Effect of Exposure to Body-Based Imagery on Weight Bias and Body Image Satisfaction in College Students

This study examined the effect of exposure to fat positive exercise images as well as stereotypical fat imagery and stereotypical thin exercise images on participants’ self-reported weight bias and body image. The study hypothesized that participants exposed to fat positive imagery would exhibit less social distance, fat phobia, and internalized weight bias, along with better body image satisfaction than those exposed to stereotypical or thin imagery. Following randomized exposure to one of four experimental conditions (Fat Positive-No Text, Fat Positive-Text, Stereotypical Fat, and Thin), 185 participants (137 females, 44 males, and 4 non-binary individuals) completed questionnaires assessing social distance, body image state, fat phobia, and internal weight bias. Analyses revealed no significant differences among the four experimental conditions on any of the dependent variables; however, the mean scores on the measures of social distance, body image satisfaction, fat phobia, and internal weight bias trended in the expected directions for the Fat Positive-Text condition. The lack of statistical significance may be due to the small sample size and certain qualities of the relatively homogeneous sample population that need to be addressed in future studies. Nevertheless, the results suggest that additional research on this topic should be conducted