This study examined how wearing a fat suit might lead individuals to experience the negative effects of weight based stigmatization, including psychological, behavioral, and physiological consequences. It also aimed to test using the fat suit as a possible intervention tactic to reduce weight stigma.
The goal of this study was to understand how embodying a stigmatized domain might elicit the same consequences investigators see in victims of weight stigma. Participants were randomly assigned to either manipulate their weight through wearing a fat suit prosthesis or to a control condition where they wore the same clothing that was on the fat suit but in their own size. Outcome variables were cortisol reactivity, psychological well-being, and food and drink consumption. Additionally, this study tested whether wearing the fat suit might serve as an effective weight stigma reduction effort.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
109
Participants wear a fat suit.
Participants wear same clothing as intervention, but in their own size.
Eating behavior measured via grams of food consumed
M\&Ms, potato chips, and full-sugar soda consumption
Time frame: ~10-minutes post-manipulation
Cortisol reactivity
Time frame: ~20 minutes post-manipulation
Antifat Attitudes measured via electronic questionnaire
Time frame: ~30 minutes after post-manipulation
Psychological Well-Being measured via electronic questionnaires
Time frame: ~15 minutes post-manipulation
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