Women are held to high societal standards regarding weight, and when they deviate from the ideal, others may negatively stereotype and discriminate against them. This stigma may become internalized as individuals endorse and attribute negative weight-based stereotypes and attitudes to themselves. Internalized weight stigma negatively affects one’s body image and psychological well-being, but little research examines how it influences the perception of others. An online-based Qualtrics study using a convenience sample of female undergraduate students was conducted (n = 156). Participants were randomly assigned to complete 3 writing prompts meant to illicit feelings of internalized weight stigma or a neutral writing prompt. Participants were shown one of four vignettes, accompanied by an avatar describing a woman with normal weight,
overweight, obesity, and severe obesity. Following the presentation of the vignettes, all participants were asked to complete a variety of measures assessing their stereotypes, desire for social distance, social comparisons, and demographic information. A series of 2x4 factorial ANOVAs were conducted. Overall, the findings from this study partially support the initial hypothesis that participants would endorse greater anti-fat attitudes toward the target with higher
BMIs; however, they desired less social distance from the target with normal weight than the target with obesity or severe obesity. Also, individuals who wrote about internalized weight stigma made fewer downward social comparisons toward the target in comparison to those who wrote about their daily routine. Results from this study may suggest that the participants experienced higher levels of empathy due to their own internalized weight stigma, which impacted their beliefs and behaviors toward others. Future research should continue to explore how internalized weight stigma may impact the perception of others.