Department of Psychology, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida, USA.
Obesity (Silver Spring). 2012 Sep;20(9):1803-14. doi: 10.1038/oby.2011.247. Epub 2011 Aug 11.
Recent research has established a link between disgust sensitivity and stigmatizing reactions to various groups, including obese individuals. However, previous research has overlooked disgust's multiple evolved functions. Here, we investigated whether the link between disgust sensitivity and obesity stigma is specific to pathogen disgust, or whether sexual disgust and moral disgust--two separate functional domains--also relate to negative attitudes toward obese individuals. Additionally, we investigated whether sex differences exist in the manner disgust sensitivity predicts obesity stigma, whether the sexes differ across the subtypes of obesity bias independent of disgust sensitivity, and last, the association between participants' BMI and different subtypes of obesity stigma. In study 1 (N = 92), we established that obesity elicits pathogen, sexual, and moral disgust. In study 2, we investigated the relationship between these types of disgust sensitivity and obesity stigma. Participants (N = 387) reported their level of disgust toward various pathogen, sexual, and moral acts and their attitudes toward obese individuals. For women, but not men, increased pathogen disgust sensitivity predicted more negative attitudes toward obese individuals. Men reported more negative general attitudes toward obese individuals whereas women reported greater fear of becoming obese. The sexes also differed in how their own BMI related to the subtypes of obesity stigma. These findings indicate that pathogen disgust sensitivity plays a role in obesity stigma, specifically for women. Defining the scope of disgust's activation in response to obesity and its relationship with other variables can help identify possible mechanisms for understanding and ultimately alleviating prejudice and discrimination.
最近的研究已经证实，厌恶敏感度与对各种群体（包括肥胖个体）的污名化反应之间存在关联。然而，之前的研究忽视了厌恶感的多种进化功能。在这里，我们研究了厌恶敏感度与肥胖污名之间的联系是否仅与病原体厌恶有关，或者性厌恶和道德厌恶——两个独立的功能领域——是否也与对肥胖个体的负面态度有关。此外，我们还调查了厌恶敏感度预测肥胖污名的方式是否存在性别差异，以及在独立于厌恶敏感度的情况下，两性在肥胖偏见的亚类上是否存在差异，最后，还研究了参与者的 BMI 与不同类型的肥胖污名之间的关联。在研究 1（N = 92）中，我们证实肥胖会引起病原体、性和道德厌恶。在研究 2 中，我们调查了这些类型的厌恶敏感度与肥胖污名之间的关系。参与者（N = 387）报告了他们对各种病原体、性和道德行为的厌恶程度以及对肥胖个体的态度。对于女性而言，但对于男性并非如此，增加的病原体厌恶敏感度预示着对肥胖个体的态度更负面。男性对肥胖个体的一般态度更负面，而女性则更担心自己会变得肥胖。两性在自身 BMI 与肥胖污名的亚类之间的关系上也存在差异。这些发现表明，病原体厌恶敏感度在肥胖污名中起作用，特别是对女性而言。确定厌恶感对肥胖的反应范围及其与其他变量的关系，可以帮助确定理解和最终减轻偏见和歧视的可能机制。
