Self-handicapping and obesity: is there a sympathetic audience out there?
After reading a case description of a 20-year-old woman, subjects attributed her personal shortcomings to her weight rather than to herself per se. In particular, people who scored higher on a measure of self-handicapping were even more likely to attribute shortcomings to a person's weight and excuse or overlook them. A person who attributes shortcomings to being overweight will very likely find a sympathetic audience. These results support the suggestion by Baumeister, Kahn, and Tice (1990) that obesity can be a self-handicapping strategy.
Schill
T
T
Psychology Department, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale 62901-6502.
Beyler
J
J
Wehr
J
J
Swigert
L
L
Tatter
T
T
D000328:Adult; D001290:Attitude; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000523:psychology*; D010555:Personality Inventory; D012649:Self Concept; D012938:Social Perception