How did you get so thin? The effect of attribution on perceptions of underweight females.

This study applied attribution theory to determine how responsible women are viewed as being for their weight and to gain a better understanding of how underweight females are perceived. Additionally, the impact of having been teased for being underweight on perceptions and responsibility ratings was explored. Participants (515 undergraduates: 285 women and 230 men) were shown a photograph of an objectively underweight woman in one of three randomly assigned conditions: thinness attributed to an eating disorder, illness, or heredity. An underweight female was perceived as most responsible for her weight and ascribed more negative characteristics when she was described as having an eating disorder than when her weight was attributed to heredity or illness. Weight-related teasing histories were unrelated to perceptions of underweight women. However, underweight women may be at risk for being stereotyped (e.g., depressed, undereating) even when it is known that their weight is related to heredity.