Implicit and Explicit Anti-Fat Attitude Change Following Brief Cognitive Dissonance Intervention for Weight Stigma

Research has demonstrated that explicit anti-fat attitudes decrease immediately following a brief cognitive dissonance-based intervention targeting weight stigma. The current study explores changes in explicit and implicit anti-fat attitudes immediately following a cognitive dissonance-based weight stigma intervention and 1 week after.

College students (N = 156) were randomly assigned to a control or dissonance weight stigma intervention. Weight stigma attitudes were assessed at three time points, and participants completed a measure of values at baseline. Participants in the dissonance condition were told that they had anti-fat attitudes that were inconsistent with their values, whereas participants in the control group were told that their attitudes aligned with their values. All participants reviewed feedback at a follow-up visit before completing explicit and implicit weight stigma assessments a final time.

Individuals in the dissonance condition reported statistically significant decreases in explicit attitudes from Visit 1 to Visit 3. In contrast, there was not a significant condition by time interaction on implicit attitudes.

This study provides support for cognitive dissonance-based interventions to reduce explicit, but not implicit, anti-fat attitudes following repeated exposure to dissonance induction.