Weight controllability beliefs

Title of publication

The effect of weight controllability beliefs on prejudice and self-efficacy

Abstract 

An experiment was conducted to test for the presence of prejudice towards obesity and whether weight controllability beliefs information reduces this prejudice and impacts on a person’s own healthy eating self-efficacy. The experiment randomly allocated 346 participants (49 males) into one of three conditions: controllable contributors toward obesity condition (e.g., information about personal control about diet and exercise); uncontrollable contributors toward obesity condition (e.g., information about genes, factors in society); and a control condition with no information given. Prejudice was present in 81% of the sample. High prejudice was predicted by low self-efficacy for exercise and weight. Weight controllability beliefs information had no significant effect on prejudice levels or exercise or healthy eating self-efficacy levels. Future research directions are discussed.

Cite

Thorsteinsson, E. B., Loi, N., & Breadsell, D. (2016). The effect of weight controllability beliefs on prejudice and self-efficacy. PeerJ, 4, e1764. doi:10.7717/peerj.1764

Link 

https://peerj.com/articles/1764/?td=bl

Covered on  

ABC New England North West (radio) 8 November 2016