Is fat talk more believable than self-affirming body talk?

Abstract

Two experiments tested the extent to which the believability of women's body statements (fat talk or self-affirming) depends on their body type (thin or overweight). Experiment 1 (N=130) revealed fat talk was more believable than self-affirming talk regardless of body type. Experiment 2's (N=125) results showed, as hypothesized, that overweight women's fat talk was significantly more believable than fat talk by thin women and self-affirming talk by either thin or overweight women. Consistent with Experiment 1, there was a trend in Experiment 2 toward thin women's fat talk being more believable than their self-affirming talk. Overall, fat talk generally may be perceived as more believable than self-affirming body talk, and overweight women's fat talk may be perceived as most authentic. These results have implications for increasing understanding of fat talk's potential role in body dissatisfaction as well as the development of positive body image campaigns.