What was asked about?
In a recent study in Poland on the perception of overweight and underweight people, respondents were asked to evaluate six male and six female figures for the correctness of their body weight. The silhouette graphics were provided by the.pl portal. The respondents were also asked about the most common in their opinion causes of overweight and underweight in women, and in men. The respondents were also asked for their opinion on whether, in their opinion, people have an influence on their figure or not. They were also asked if they agreed with the statement that people like the most normal figures, and if – in their opinion – overweight and underweight people could have some common features.
The research results
The results of the conducted study showed, inter alia, that for the most part, we correctly assess whether a person’s body shape is healthy and correctwhether they are overweight or underweight. Moreover, in the opinion of the majority of respondents – in Polish society the most preferred are those profiles that are healthy / correct from the medical point of view. However, some of the respondents stated that most Poles like slimmer / slimmer than the norm, most often justifying it with the fact that such patterns are promoted by the media. Several people felt that there was no rule here. A few people (women with one exception) also said that while women prefer to be thinner, men like the so-called normal female silhouettes. Individuals also gave other answers, stating, for example, that people do not reveal their true preferences in this regard. None of the respondents stated that the majority of people in Polish society like a body thicker / thinner than the norm.
Most of the respondents also decided that we ourselves have an influence on our figure and issues such as overweight, underweight or normal body weight – depend primarily on us. A much smaller proportion of the respondents stated that partly our figure depends on us, and partly on factors beyond our control (such as health and genetic conditions). Not one of the respondents stated that we have no influence on our figure.
Age and rating
When assessing the normativity of the figures presented to them, the respondents sometimes also paid attention to the age of the presented figures and indicated in their statements that the recognition of a given figure as correct depends on the age of the presented person. Interestingly, the statements of the respondents about age seem to mainly justify overweight in women (middle / older age) and underweight in men (young age).
When asked whether there are common features of overweight people and common features of underweight people, it was found that overweight people were more stereotyped by our respondents than underweight people. Although people stating that there were no common features for a given group or that they were unable to identify them, there were not much more in the statements about underweight people than people who were overweight, but the total number of statements about overweight people was much greater, and the respondents easier and faster listed the features assigned to them, and they were more unambiguous and precise than in the case of underweight people. And although both groups were attributed both positive and negative traits – a clear predominance of negative traits attributed to overweight people is clearly visible. In underweight people, the number of negative and positive statements about them is comparable, many of the attributes ascribed to them are neutral, moreover – more often than in the case of overweight people – these statements are mutually exclusive in different respondents, and given types of features are more often mentioned by individual persons and do not repeat themselves in the statements of other respondents.
Stereotypes of overweight people
Among the positive features attributed to overweight people are: osympathetic, happy and friendly, with a distance to themselves and the world, kind and open, sociable, calm, etc. However, the respondents attributed negative traits to overweight people more than twice as often. These include: unrestrained overeating, laziness, heaviness, phlegmaticity and apathy, lack of self-control, frustration, failure, etc.
The positive traits attributed to people who are underweight are: striving for excellence, ambition, vitality, expression and energy. The negative traits focus on: nervousness and hyperactivity, pessimism and malice. As you can see – in our society, we attach relatively great importance to the figure and correct body weight of the people around us. We believe that we have a large influence on the shape and size of our body, and – unfortunately – sometimes we perceive people who do not fit within the normal body weight through the prism of harmful stereotypes.
More about the results of the study can be found in the publication “More-or-less body”: the social perception of normativity of the body in Poland “http://www.lmaleidykla.lt/publ/0235-7186/2015/2/15 …
The project “Normativity of the body in social perception” (implemented in cooperation with the University of Gdańsk and the Warsaw University of Life Sciences).
Dr Agnieszka Maj (Faculty of Social Sciences, Warsaw University of Life Sciences) Dr Anna M. Kłonkowska (Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Gdańsk)
The photo is from: Ana Sartelli / Foter / CC BY-SA