Does Control-Related Information Attenuate Biased Self-Control and Moral Perceptions Based on Weight?

TL;DR

People associate higher weight with lower self-control and morality, and changing this perception is challenging even with targeted interventions.

Contribution

The study explores whether altering perceptions of self-control can reduce moral bias toward higher-weight individuals, finding that direct moral interventions may be needed.

Findings

Higher-weight individuals are perceived as having lower self-control and morality.

Interventions targeting control-related beliefs did not improve moral perceptions of higher-weight individuals.

Moralization of weight may be automatic and resistant to change through indirect methods.

Abstract

Negative weight-based attitudes are pervasive and difficult to change. One reason may be the moralization of weight: if people use higher weight as a cue for lower self-control, they may infer lower moral character, given the strong link between self-control and morality. Moralized attitudes tend to be resistant to change. Accordingly, we tested whether (1) people perceived others with higher (vs. lower) weight as having lower self-control and, in turn, morality and (2) whether targeting control-related perceptions attenuated the weight → self-control → morality links. To that end, in two preregistered experiments (see OSF), we employed intervention strategies targeting control-related perceptions to increase moral evaluations of higher-weight individuals. Specifically, we provided evidence of a higher-weight person’s (a) weight uncontrollability (Study 1) and (b) high self-control (Study 2). People perceived higher-weight targets as having lower self-control, and this predicted perceptions of lower moral character. However, as with extant weight-based attitude interventions, neither experimental intervention strategy attenuated less positive (i.e., made more positive) moral character perceptions. These findings suggest that it is not enough to intervene on control-related beliefs to reduce the moralization of weight. We suggest intervening on moral perceptions directly and the possibility that moralization of weight may be automatic, requiring interventions targeting automatic attitudes.

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