Disgust, contempt, and anger and the stereotypes of obese people.
OBJECTIVE
Emotions form an important part of stereotyping and prejudice, but little is known about how intergroup emotions are associated with anti-fat prejudice. This study examined the relation between negative intergroup emotions (disgust, contempt, and anger) and the stereotypes of obese people.


METHODS
A community sample (n = 380) and an undergraduate sample (n = 96) rated obese people on common obesity stereotypes (e.g., lazy, sloppy), and also indicated the extent to which they felt disgust, contempt, and anger toward obese people.


RESULTS
In both samples, participants reported feeling more disgust and contempt than anger toward obese people. Furthermore, regression analyses indicated that disgust was a significant positive predictor of obesity stereotypes, but contempt and anger were not.


CONCLUSIONS
Overall, these findings provide further evidence that disgust plays an important role in prejudice toward obese people.
School of Psychology, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia, lvartanian@psy.unsw.edu.au.
Lenny R
LR
Vartanian
Margaret A
MA
Thomas
Eric J
EJ
Vanman
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000786:Anger; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000523:psychology*; D011287:Prejudice; D057545:Social Stigma; D013240:Stereotyping; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires