Weight controllability effects on prejudice and self-efficacy (Time 1)

An experiment was conducted to test for the presence of prejudice towards obesity and whether weight controllability information reduces this prejudice and impacts on a person’s own healthy weight management. 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. Using randomised control trial design and pre- and post-measures, the present study addressed many methodological issues present in previous studies. Prejudice was present in 81% of the sample. Weight controllability information had no significant effect on prejudice levels or exercise or healthy eating self-efficacy levels. A negative relationship was found between prejudice towards obesity and level of exercise and healthy eating self-efficacy. Weight status was negatively related to level of prejudice towards obesity and positively related to exercise and healthy eating self-efficacy. These findings suggest that future studies modelling causal factors in obesity may need to incorporate measures of healthy eating self-efficacy and prejudice.