The Impact of Perspective Taking on Obesity Stereotypes: The Dual Mediating Effects of Self-Other Overlap and Empathy.

Yunlong Wu,Yuzhu Zhang

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.643708

Abstract

Previous studies have indicated that obese people face many forms of severe prejudice and discrimination in various settings, such as education, employment, and interpersonal relationships. However, research aimed at reducing obesity stereotyping is relatively rare, and prior studies have focused primarily on negative stereotypes. Based on the empathy-altruism hypothesis and self-other overlap hypothesis, this study investigates the impact of perspective taking (PT) on both positive and negative obesity stereotypes and examines the mediating effects of empathy and self-other overlap. A sample of 687 students (191 males and 496 females) at Chinese universities participated by completing self-report questionnaires on trait tendency and evaluation toward obese people. Structural equation modeling and the bootstrap method revealed that self-other overlap (but not empathy) mediated the relationship between PT and negative obesity stereotypes. While self-other overlap and empathy both mediated the relationship between PT and positive obesity stereotypes. These findings address the importance of PT for improving positive and negative obesity stereotypes: specifically, PT promotes psychological merging, and produces empathic concern (EC).

Highlights

Obese people are severely stigmatized because of their weight
The results showed that the mediating effect of self-other overlap was significant with an indirect effect of 0.03 and a 95% confidence interval (CI) of [−0.06, −0.01]
This research aimed to discover the influence of perspective taking (PT) on positive and negative obesity stereotypes among University students

Summary

Introduction

Obese people are severely stigmatized because of their weight. An intensive review by Puhl and Heuer (2009) shows that they confront prejudice and discrimination in many forms. Individuals experiencing the stigma of obesity are vulnerable to psychological disorders such as depression, low self-esteem, and anxiety (Puhl and King, 2013). This stigma derives partly from negative stereotypes (Tiggemann and Anesbury, 2000) that obese people are lazy, unintelligent, and lacking in selfdiscipline and willpower (Puhl and Heuer, 2009). There is a lot of evidence about the adverse consequences of the stigma of obesity, relatively few studies have explored strategies to reduce obesity stereotypes and prejudices (Gloor and Puhl, 2016) It is, necessary to take measures to improve attitudes toward this group

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Conclusion