreement with BP, fat liberation, as well as the following outcomes: eating disorder risk, body dissatisfaction, thin ideal internalization, body appreciation, body functionality appreciation, weight bias internalization, and AFA. For Aims 2 and 3, participants (N=224) were randomly assigned to view 10 condition-specific images and complete a battery of pre- and post-measures. Aim 2 examines if exposure to BP content with or without the presence of bodies compared to control images is associated with positive or negative risk factors for DE and AFA, such as state body satisfaction, state shape satisfaction, state appearance satisfaction, body functionality appreciation and AFA. Aim 3 examines if associations between exposure to BP content and risk and protective factors for DE, and AFA differ by body size of the image, more specifically between exposure to images of fat bodies, mid-size bodies(bodies that might be considered somewhat “overweight” (i.e., would not be categorized as the thin ideal, but are not likely to experience substantial AFA or discrimination)),” or a condition containing both fat and mid-size bodies. Independent repeated measure Analyses of Variance (ANOVAs) are used to examine differences in all outcomes from pre to post stimulus exposure. In Aim 1, it was found that young females (N=379) define BP as being primarily about “body love and confidence,” “appreciation of body diversity,” “not body shaming, “and “body acceptance,” “prioritization of health over beauty,” and the “rejection of societal ideals about weight and shape” (hereafter referred to as mainstream BP). Linear regression models revealed significant associations between agreement with mainstream BP and higher body functionality appreciation and lower AFA. Contrary to the hypothesis, there was a significant association between agreement with mainstream BP and thin ideal internalization. Agreement with fat liberation was associated with higher body functionality appreciation, lower eating disorder risk, and lower AFA. For Aim 2, there were significant increases in all measures of state body satisfaction for all conditions, but no significant effect of condition. In Aim 3, those who viewed images of BP content containing only fat bodies had greater increases in state appearance satisfaction. However, there were increases in all measures of state body satisfaction for all conditions. Findings from this study can be used to help public health professionals utilize mainstream BP and fat liberation to reduce DE risk and AFA.
... A su vez, los individuos con sobrepeso son habitualmente catalogados como más perezosos, menos responsables y organizados, menos competentes, menos productivos, más problemáticos y emocionalmente inestables, más indecisos y menos activos (Finkelstein et al., 2007;Larkin & Pines, 1979;Levine & Schweitzer, 2015;Roehling et al., 2008). En consecuencia, todos estos rasgos asociados con el sobrepeso tienen la capacidad de influir negativamente en prácticamente todas las etapas del proceso de selección (Bartels, 2016;Rudolph et al., 2009). ...
Overweight people suffer from workplace discrimination, and they also tend to be perceived as less competent yet warmer than people with an average physical constitution. This study uses an experimental between-subjects design to investigate whether the greater warmth perceived in overweight people may become a beneficial factor (e.g., by receiving higher remuneration) when applying for certain jobs where warmth is an important dimension. The results indicated that for a job where likeability and warmth are important (party entertainer), the candidate received higher remuneration when they were presented as an overweight person than when they were presented as having an average physical constitution. Finally, we discuss the possible implications of this study for hiring departments, as well as possible strategies to lower workplace discrimination as a consequence of physical constitution.
... Moreover, applicants with overweight or obesity were more likely to be the targets of passive harm (e.g., exclusion), and less likely to engender in others passive or active help (e.g., cooperation or assistance, respectively; E. E. Levine & Schweitzer, 2015). A meta-analysis conducted by Rudolph, Wells, Weller, and Baltes (2009) found that discrimination against individuals with overweight and obesity pervades all employment decisions (i.e., selection, placement, compensation, promotion, discipline, and termination). An experimental study, whereby employment professionals (with experience in career decisions) assessed candidate workrelated prestige and achievements via photographs, demonstrated that these qualities were underestimated for applicants with obesity and overestimated for healthy-weight applicants (Giel et al., 2012). ...
Selective attention to food and body stimuli have been proposed as vulnerability factors for weight gain leading to overweight and obesity, yet research on attentional biases in this population has produced mixed findings. To assist in clarifying the nature of these attentional biases as a function of weight category, the present research examined attentional subcomponents (i.e., speeded detection and increased distraction) using a novel paradigm in this context, namely, the visual-search task. The final sample included women in the healthy-weight (n = 50), overweight (n = 41), and obese (n = 46) weight ranges according to World Health Organization (2000) guidelines. Parts One and Two of this research assessed attentional biases for low- and high-calorie food stimuli in individuals with overweight and obesity. Part One of this research tested the hypothesis that the overweight and obese groups would display speeded detection for low- and high-calorie food versus non-food images (i.e., plants or animals) when compared with the healthy-weight group. When the target images were foods and plants, and the distractor images were animals, results indicated that all weight groups engaged in speeded detection for food versus non-food images. However, relative to the overweight group, the obese group unexpectedly displayed reduced speeded detection for food images, which could represent a degree of avoidance of food in early attentional processing among women with obesity. These findings were not replicated when the target images were foods and animals, and the distractor images were plants. This latter finding may have been due to the visual and/or thematic similarity between foods and plants, rendering it more difficult to discern food targets among plant distractors relative to food targets among animal distractors. Part Two investigated the hypothesis that the overweight and obese groups would display increased distraction by low- and high-calorie food versus non-food images (i.e., plants or animals) when compared with the healthy-weight group. When the distractor images were foods and plants, and the target images were animals, no weight group differences were observed in increased distraction. In contrast, when the distractor images were food and animals, and the target images were plants, the obese group showed increased distraction by low-calorie food images relative to the healthy-weight group. Moreover, all weight groups showed increased distraction by high-calorie food versus non-food images. However, relative to the healthy-weight group, the overweight group surprisingly displayed reduced distraction by high-calorie food images. Overall, the unexpected pattern of results observed across Parts One and Two raises questions about whether attention toward or away from food stimuli is adaptive or maladaptive. Parts Three and Four of this research assessed attentional biases for body shape and weight stimuli in individuals with overweight and obesity. Part Three examined the hypothesis that the overweight and obese groups would display speeded detection for low- and high-weight body versus non-body images (i.e., shoes and cars) when compared with the healthy-weight group. Regardless of whether the shoe or car images performed the role of the target or distractor, no weight group differences were observed in speeded detection. Finally, Part Four investigated the hypothesis that the overweight and obese groups would display increased distraction by low- and high-weight body versus non-body images (i.e., shoes and cars). Again, regardless of the role performed by the non-body images (i.e., target or distractor), no weight group differences were observed in level of distraction. While it is plausible that biased attention for body stimuli does not form part of the core difficulties that contribute to overweight and obesity, it is also possible that the visual-search tasks used in Parts Three and Four were subject to a floor effect.
... To date, organizational scholars have identified a variety of weight biases, in which overweight individuals are perceived as less intelligent, less conscientious, less self-disciplined, lazier, and sloppier than people of normal weight (Puhl, et al., 2008a, b;Roehling et al., 2008), despite the lack of scientific evidence to support these perceptions. Furthermore, and perhaps as a result of this weight bias, scholars have found that overweight workers are discriminated against through wage levels, hiring recommendations, performance appraisals, and promotions Rudolph et al., 2009;Vanhove & Gordon, 2014). In turn, these forms of weight discrimination have been linked to decreased health and well-being, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and increased turnover intentions (Carr & Friedman, 2005;Papadopoulos & Brennan, 2015;Randle, 2012). ...
Integrating the stereotype content model, attribution theory, and social exchange theory, we examined the perceptions underlying bias towards overweight supervisors and the effect of supervisor weight on the workplace behaviors of subordinates. Study 1 (N = 204) confirmed that supervisors are subject to weight bias, such that supervisor weight is negatively related to subordinates’ perceptions of supervisor competence. In turn, Study 2 (N = 829) and Study 3 (N = 226) demonstrated that supervisor weight indirectly influences subordinates’ perceptions of the subordinate-supervisor relationship (leader-member exchange) and important reciprocal workplace behaviors (organizational citizenship behaviors). Furthermore, in predicting perceptions of competence, we found no interaction between supervisor weight and supervisor status, subordinate weight, or supervisor gender. We also found that supervisor weight does not influence perceptions of supervisor warmth and that the relationship between supervisor weight and perceptions of supervisor competence is linear.
... Because one's body weight can change (Thomas et al., 2011), weight bias should encompass the effect on weight change. Nevertheless, weight bias remains primarily operationalized as the significant main effect of an individual's current weight on how others evaluate their qualifications or job performance when all other qualities are controlled (Rudolph et al., 2009). This prevalent fixed-characteristic paradigm for examining workplace weight bias seems to have largely neglected the changing state of one's weight (i.e., weight loss, maintaining the same weight, and weight gain), and such a situation may lead to an underestimation of the scope and consequence of weight bias in the organizational view (King et al., 2005;Levine and Schweitzer, 2015). ...
Overweight employees are viewed as lazy, slow, inactive, and even incapable. Even if such attributes are false, this perspective can seriously undermine others' evaluation of their work performance. The current study explores a broader phenomenon of weight bias that has an effect on weight change. In a longitudinal study with a time lag of 6 months, we surveyed 226 supervisor-employee dyads. We found supervisor perceptions of employee weight change notably altered their evaluation of the employee performance from Time 1, especially following low vs. high Time-1 performance evaluation. Meanwhile, the moderating effects among different levels of supervisor anti-fat bias functioned as boundary conditions for such performance evaluation alteration. In particular, the interaction between the Time-1 performance evaluation and the impact of supervisor perception of employee weight change on the Time-2 performance evaluation was significant only if supervisors held a stronger anti-fat bias.
... Although empirical data linking larger physical sizes to low status and thinner physical sizes to high status is limited, there is no shortage of documented evidence that larger people occupy a systematically disadvantaged position in society (see Diedrichs & Puhl, 2017). For example, larger people have been found to earn significantly less compared to average-sized adults, even when a range of related factors are controlled for (Judge & Cable, 2011), and are consistently discriminated against in the workplace, being less likely to be hired (Rudolph et al, 2009;O'Brien et al, 2013), less likely to be promoted (Rothblum et al., 1990), and more likely to be on the receiving end of disciplinary action (Bellizi & Hasty, 2001). Larger people also face systematic disadvantages when accessing healthcare services, being significantly more likely to have serious medical conditions undiagnosed or misdiagnosed (Gabriel et al., 2006), receive inadequate care and drug dosages even when accurately diagnosed (Roe, et al., 2012;Griggs et al., 2012), or simply be refused care until medical professionals are satisfied that they are seriously attempting to lose weight (Chastain, 2015, as cited by Chrisler & Barney, 2017). ...
This thesis proposes the existence of a ‘hunchback heuristic’ (HBH): a tendency to associate members of low status social groups with anger and related behaviours, and members of high status social groups with calmness. A series of experiments were conducted to investigate the existence, boundary conditions, effects and interactions of this novel construct. Chapter 3 presents three experiments aimed at demonstrating the existence of the HBH, using both direct and indirect measures. The results of this series of experiments provide strong evidence of the expression of the HBH on both the explicit and implicit levels. The second experiment (Chapter 3, Study 1) further demonstrates that the HBH occurs at both inter-group and intra-group levels, and the third (Chapter 3, Study 2) highlights the cumulative effect of multiple co-occurring status hierarchies on the HBH's expression. Chapter 4 reports two experiments which explore the effect of social identity motives and system legitimacy on the HBH, using a novel minimal groups paradigm through which participants are assigned positions in a constructed status hierarchy. The findings of these two experiments (Chapter 4, Studies 1-2) show that social identity motives have only a limited effect on the HBH, which is further constrained by system legitimacy. Both experiments also demonstrate the independence of the HBH from other biases with clear evidence of its expression under minimal conditions. Chapter 5 describes a single cross-cultural experiment (Chapter 5, Study 1) which examines the possibilities of a) a cultural component to the HBH and b) frustration playing a role in mediating its activation and expression. The results of this study indicate that the HBH is not affected by cultural differences, and also showcases preliminary evidence that frustration may mediate the relationship(s) between status, anger, and calmness in the HBH. The overall findings of this thesis point to a real and robust HBH effect, such that low status social groups are consistently associated with anger, and high status social groups with calmness, on both explicit and implicit levels of association. The HBH holds true across intergroup and intragroup status hierarchies, as well as across cultures; however, it appears constrained by system legitimacy, following Spears et al.’s (2001) social reality constraint model. The findings also indicate that the HBH may be mediated by frustration.
Across two studies, this exploratory research examines stigma faced by larger‐bodied people by exploring the phenomenon of weight‐based mistreatment (WBM), defined as interpersonal disrespect levied on a person explicitly due to their larger body size, at work. Through qualitative research we first describe distinct forms of WBM experienced by 175 self‐defined overweight US employees, as well as consequences of WBM for bullied targets and their organizations. Next, through a quantitative survey distributed to a separate sample of larger‐bodied workers, our exploratory evaluation of WBM found that it is all‐too common in many forms, including overt and covert aggression, microaggression, incivility, and benevolent, yet disrespectful comments oriented around a person's weight. One or more forms of these behaviours were experienced by 75% of our 1008‐person sample, with overt and covert aggression being most common, and coworkers most often perpetrating WBM. Drawing on objectification theory, we observe a host of harmful consequences ranging from diminished engagement, worsened professional interactions, and a lack of self‐care. Altogether, results reveal WBM is a substantial problem, and thus they serve as a call to action for HR professionals, managers, and inclusion advocates to better understand the experiences of this vulnerable population.
The negative impacts of perceived discrimination on health have been documented, but how perceptions of discrimination vary by sex among people with obesity (PWO) is not well understood. This study assessed sex differences in perceived discrimination among PWO. This cross‐sectional study analysed self‐reported data from racially/ethnically diverse PWO attending an academic obesity program. The primary outcome was perceived discrimination, assessed by the Major Experiences of Discrimination (MED) and Everyday Discrimination Scale (EDS). Sex differences were evaluated by univariate and multivariable regression analysis adjusted for key descriptive variables. The final analytical sample included 60 PWO (62% female, 61% non‐Hispanic white (NHW), 12% Hispanic, 39% non‐Hispanic black (NHB), mean age 53 years, mean BMI 34 kg/m ² ). Women experienced everyday discrimination 59% less than men but this was not significant (OR 0.41; 95% CI 0.08–2.16; p = .29). Participant highest BMI was correlated with acute discrimination (total MED score) ( r = 0.39; p = .0024) and chronic discrimination (total EDS score) ( r = 0.28; p = .03). Most participants reported more chronic discrimination compared to acute discrimination (85% vs. 48%). Mean MED ( β −0.18; 95% CI –0.93 to +0.56; p = .62) and EDS scores ( β −0.25; 95% CI –3.37 to +2.87; p = .87) were not significantly different between women and men. Perceived discrimination was common and experienced equally between men and women with obesity. Incorporating discrimination experiences into obesity care models may be an important step to improving quality of care and outcomes.
Discrimination is one of the oldest human topics because of human characteristics. From the perspective of last two centuries, it can be supposed that discrimination history is mostly about gender, nationality, race, or skin colour. The topic interested in here is not purely about discrimination in all aspects, but especially about discrimination in the workplace, discriminatory actions, or behaviours in the work-related environment. Discrimination can be considered as a harmful behaviour psychologically in terms of people who are subjected to it. If it occurs in the workplace or in work-related environments, the people who become victim cannot prevent it. At that time, discrimination can be discussed as a mobbing behaviour. Accordingly, the main issue of this chapter is discrimination as a mobbing behaviour.
Communicating with children, teens, and families about obesity can feel like walking a tightrope between the responsibility to promote health while also preventing harm. Providers use weight and BMI to guide screening, diagnosis, and treatment decisions. At the same time, there are real potential harms if conversations with children and families focus solely on weight and weight loss due to pervasive weight bias and stigma. Children and families benefit when providers treat obesity using a weight-inclusive approach with a holistic view of health and an understanding of the complex pathophysiology of obesity. Providers are challenged to find effective ways to support patients and encourage health behavior change without causing harm.
In this chapter, providers will learn: (1) the definitions, prevalence, and consequences of weight bias and stigma; (2) how to identify and critically evaluate personal and professional biases; (3) recommendations for setting up a weight-inclusive clinical practice; and (4) motivational interviewing techniques that can be used to help empower patients and families to engage in positive behavior change without inducing stigma.
Bu çalışmada, kıyı otelleri çalışanlarının ayrımcılık konusuna ilişkin algıları incelenmiştir. Amaçlı ve kartopu örneklem yöntemi kullanılarak Marmaris’teki kıyı otellerinin 21 çalışanından yarı yapılandırılmış görüşme tekniği ile veri toplanmıştır. Veriler içerik analizi yapılarak incelenmiştir. Araştırma bulguları a) ayrımcılık türlerine ilişkin algı, b) ayrımcılığın nedenlerine ilişkin algı ve c) ayrımcılığın sonuçlarına (etkilerine) ilişkin algı olmak üzere üç tema altında sunulmuştur. Araştırmada otel işletmelerinde en çok cinsiyet ve nepotizm türlerinde ayrımcılık yaşandığı, ayrımcılığa genellikle gruplaşmanın sebep olduğu ve ayrımcılığın en fazla iş yoğunluğu artışı ve motivasyon kaybı ile sonuçlandığı belirlenmiştir.
The Cambridge Handbook of the Psychology of Prejudice aims to answer the questions: why is prejudice so persistent? How does it affect people exposed to it? And what can we do about it? Providing a comprehensive examination of prejudice from its evolutionary beginnings and environmental influences through to its manifestations and consequences, this handbook is an essential resource for scholars and students who are passionate about understanding prejudice, social change, collective action, and prejudice reduction. Featuring cutting-edge research from top scholars in the field, the chapters provide an overview of psychological models of prejudice; investigate prejudice in specific domains such as race, religion, gender, and appearance; and develop explicit, evidence-based strategies for disrupting the processes that produce and maintain prejudice. This handbook challenges researchers and readers to move beyond their comfort zone, and sets the agenda for future avenues of research, policy, and intervention.
Eating disorders (ED) and weight stigma pose significant healthcare challenges. Patients at higher weights, like some with atypical anorexia (AAN), may face increased challenges due to weight stigma. This study analyzed patients' lived experiences with weight stigma in healthcare. Thirty-eight adult patients with AAN completed in-depth, semi-structured interviews regarding healthcare experiences. Guided by narrative inquiry approaches, transcripts were thematically coded. Across the illness trajectory (ED development, pre-treatment, treatment, post-treatment), patients reported that weight stigma in healthcare contributed to initiation and persistence of ED behaviors. Themes included "providers pathologizing patient weight," which patients reported triggered ED behaviors and relapse, "provider minimization and denial" of patients' EDs, which contributed to delays in screening and care, and "overt forms of weight discrimination," leading to healthcare avoidance. Participants reported that weight stigma prolonged ED behaviors, delayed care, created suboptimal treatment environments, deterred help-seeking, and lowered healthcare utilization. This suggests that many providers (pediatricians, primary care providers, ED treatment specialists, other healthcare specialists) may inadvertently reinforce patients' EDs. Increasing training, screening for EDs across the weight spectrum, and targeting health behavior promotion rather than universal weight loss, could enhance quality of care and improve healthcare engagement for patients with EDs, particularly those at higher weights.
Workplace bias creates negative psychological outcomes for employees, permeating the larger organization. Workplace meetings are frequent, making them a key context where bias may occur. Video conferencing (VC) is an increasingly common medium for workplace meetings; we therefore investigated how VC tools contribute to increasing or reducing bias in meetings. Through a semi-structured interview study with 22 professionals, we found that VC features push meeting leaders to exercise control over various meeting parameters, giving leaders an outsized role in affecting bias. We demonstrate this with respect to four core VC features---user tiles, raise hand, text-based chat, and meeting recording---and recommend employing at least one of two mechanisms for mitigating bias in VC meetings---1) transferring control from meeting leaders to technical systems or other attendees and 2) helping meeting leaders better exercise the control they do wield.
Introduction
In our opinion there is an imbalance between the relevance of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and the resources that are provided.
Objective
To review the different factors that determine (or should determine) the interest of gastroenterologists in IBS, comparing it with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). For this, 7 different areas have been analyzed: 1. Medical impact; 2. Social impact; 3. Academic importance; 4. Clinical relevance; 5. Scientific relevance; 6. Public relevance; and 7. Personal aspects of the doctor.
Results
The prevalence is 10 times higher in IBS, which represents up to 25% of gastroenterologist visits. Both pathologies alter the quality of life, in many cases in a similar way. The social cost is very important in both cases (e.g.: absenteeism of 21 and 18%) as well as the economic cost, although much higher in medication for IBD. Academic dedication is more than double for IBD, both in university and in MIR training. Scientific relevance is greater in IBD, with a number of publications four times higher. Public relevance is not very different between the two entities, although IBD patients are more associative. Doctors prefer IBD and tend to stigmatize IBS.
Conclusion
In our opinion, to reduce this imbalance between needs and resources, human and material, in IBS it is essential to make drastic changes both in educational aspects, communication skills, prioritization according to the demands of patients, and reward (personal and social) of physicians.
Policy makers developing obesity policies should assess and reflect on their own attitudes and beliefs related to obesity 1. • Public health policy makers should avoid using stigmatising language and images. It is well established that shaming does not change behaviours. In fact, shaming can increase the likelihood of individuals pursuing unhealthy behaviours and has no place in an evidence-based approach to obesity management 2, 3. • Avoid making assumptions in population health policies that healthy behaviours will or should result in weight change. Weight is not a behaviour and should not be a target for behaviour change. Avoid evaluating healthy eating and physical activity policies, programmes, and campaigns in terms of population-level weight or body mass index outcomes. Instead, emphasise health and quality of life for people of all sizes. As weight bias contributes to health and social inequalities, advocate for and support people living with obesity. This includes supporting policy action to prevent weight bias and weight-based discrimination 2-8 .
Evidence has accumulated to demonstrate the pervasiveness, impact and implications of weight stigma. As such, there is a need for concerted efforts to address weight stigma and discrimination that is evident within, policy, healthcare, media, workplaces, and education. The continuation of weight stigma, which is known to have a negative impact on mental and physical health, threatens the societal values of equality, diversity, and inclusion. This health policy review provides an analysis of the research evidence highlighting the widespread nature of weight stigma, its impact on health policy and the need for action at a policy level. We propose short- and medium-term recommendations to address weight stigma and in doing so, highlight the need change across society to be part of efforts to end weight stigma and discrimination.
Funding
None.
Purpose
Race and ethnicity, BMI and other factors can affect ratings of one’s experiences in school, work and other settings. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of BMI, race and ethnicity and body satisfaction on the experiences of victimization in a work or academic setting. Additionally, experiences of weight/appearance-based perpetration were explored within the context of prior victimization, perpetration, BMI, race and ethnicity and body satisfaction.
Design/methodology/approach
A diverse sample of 1,161 female undergraduates completed a series of questionnaires online. A series of hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to examine the association between body satisfaction, BMI and race and ethnicity and weight/appearance-based teasing perpetration and victimization.
Findings
Results indicated that lower body satisfaction was significantly related to an increase in weight/appearance-based victimization. Additional analyses examining the perpetration of weight/appearance-based teasing were conducted. Participants who reported experiencing victimization were also more likely to perpetrate weight/appearance-based teasing, although BMI was not associated with perpetration.
Research limitations/implications
Implications of these findings and future research directions are discussed. In particular, academic settings provide a landscape for reducing and preventing victimization because of the resources available for students in addition to policies and procedures that can be implemented.
Originality/value
The findings of this study provide evidence that various identities and beliefs, such as race and ethnicity, BMI and body satisfaction, play a role in victimization and perpetration. This study used a novel, emerging adulthood population.
Bias, both conscious and unconscious, is defined in many ways. Bias incorporates implicit stereotypes and prejudices, impacts judgments, is displayed in nonverbal behaviors, and may result in a dissociation between what a person believes is right and unconscious beliefs that cause negative actions. Understanding and recognizing the negative impact of unconscious, or implicit, bias during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020-2021 is an important leadership tool. Unconscious bias manifests in many forms. A clear awareness of these forms of bias, learning to recognize the biases, and understanding how to reduce the negative impact of unconscious bias are important to leaders in workplaces upended by the effects if the pandemic. Twelve forms of unconscious bias, its manifestation in the workplace, and the impact of COVID-19 are explored.
In our opinion there is an imbalance between the relevance of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and the resources that are provided.
Objective:
To review the different factors that determine (or should determine) the interest of gastroenterologists in IBS, comparing it with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). For this, 7 different areas have been analyzed: 1. Medical impact; 2. Social impact; 3. Academic importance; 4. Clinical relevance; 5. Scientific relevance; 6. Public relevance; and 7. Personal aspects of the doctor.
Results:
The prevalence is 10 times higher in IBS, which represents up to 25% of gastroenterologist visits. Both pathologies alter the quality of life, in many cases in a similar way. The social cost is very important in both cases (eg: absenteeism of 21 and 18%) as well as the economic cost, although much higher in medication for IBD. Academic dedication is more than double for IBD, both in university and in MIR training. Scientific relevance is greater in IBD, with a number of publications four times higher. Public relevance is not very different between the two entities, although IBD patients are more associative. Doctors prefer IBD and tend to stigmatize IBS.
Conclusion:
In our opinion, to reduce this imbalance between needs and resources, human and material, in IBS it is essential to make drastic changes both in educational aspects, communication skills, prioritization according to the demands of patients, and reward (personal and social) of physicians.
Osobe s prekomjernom tjelesnom težinom mogu biti diskriminirane u procesu selekcije i zapošljavanja. Zbog moguće diskriminacije ljudi na temelju pretilosti, cilj ovog rada je istražiti stavove studenata menadžmenta prema pretilim osobama i doznati kakvi su njihovi stavovi prema zapošljavanju pretilih osoba. Istraživanje je provedeno među studentima Sveučilišta Vern, smjerova Ekonomije poduzetništva i Poduzetničkog menadžmenta. Istraživanje je provedeno online upitnikom i upitnikom koji je proveden na predavanjima. U istraživanju su ukupno sudjelovala 134 ispitanika, od čega je 48 ispitanika muškog spola, a 86 ženskog. U upitniku je od sudionika zatraženo da uz pomoć Likertove skale stavova prema pretilim osobama i Bogardusove skale socijalne distance definiraju svoju usuglašenost s određenim tvrdnjama. Rezultati istraživanja pokazali su kako ispitanici imaju pozitivne stavove prema pretilim osobama. Također, ispitanici nemaju negativan stav prema pretilim osobama prilikom zapošljavanja. Bogardusovom skalom socijalne distance zaključeno je kako ispitanicima ne smeta ako bi pretila osoba njihov radni kolega ili osoba koju zapošljavaju u svojoj tvrtki. Iz svega navedenog moguće je zaključiti kako ispitanici ne bi diskriminirali pretile osobe u procesu selekcije i zapošljavanja.
With more than 29 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the USA and 119 million cases worldwide, the pandemic has affected companies, households and the global economy. We explore the effect of the economic shock which resulted from this specific health event on labour market outcomes, and the changes in labour market disparities between ethnic groups and genders. The results provide evidence of an adverse effect of COVID-19 on labour market outcomes of all demographic groups, a widening gap between the employment prospects of minorities and whites, but no change in the earnings gaps between ethnic groups. We also do not find a deterioration of the differentials between genders, except the increase in the difference in the duration of unemployment between women and men with children. The findings have implications related to the priorities of policy decision-makers when implementing policies to combat ethnic and gender gaps in the labour market.
JEL Classification: J70, J71, J01, J15, J23
In two studies, using a mix of samples, we examined the influence of weight bias on behaviors in competitive, potentially high stakes situations. As predicted, weight bias directed focal actors’ treatment of counterparts in a negotiation. Negotiators made lower value offers to overweight counterparts relative to average-weight counterparts. In addition, overweight counterparts also received more negative messages over the course of their negotiation and were evaluated less favorably after the negotiation than average-weight counterparts.
Objective
The aim of this study was to develop a 2-day intensive-format, Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT) based group program targeting weight stigma in women with overweight and obesity, and to conduct a pilot study to determine the feasibility and acceptability of the intervention.
Method
Participants were 15 females aged 18–62 years (mean [M] = 43.60, standard deviation [SD] = 12.38), who participated in the program and completed measures of self-compassion, internalized weight stigma, psychological distress, life-satisfaction, loneliness, eating self-efficacy, body dissatisfaction, and body shame, at pre-treatment, post-treatment, and 3-month follow-up.
Results
Significant improvements were found from pre-treatment to post-treatment for self-compassion and internalized weight stigma, with gains maintained at 3-month follow-up. Significant improvements were also found on measures of psychological distress, life satisfaction, loneliness, eating self-efficacy, and body dissatisfaction at the post-treatment assessment. Credibility ratings of the program were high.
Conclusions
This study has contributed to existing stigma research, being the first proof-of-concept study to demonstrate support for an intensive, CFT based group approach targeting the effects of weight stigma for women with overweight and obesity. The findings are discussed in terms of the potential of CFT to assist women develop resilience to the harmful effects of weight stigma, and possible future research directions to further develop and evaluate this approach.
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.
A review of 144 published studies of the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and obesity reveals a strong inverse relationship among women in developed societies. The relationship is inconsistent for men and children in developed societies. In developing societies, however, a strong direct relationship exists between SES and obesity among men, women, and children. A review of social attitudes toward obesity and thinness reveals values congruent with the distribution of obesity by SES in different societies. Several variables may mediate the influence of attitudes toward obesity and thinness among women in developed societies that result in the inverse relationship between SES and obesity. They include dietary restraint, physical activity, social mobility, and inheritance.
The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of weight discrimination on perceived attributions, person-job fit, and hiring recommendations. Three experiments were undertaken to investigate these issues with people applying for positions in fitness organizations (i.e., aerobics instructor and personal trainer). In all three studies qualified people who were overweight, relative to their qualified and sometimes unqualified thin counterparts, were perceived to have less desirable attributes (e.g., lazy), were thought to be a poorer fit for the position, and were less likely to receive a hiring recommendation. These relationships were influenced by applicant expertise and applicant sex in some cases. Implications for the fitness industry are discussed.
Protection against obesity discrimination is extremely limited under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). No obese plaintiff has won using the actual disability theory, but a few have won under the “perceived disability” theory. Weight-related appearance standards are legal. We estimate weight-based wage penalties for young men and women. We find that mildly obese (20% over standard weight) white women experience greater wage penalties than black men experience for weight that is 100% over standard weight. Men do not experience wage penalties until their weight exceeds standard weight by over 100 lb. A “gender-plus” analysis under Title VII is more appropriate than the ADA for addressing the weight-based wage penalties that women experience.
This experiment was conducted(1) to examine stereotypes about obese and non- obese female job applicants, and (2) to isolate the effects of obesity from the effects of physical attractiveness in these judgments. College students (n = 104) rated applicants for two different positions. The applicants' resumes either were accom- panied by pictures of obese and nonobese targets who were matched in attractive- ness or by written descriptions of obses and nonobese targets whose attractiveness was not described.A pretest confirmed that students who read these descriptions perceived nonobese targets as significantly more attractive than obese targets. Re- sults showedthat when attractiveness was controlled (i.e., the students saw pic- tures), students exhibited little negative stereotyping of obese applicants. In contrast, students who hadto infer the target's attractiveness from a written descrip- tion rated obsese applicants more negatively than nonobese applicants. These re- sults, which occurred on one of the two resumes used, suggest that obese individualssometimes are evaluated negatively, and that this is due to the physical unattractiveness associated with increased weight.
Research has revealed that obese or overweight individuals have been consistently devalued The current research was designed to determine the extent to which this devaluation of obese and overweight individuals extends to size-14 women who, according to apparel manufacturers, are the smallest of the large sizes. Student volunteers saw black and white slides of six women, three of whom wore size 6 and three of whom wore size 14. Concurrently they listened to an audio tape of a bogusperfume-marketing brainstorming session and then judged each model. The extent to which subjects categorized the models according to body type was also measured An analysis revealed differences in ratings of competence, friendliness, and judgments of work comfortsuch that the size-6 models received higher ratings than the size-14 models. However, for both groups of models, the mean ratings were above the midpoints of the scales. Furthermore, subjects were also found to categorize according to body type. These findings are congruent with a body of literature which supports the current cultural ideal of thinness.
Meta-analysis is arguably the most important methodological innovation in the social and behavioral sciences in the last 25 years. Developed to offer researchers an informative account of which methods are most useful in integrating research findings across studies, this book will enable the reader to apply, as well as understand, meta-analytic methods. Rather than taking an encyclopedic approach, the authors have focused on carefully developing those techniques that are most applicable to social science research, and have given a general conceptual description of more complex and rarely-used techniques. Fully revised and updated, Methods of Meta-Analysis, Second Edition is the most comprehensive text on meta-analysis available today. New to the Second Edition: * An evaluation of fixed versus random effects models for meta-analysis* New methods for correcting for indirect range restriction in meta-analysis* New developments in corrections for measurement error* A discussion of a new Windows-based program package for applying the meta-analysis methods presented in the book* A presentation of the theories of data underlying different approaches to meta-analysis
Examined the way the sex and race of the rater and of the ratee influence performance ratings, the confidence with which such ratings are made, and the correlation between rated and actual performance. 64 undergraduates rated each of 4 combinations of male–female and White–Black job performers. Ratings were made from videotape recordings of student workers shelving books in a university library. Results indicate that Ss rated members of their own group with more confidence than they did members of other race groups; this confidence was reflected in the variance of performance ratings and the degree to which ratings correlated with actual performance. Black Ss rated other Blacks more highly than did Whites, and White females received lower ratings from all groups. Though statistically significant, omega-square values ranged from .02 to .12, and estimates of validity differences that would result from the observed performance variance differences were no greater than .04. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The most ubiquitous method of performance appraisal is rating. Ratings, however, have been shown to be prone to various types of systematic and random error. Studies relating to performance rating are reviewed under the following headings: roles, context, vehicle, process, and results. In general, cognitive characteristics of raters seem to hold the most promise for increased understanding of the rating process. A process model of performance rating is derived from the literature. Research in the areas of implicit personality theory and variance partitioning is combined with the process model to suggest a unified approach to understanding performance judgments in applied settings. (6 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Reviews the psychological and legal literature concerning evidence of bias or unfairness in the employment interview with regard to Blacks, females, handicapped persons, and the elderly. This review indicates that (a) the interview is highly vulnerable to legal attack, and one can expect more litigation in this area; (b) the mechanisms and processes that contribute to bias in the interview are not well specified by researchers; (c) findings based predominantly on resume research show that females tend to receive lower evaluations than males, but this varies as a function of job and other situational characteristics; (d) little evidence exists to confirm the notion that Blacks are evaluated unfairly in interview contexts; (e) a relative dearth of research exists investigating interview bias against the elderly and handicapped individuals; and (f) evidence concerning the differential validity of the interview for these minority and nonminority groups is virtually nonexistent. A number of research needs and directions are specified. (79 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Tested the assumption that sexual stereotypic beliefs affect the judgments of individuals in an experiment with 98 male and 97 female undergraduates. No evidence was found for effects of stereotypes on Ss' judgments about a target individual. Instead, Ss judgments were strongly influenced by behavioral information about the target. To explain these results, it is noted that the predicted effects of social stereotypes on judgments conform to Bayes' theorem for the normative use of prior probabilities in judgment tasks, inasmuch as stereotypic beliefs may be regarded as intuitive estimates for the probabilities of traits in social groups. Research in the psychology of prediction has demonstrated that people often neglect prior probabilities when making predictions about people, especially when they have individuating information about the person that is subjectively diagnostic of the criterion. An implication of this research is that a minimal amount of subjectively diagnostic target case information should be sufficient to eradicate effects of stereotypes on judgments. Results of a 2nd experiment with 75 female and 55 male undergraduates support this argument. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This study examined whether obese persons report more types of employment discrimination and employment-related victimization than do nonobese persons. This question has never been answered directly using obese and nonobese persons in naturalistic settings. The subjects were recruited through the National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance (NAAFA). They were assigned to one of three weight level groups: average (no more than 19% above ideal weight as defined by 1983 Metropolitan Life Height and Weight Tables), obese (20 to 49% above ideal weight), or very obese (50% or more above ideal average weight). Very obese subjects reported more types of employment discrimination, school victimization, attempts to conceal weight, and lower self-confidence than did nonobese subjects. Women reported more attempts to conceal their weight and lower self-confidence because of their weight than did men. Since permanent weight loss is not possible for most obese persons, the results of this study suggest that societal attitudes toward obese persons, particularly toward women, need to change in order to eliminate the employment-related discrimination and victimization experienced by the obese.
Social stereotypes may be defined as beliefs that various traits or acts are characteristic of particular social groups. As such, stereotypic beliefs represent subjective estimates of the frequencies of attributes within social groups, and so should be expected to “behave like” base-rate information within the context of judgments of individuals: specifically, individuating target case information should induce subjects to disregard their own stereotypic beliefs. Although the results of previous research are consisten with this prediction, no studies have permitted normative evaluation of stereotypic judgments. Because the hypothesis equates base rates and stereotypes, normative evaluation is essential for demonstrating equivalence between the base-rate fallacy and neglect of stereotypes in the presence of individuating case information. Two experiments were conducted, allowing for normative evaluation of effects of stereotypes on judgments of individuals. The results confirmed the hypothesis and established the generalizability of the effect across controversial and uncontroversial, socially desirable and socially underirable stereotypic beliefs. More generally, an examination of the differences between intuitive and normative statistical models of the judgment task suggest that the base-rate fallacy is but one instance of a general characteristic of intuitive judgment processes: namely, the failure to appropriately adjust evaluations of any one cue in the light of concurrent evaluations of other cues.
This study meta-analytically tested hypotheses concerning factors that affect sex discrimination in simulated employment contexts. These hypotheses, derived from the social psychological literature on stereotyping, predicted that salience of applicant sex, job sex-type, sex of rater, and amount of job-relevant information would affect discrimination against female and male applicants. Generally, the hypotheses concerning job sex-type and job-relevant information were supported. Female and male applicants received lower ratings when being considered for an opposite-sex-type job, and the difference between ratings of males and females decreased as more job-relevant information was provided. However, ratings of males and females did not differ as hypothesized in regard to salience of sex and rater sex. The research and practice implications of these results are discussed.
Role-playing sales managers were asked to evaluate the personnel records of a salesperson who has been found to be using an unethical selling practice. Overall, saleswomen and salespeople who were described as extremely overweight were evaluated more harshly. Using excuses as justification did not neutralize the sales managers’ supervisory responses and, in the case of blaming one’s unethical behavior on the unethical behavior of customers, harsher disciplinary treatment resulted. Attribution theory is used to explain the findings.
Significant discrimination against overweight people has been shown to occur in a variety of settings, including employee selection. Negative personality characteristics attributed to overweight job applicants because of their body size are thought to result in inaccurate perceptions of a mismatch between a job and a candidate, resulting in unfair discrimination. This study, the first of its kind in a New Zealand setting, investigated the presence of discrimination against overweight female job applicants. A balanced design was used in which 56 human resource/recruitment consultants in Auckland, New Zealand, ranked fictitious CVs on suitability for a specified position. Two weight conditions, normal and overweight, were created by the rotation, on the CVs, of photographs of the same four women before and after weight loss. Each consultant ranked a set of six CVs, including two normal weight male distracter CVs. Analyses of the rankings confirmed a general bias against overweight applicants. Further analysis revealed that this outcome was mainly attributable to the rankings given to the poorest quality CV. Contrary to expectations; consultants' years of experience did not significantly influence the effect of weight on rankings.
It has been said that obese persons are the last acceptable targets of discrimination.1-4 Anecdotes abound about overweight individuals being ridiculed by teachers, physicians, and complete strangers in public settings, such as supermarkets, restaurants, and shopping areas. Fat jokes and derogatory portrayals of obese people in popular media are common. Overweight people tell stories of receiving poor grades in school, being denied jobs and promotions, losing the opportunity to adopt children, and more. Some who have written on the topic insist that there is a strong and consistent pattern of discrimination, 5 but no systematic review of the scientific evidence has been done.
Role-playing sales managers were asked to evaluate the personnel records of a salesperson who has been found to be using an
unethical selling practice. Overall, saleswomen and salespeople who were described as extremely overweight were evaluated
more harshly. Using excuses as justification did not neutralize the sales managers’ supervisory responses and, in the case
of blaming one’s unethical behavior on the unethical behavior of customers, harsher disciplinary treatment resulted. Attribution
theory is used to explain the findings.
This chapter presents an integrated understanding of various impression formation processes. The chapter introduces a model of impression formation that integrates social cognition research on stereotyping with traditional research on person perception. According to this model, people form impressions of others through a variety of processes that lie on a continuum reflecting the extent to that the perceiver utilizes a target's particular attributes. The continuum implies that the distinctions among these processes are matters of degree, rather than discrete shifts. The chapter examines the evidence for the five main premises of the model, it is helpful to discuss some related models that raise issues for additional consideration. The chapter discusses the research that supports each of the five basic premises, competing models, and hypotheses for further research. The chapter concludes that one of the model's fundamental purposes is to integrate diverse perspectives on impression formation, as indicated by the opening quotation. It is also designed to generate predictions about basic impression formation processes and to help generate interventions that can reduce the impact of stereotypes on impression formation.
The addition of job-related information regarding an applicant's leadership ability reduced bias against female applicants applying for a managerial position.
Research providing consistent evidence of pervasive discrimination against overweight job applicants and employees in the American workplace raises important questions for organizational stakeholders. To what extent is the disparate treatment of job applicants or employees based on their weight ethically justified? Are there aspects of weight discrimination that make it more acceptable than discrimination based on other characteristics, such as race or gender? What operational steps can employers take to address concerns regarding the ethical treatment of overweight individuals in the workplace? This article investigates these and related questions. Its purpose is to provide information and analysis that will assist organizations in formulating ethical responses to a widespread phenomenon: weight discrimination in the workplace. Although its focus is the American workplace, the proposed employer ethical obligations and the practical guidance that is provided are viewed as generalizing across countries and cultures.
The results of this study which used sales managers in the United States as subjects indicate that obese salespeople are considered less fit for challenging sales territories and may be discriminated against in assignment decisions. Interestingly, a job which included little face-to-face contact with customers (inside telephone sales) did offset the effects of obesity. Obese salespeople are also disciplined more harshly for breaches of ethical conduct.
Using practicing sales managers as subjects, the results indicate that personal characteristics of gender and weight may be used in making disciplinary judgments following episodes of a particular type of unacceptable work behavior, an unethical selling act. As hypothesized, saleswomen were disciplined less severely while overweight salespeople were disciplined more severely. However, being overweight produced harsher discipline for saleswomen but had no effect on salesmen. A stated organizational policy about the particular type of unacceptable behavior used did bring about more equal treatment for those described as overweight but did not even out the discipline administered to men and women.
Two studies explored reactions to the overweight by isolating the effects of weight from other characteristics of the job applicant. The first study, which established the existence of a stereotype, shows that the overweight are viewed consistently more negatively than others on variables considered important for successful job performance. The second study experimentally investigated occupational discrimination in a simulated hiring setting. Overweight applicants were less highly recommended than average-weight persons despite objectively identical performances. The findings are discussed m the context of current research on cognitive processes.
This experimental study was designed to examine social perceptions and attitudes about nonobese and obese salespeople. Specifically, it focused on subjects' desire to work with nonobese and obese salespeople, and it also investigated subjects' evaluations of the effectiveness of these salespersons' job performance. The data indicate that subjects' evaluations of obese salespeople were influenced by negative stereotypes of obese people and that these unfavorable perceptions diminished their desire to work with them and led to a belief that these persons would be less effective in their jobs than nonobese salespersons. Sex differences in subjects' responses are noted, and implications regarding consumers' decision making are discussed.
A review of the organizational discrimination literature indicates that a potentially important source of discrimination, referred to here as "rational bias, " has received little attention. Defined as discrimination originating in the service of economic self-interest, rational bias is specifically tested in the management-client relation ship. As anticipated, the results show a preference for male management consultants in some types of activities. The findings are interpreted as providing support for the new model of discrimi nation in organizations.
An experiment was carried out to evaluate whether or not relevant and successful work experience would mitigate employment discrimination in cases involving women and overweight industrial salespeople. The study was conducted in a salesforce setting and used practicing sales managers as subjects. The results indicate that for obese salespeople, positive work experience improved their fit for a job assignment only when the job was less challenging. In the case of a more challenging assignment, successful experience did not seem to help; non-obese salespeople, with and without successful experience, were both considered more fit than obese salespeople with successful experience. Men and women were found to be equally fit for both more and less challenging assignments.
The promotion potential and perceived value of employees with disabilities was experimentally explored. Supervisors and midlevel managers (n= 168) made promotion recommendations for employees of an hypothetical manufacturing company. The candidates for promotion were presented as having 1 of 8 different types of disability or health problem. Results demonstrate that the candidates with either depression or obesity are evaluated more negatively than their equally qualified nondisabled peer. Perceived personal blame for the disability/health problem correlated negatively with promotion recommendations.
The major purposes of this study were to investigate whether devaluation of obese persons, a phenomenon demonstrated exclusively in laboratory settings using reactive measures, generalizes to a nonreactive field setting. Seventy public health administrators were asked, via the mail, to help a college junior assess her chances of getting into graduate school and finding employment in this field. Subjects received a cover letter, a standard résumé∼, and a questionnaire. A picture of the student was affixed to some of the résumés. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of three picture conditions: obese, normal, or no picture. Forty-six percent of the questionnaires were returned. Significantly fewer forms were returned in the obese condition than in the normal and no picture conditions. On both the graduate school and employment questionnaire items, forecasts were considerably more pessimistic than in the other two picture conditions. Implications of these findings are discussed.
47 male and 50 female undergraduates rated 1 of 4 stimulus persons on competence and intelligence. Results show that highly competent males were rated more positively than highly competent females and males of low competence lower than similar females. Ss' sex was nonsignificant. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Examined the attitudes of 120 undergraduate and graduate students toward employees who are ex-offenders, former mental patients, or grossly overweight by presenting Ss with a packet of information about the firing of such an individual and assessing Ss' attitudes toward the firing. Results show that business and science majors were negative toward the employee with a weight problem. Business majors favored the ex-patient over the ex-offender; the situation was reversed for science majors. (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
In a between-subjects design, 46 male and 101 female Australian university students rated a target person described as male or female, overweight or average weight, and wearing glasses or not, on twelve 7-point rating scales. As predicted, a negative stereotype of the overweight person and a complex one of the person with glasses were found. However, there was no significant effect of sex of target except on the ratings of masculine and feminine and no interaction of sex of target with either the glasses or obesity variables. Nor did sex of subject influence the ratings. The results suggest that, although stereotypes of obesity and glasses do exist, they may be as severe for men as for women.
Quantitative and content analyses were performed to test the hypothesis that the lack-of-fit model (Heilman, 1983) could provide the needed theoretical framework for organizational obesity discrimination. A computer morphing program allowed for the same stimulus applicant to be used in both the average-weight and the overweight conditions. Results of the quantitative analysis show that undergraduate participants perceived overweight (vs. average-weight) applicants as having more negative work-related attributes, but did not discriminate against them in the hiring process. A content analysis provided some evidence for the lack-of-fit model (Heilman, 1983) as an explanatory model for obesity discrimination.
These two papers provide a new perspective on obesity. This first paper is concerne with challenging the prevailing orthodoxy that fatness is self-induced, that fat people overeat and need only to stick to a diet in order to eliminate obesity. It reviews research which indicates that ‘obese people do not, on the average, eat more than anyone else’, and that contrary to frequent medical insistence on the desirability of dieting, there are many undesirable facets, for there is an almost inevitable weight gain after dieting so that ‘the major treatment for obesity may also be the major cause of obesity’.
The purpose of this paper was to examine the relationship of race and gender to managers' ratings of promotion potential for a sample of 1268 managerial and professional employees. Hierarchial regression analysis showed that controlling for age, education, tenure, salary grade, functional area, and satisfaction with career support, both race and gender were significantly related to promotion potential. Females were rated lower than males, and Blacks and Asians were rated lower than Whites. There were no interaction effects between race and gender.
The purpose of these studies was to extend the benefits of the structured selection interview beyond its psychometric advantages, and to include its potential to mitigate biases against overweight applicants. In the first study, 133 participants witnessed a videotaped interview and were asked to rate the performance of the candidate. Videotapes varied by structured/unstructured interview scripts and average weight/overweight job applicant. Results confirmed the discrimination bias against overweight interviewees, and supported the possibility that a structured interview moderates this bias. In the second study, 137 participants completed the same task with an additional level of interview structure. Results provided additional support for the predictive power of the highly structured interview, and mixed results for a mildly structured interview.
This study uses a sample of over 1000 MBA graduates from a Middle Atlantic University to test for sex differences in perceived discrimination and for the actual effects of various physical characteristics and background factors on the starting salaries and later (1983) salaries of these men and women managers. Women more often reported experiencing discrimination, and they typically identified this as general discrimination against women. Fewer men perceived any discrimination. Those men who did claimed to be the victims of affirmative action programs favoring women and blacks over them. Salary data indicated that women did earn less than men, even when controlling for work experience. Evidence for other forms of discrimination was also found. Controlling for prior work experience and year of first professional employment, age and height had a positive effect on men's starting salaries and being overweight, a negative effect. For women, starting salaries were significantly and positively affected by social class. For 1983 income, taller, non-overweight, and older men earned more, as did those who grew up in a higher social class. For women, a positive salary correlate was again being from a higher social class. Areas for future research are discussed.
This article takes an interdisciplinary approach to the issue of weight-based discrimination in employment, drawing on diverse literatures (psychology, law, sociology, economics), and integrating a review of empirical research and a traditional legal analysis. First, empirical research that focuses on the extent of bias against overweight individuals in employment contexts is reviewed and evaluated. Second, current legal requirements relevant to weight-based discrimination in employment are identified and discussed, and those requirements are applied to the research findings to assess the extent to which the weight-based bias identified in the reviewed studies involves illegal discrimination. Third, based on the results of the review of the research and legal literatures, future research directions are offered and practical implications for employers and policy makers are identified.
The purpose of this research was to extend previous work on gender bias in performance evaluation. Specifically, we examined whether a structured free recall intervention could decrease the influence of traditional gender-stereotypes on the performance evaluations of women. Two hundred and forty-seven college students provided performance ratings for vignettes that described the performance of male or female college professors. Results indicated that without the intervention, raters who have traditional stereotypes evaluated women less accurately and more negatively. Conversely, the structured free recall intervention successfully eliminated these effects. The usefulness of the structured free recall intervention as a tool for decreasing the influence of gender stereotypes on performance ratings is discussed.
This study was designed to examine stereotypical beliefs about the physical appearance of employees and the effects of these beliefs on decision-making. Current stereotypes about obese and very thin people were assessed, and the effect of beliefs about obese and very thin people on subjects' evaluations of employee performance was measured. The findings indicated that subjects used information about employees' weight and body build differently, depending on whether they were responding to questions about discipline, the likelihood of recurrence of behavior, or their desire to work with certain employees. Overall, the results suggest that subjects exclude nondiagnostic aspects of employees (e.g., weight and body build) in some types of work decisions.
Recent research indicates that accountability can influence both what and how people think and might reduce decision makers' susceptibility to a variety of common judgment and choice errors. It is proposed that accountability can reduce decision errors if (1) decision makers are able to anticipate which response will be evaluated as more rational, and without concerns about accountability decision makers tend to select a different response, or (2) the normatively correct response can be identified by the more thorough and complex information processing associated with accountability. Consistent with the first proposition, four experiments demonstrated that accountability can reduce the sunk cost effect. The findings suggest that this debiasing effect reflects the subjects' expectation that they would be evaluated more favorably if they ignored sunk costs. Contrary to the second proposition, the prediction that accountable decision makers, due to their more thorough and multidimensional processing, would exhibit more consistent preferences across preference elicitation procedures was not supported in two studies. Finally, as hypothesized, accountability did not reduce a variety of decision errors for which the correct response was not known and was unlikely to be identified with more thorough information processing. These results are consistent with the notion that accountability effects in decision making are driven by the desire to be favorably evaluated and avoid criticism by others.