Shaping the Body Politic: Mass Media Fat-Shaming Affects Implicit Anti-Fat Attitudes

Area of Science:

• Social Psychology
• Cultural Psychology
• Media Studies

Background:

• The human psyche is significantly influenced by cultural factors, yet the impact on implicit attitudes remains understudied.
• Pop culture, specifically celebrity "fat-shaming," represents a potent, transient cultural message.
• Understanding how these messages shape automatic biases is crucial for public health and social awareness.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the effect of celebrity "fat-shaming" events on implicit anti-fat attitudes.
• To examine the relationship between the notoriety of cultural messages and their impact on public attitudes.
• To analyze trends in implicit anti-fat attitudes over time in response to cultural shifts.

Main Methods:

• A quasi-experimental field study utilizing a "copycat suicide" methodology.
• Identification of 20 significant "fat-shaming" events in media from 2004 to 2015.
• Analysis of Project Implicit data (Weight Implicit Association Test) from 93,239 female participants.

Main Results:

• Celebrity "fat-shaming" events correlated with significant spikes in implicit anti-fat attitudes among women.
• Greater notoriety of "fat-shaming" events led to more pronounced increases in implicit bias.
• A general upward trend in implicit anti-fat attitudes was observed over the study period.

Conclusions:

• Transient cultural messages, such as celebrity "fat-shaming," demonstrably influence implicit attitudes.
• The "body politic" registers and reacts to cultural feedback, even seemingly minor comments.
• This highlights the pervasive impact of media narratives on societal biases and individual psychology.