Attitudes Toward Overweight Individuals Among Fitness Center Employees: An Examination of Contextual Effects

Our study assessed implicit and explicit evaluations of overweight individuals among a sample of fitness center employees (N = 70). Participants completed a general demographics questionnaire and an explicit, self-report Antifat Attitudes test (AFAT). Participants also completed two Implicit Association Tests (IATs) to measure implicit attitudes toward overweight individuals. In one IAT, participants responded to pictures of overweight and thin individuals in a neutral context. A second IAT required participants to respond to pictures of the same individuals exercising on a treadmill. Consistent with hypotheses, average scores fell below the midpoint on the AFAT subscales, suggesting an absence of a significant explicit bias. The sample exhibited moderately Strong implicit weight biases, however, in both the neutral (IAT D = .39) and exercise contexts (IAT D = .39). The findings do not support the premise that implicit biases against overweight individuals vary according to the context in which the judgments are made.