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Weight halo effects: individual differences in personality evaluations as a function of weight?
Personality and Individual Differences 34 (2003) 263–268 www.elsevier.com/locate/paid
Weight halo effects: individual differences in personality evaluations as a function of weight?§ T. Joel Wade*, Jennifer Loyden, LeeAnn Renninger, Laura Tobey Department of Psychology, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA 17837, USA Received 21 May 2001; received in revised form 21 January 2002; accepted 5 February 2002
Abstract The question of whether or not personality halo effects occur for weight for black and white women was examined in two experiments. Experiment 1 used a 2 (race of woman) 2 (weight of woman) design and personality social desirability measures. Experiment 2 used a 2 (race of woman) 2 (weight of woman) 2 (sex of participant) design and the Big-5 dimensions of personality. Weight did not affect personality ratings on the dimensions of the Big-5. Personality halo effects only occur for social desirability aspects of personality. White normal weight women received higher social desirability ratings than white overweight women did. But, social desirability ratings of black women did not differ. These results are discussed in terms of prior research on beauty and weight. # 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Weight; Beauty; Halo effects; Personality evaluations; Social desirability
Much attention is directed towards one’s weight in our society. A majority of this attention is directed toward women. Weight plays a crucial role in the evaluation of women. Women are considered more attractive, better mate choices, and more positively, in general, if they are thin (Harris & Smith, 1983; Monello & Mayer, 1963; Rothblum, 1992; Venes, Krupka, & Gerard, 1982). Obesity among women is considered a character flaw and a handicap, caused solely by overeating that can be overcome at will and should be (Monello & Mayer, 1963). Additionally, Larkin and Pines (1979) report that overweight people are stereotyped as lazy, greedy, and selfish, characteristics that lead to discrimination against them in employment contexts. §
Versions of this paper were presented at the 71st Eastern Psychological Association Convention, Baltimore, Maryland, 23–25 March 2000 and the 72nd Eastern Psychological Association Convention, Washington, DC, 20-22 April 2001. * Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-570-577-1693; fax: +1-570-577-7007. E-mail address: [email protected] (T.J. Wade). 0191-8869/02/$ - see front matter # 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S0191-8869(02)00042-9
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T. Joel Wade et al. / Personality and Individual Differences 34 (2003) 263–268
It appears as though there are ‘‘halo effects’’ (more positive evaluations) associated with thinness for women. This would not be surprising since weight is related to beauty (Cunningham, Roberts, Barbee, Druen, & Wu, 1995; Wade, 2000) and since Dion, Berscheid, and Walster (1972) report that beauty leads to ‘‘halo effects’’ for women. Cash and Duncan (1984) report that beauty ‘‘halo effects’’ also occur for ratings of black women. Race also plays a role in perceptions of women’s weight. A thin figure is preferred for white women (Cohn & Adler, 1992). However, for black women there is no clear weight preference. Thomas and James (1988) report that thinness is preferred for black women. But, Powell and Kahn (1995) report that heavier bodies are preferred for black women. Since weight and beauty are related and halo effects occur for both white and black women, halo effects may also occur for thinness for white women. The present research examines this issue in two experiments.
1. Experiment 1 Experiment 1 Hypothesis—An interaction of race and weight was hypothesized such that normal weight white women receive higher ratings than overweight white women while ratings of black women do not differ. 1.1. Method 1.1.1. Participants Participants were 64 students, 15 white men and 49 white women, ranging in age from 18 to 21 (M=18.44, S.D.=0.66) from a private university in the northeastern USA. 1.1.2. Procedure Participants were told that the experiment was a study of person perception accuracy. They were told that the purpose of the study was to compare the accuracy of untrained college students with the accuracy of graduate students in clinical psychology and clinical psychologists. Participants received one of two possible descriptions of a woman (black or white) with one of two photographs (normal/thin or overweight) attached to a questionnaire. Each description contained information pertaining to where the individual lived, what sport they played, what they did in their spare time, and what their favorite color was to reinforce the cover story. Participants were asked to rate the individual on the 27 different seven point scalar bipolar personality trait characteristics from Dion et al.’s (1972) research. Participants were asked how: altruistic, conventional, self-assertive, exciting, stable, emotional, dependent, safe, interesting, genuine, sensitive, outgoing, sexually permissive, sincere, warm, sociable, competitive, obvious, kind, modest, strong, serious, sexually warm, simple, poised, bold, and sophisticated each stimulus person was. A seven point scalar attractiveness question, and a weight, and race of stimulus person manipulation check were also included. Participants were asked: how attractive the women were (1=unattractive to 7=attractive); what is the individual’s weight (1=overweight to 7=normal weight); and to indicate the individual’s race. Additional questions focusing on the extraneous information in the description were also included in order to reinforce the cover story. The order of the 27 traits, the attractiveness question, and the extraneous information questions were varied
265
T. Joel Wade et al. / Personality and Individual Differences 34 (2003) 263–268 Table 1 Mean personality(social desirability) rating as a function of race and weight of stimulus person Race
White Black
Weight Normal
Over
4.67a*** 4.53b
3.97a*** 4.83b
Higher numbers mean more positive personality attributes, means with the same letters were compared. *** P< 0.0001. Table 2 Mean attractiveness ratings for experiment 1 as a function of race and weight of stimulus person Race
White Black
Weight Normal
Over
4.69a*** 3.93b
2.38a*** 3.88b
Higher numbers mean more attractive, means with the same letters were compared. *** P< 0.0001.
across conditions. The manipulation checks always came last in the questionnaire. To minimize any possible psychological tension associated with evaluating an African American, the experimenter was a white female. 1.2. Results 1.2.1. Manipulation checks The manipulations of race and weight were effective. Individuals correctly recorded the race of the stimulus person. Additionally, the normal weight stimulus women were rated as more normal weight than the overweight women, F(1,63)=32.57, P< 0.0001 (M=6.10 vs. M=4.30 for normal and overweight, respectively). 1.2.2. Personality halo effects Dion et al. (1972) and Eagly, Ashmore, Makhijani, and Longo (1991) did not find sex of perceiver differences associated with personality halo effects. Therefore, data for men and women was analyzed together. A 22 race (white or black) by weight (normal or overweight) ANOVA was computed on an average of the 27 personality traits, and the attractiveness question. The traits average score was created by summing the trait ratings and computing an average for each participant. Prior to summing the items, items were reversed scored, consistent with Dion et al. (1972), so that higher numbers reflected a positive evaluation. Cronbach’s (1951) alpha for the traits average score was 0.80. The ANOVA revealed a significant interaction for race and weight on the trait average, F(1,61)=25.00, P< 0.0001 (see Table 1). Normal weight white women received better ratings than overweight white women [t (30)=5.67, P<0.0001), but weight did not matter for ratings of black women [t (28)=1.90, ns].
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T. Joel Wade et al. / Personality and Individual Differences 34 (2003) 263–268
A 22 race (white or black) by weight (normal or overweight) ANOVA also revealed a significant interaction of race and weight, F(1,63)=15.73, P<0.0001 for the attractiveness question, (see Table 2). The normal weight white woman was rated higher in attractiveness than the overweight white woman [t (30)=5.58, P<0.0001], but attractiveness ratings did not differ for black women [t (30)=0.13, ns]. Since Feingold (1992) and Eagly et al. (1991) report that halo effects only occur for social desirability aspects of personality a second experiment was conducted. Experiment 2 included a measure of the Big-5 dimensions of personality to determine if weight only affects social desirability aspects of women’s personalities.
2. Experiment 2 Experiment 2 Hypothesis—No significant effects are expected for ratings on the Big-5 personality dimensions since prior research (Eagly, et al., 1991; Feingold, 1992) finds that halo effects for beauty only occur for social desirability, but not for more meaningful aspects of personality. 2.1. Method 2.1.1. Participants Participants were 102 students, 38 white men and 64 white women, ranging in age from 18 to 21 from a private university in the northeastern USA. 2.1.2. Procedure The same procedure from experiment 1 was utilized. Once again to minimize any possible psychological tension associated with evaluating an African American, the experimenter was a white female. The dependent measure was the Interpersonal Adjectives Scale (Trapnell & Wiggins, 1990). The Interpersonal Adjectives Scale includes the Big-5 personality dimensions of surgency/extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience. 2.2. Results 2.2.1. Manipulation checks The manipulations of race, and weight were effective. Individuals correctly recorded the race of the stimulus person. Additionally, the normal weight stimulus women were rated as more normal weight than the overweight women, F(1,101)=21.16, P<0.0001, (normal weight mean=5.77 vs overweight mean=4.35, higher numbers mean slimmer). 2.2.2. Personality halo effects Because the Big-5 dimensions of personality have not been included in prior research on halo effects data was not collapsed across sex of participants. A 222 race (white or black) by weight (normal or overweight) by sex of participant (male or female) MANOVA was computed on the Big-5 dimensions. The MANOVA revealed no significant effects for any of the Big-5 personality dimensions.
T. Joel Wade et al. / Personality and Individual Differences 34 (2003) 263–268
267
Table 3 Mean attractiveness ratings for experiment 2 as a function of race and weight of stimulus person Race
White Black
Weight Normal
Over
4.46a** 4.28b
2.72a** 3.85b
Higher numbers mean more attractive, means with the same letters were compared. ** P< 0.002.
A 222 race (white or black) by weight (normal or overweight) by sex of participant (male or female) ANOVA was computed to see if weight affects attractiveness perception. As in experiment 1, the ANOVA revealed a significant interaction of race and weight, F(1,101)=7.82, P<0.006, for the attractiveness question, (see Table 3). The normal weight white woman was rated higher in attractiveness than the overweight white woman [t (55)=5.70, P<0.002], but attractiveness ratings did not differ for black women [t (43)=1.24, ns].
3. Discussion As predicted, personalities of white normal weight women were evaluated more positively than personalities of white overweight women and weight did not matter for evaluations of black women’s personalities or attractiveness. Additionally, the effects only occurred for social desirability aspects of personality, not the Big-5 dimensions. The latter finding is consistent with prior research (Eagly et al., 1991; Feingold, 1992). Race and weight differentially affect social perceivers’ evaluations of social desirability aspects of women’s personalities and their attractiveness. Additionally, consistent with Dion et al. (1972), the results of this study suggest that a personality halo effect for social desirability also exists for weight for white women. Normal weight white women are assumed to possess more socially desirable personalities than overweight white women. This effect occurs because lighter weight is associated with beauty for white women (Cohn & Adler, 1992; Cunningham et al., 1995; Monello & Mayer, 1963). Alternatively, one may argue that since the participants are white they may have some apprehension about judging women of another race in terms of their weight. They may not want to appear to be racist. However, if participants were truly attempting to appear nonracist they would most likely have rated the normal and overweight African American women higher than the white women on all items. This did not occur in the present research. Nevertheless, additional research incorporating non-reactive measures of racism is necessary to fully rule out participants’ apprehension over appearing racist. Future research should also determine if weight halo effects also occur for personality evaluations of men since beauty affects the perception of men (Frieze, Olson, & Russell, 1991). It is possible that these halo effects exist for men as well. However, since beauty is more important for
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T. Joel Wade et al. / Personality and Individual Differences 34 (2003) 263–268
women (Wade, 2000), men might not experience the same degree or type of halo effects that women do. References Cash, T. F., & Duncan, N. C. (1984). Physical attractiveness stereotyping among Black American college students. The Journal of Social Psychology, 122, 71–77. Cohn, L. D., & Adler, N. E. (1992). Female and male perceptions of ideal body shapes: distorted views among Caucasian college students. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 16, 69–79. Cronbach, L. J. (1951). Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests. Psychometrika, 16, 297–334. Cunningham, M. R., Roberts, A. R., Barbee, A. P., Druen, P. B., & Wu, C.-H. (1995). ‘‘Their ideas of beauty are, on the whole, the same as ours’’: consistency and variability in the cross cultural perception of female physical attractiveness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68, 261–279. Dion, K., Berscheid, E., & Walster, E. (1972). What is beautiful is good. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 24, 285–290. Eagly, A. H., Ashmore, R. D., Makhijani, M. G., & Longo, L. C. (1991). What is beautiful is good, but. . .: a metaanalytic review of research on the physical attractiveness stereotype. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 110(1), 109–128. Feingold, A. (1992). Good-looking people are not what we think. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 111(2), 304–341. Frieze, I. H., Olson, J. E., & Russell, J. (1991). Attractiveness and income for men and women in management. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 21(13), 1039–1057. Harris, M. B., & Smith, S. D. (1983). The relationships of age, sex, ethnicity, and weight to stereotypes of obesity and self perception. International Journal of Obesity, 7, 361–371. Larkin, J. C., & Pines, H. A. (1979). No fat persons need apply, experimental studies of the overweight stereotype and hiring preference. Sociology of Work and Occupations, 6, 312–327. Monello, L. F., & Mayer, J. (1963). Obese adolescent girls. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 13, 35–39. Powell, A. D., & Kahn, A. S. (1995). Racial differences in women’s desires to be thin. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 17, 191–195. Rothblum, E. D. (1992). The stigma of women’s weight: social and economic realities. Feminism & Psychology, 2, 61–73. Thomas, V. G., & James, M. D. (1988). Body image, dieting tendencies, and sex role traits in urban Black women. Sex Roles, 18(9–10), 523–529. Trapnell, P. D., & Wiggins, J. S. (1990). Extension of the interpersonal adjective scales to include the big five dimensions of personality. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59(4), 781–790. Venes, A. M., Krupka, L. R., & Gerard, R. J. (1982). Overweight/obese patients: an overview. The Practitioner, 226, 1102–1109. Wade, T. J. (2000). Evolutionary theory and self-perception: sex differences in body esteem predictors of self-perceived physical and sexual attractiveness and self-esteem. International Journal of Psychology, 35(1), 36–45.
Weight halo effects: individual differences in personality evaluations as a function of weight?§ T. Joel Wade*, Jennifer Loyden, LeeAnn Renninger, Laura Tobey Department of Psychology, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA 17837, USA Received 21 May 2001; received in revised form 21 January 2002; accepted 5 February 2002
Abstract The question of whether or not personality halo effects occur for weight for black and white women was examined in two experiments. Experiment 1 used a 2 (race of woman) 2 (weight of woman) design and personality social desirability measures. Experiment 2 used a 2 (race of woman) 2 (weight of woman) 2 (sex of participant) design and the Big-5 dimensions of personality. Weight did not affect personality ratings on the dimensions of the Big-5. Personality halo effects only occur for social desirability aspects of personality. White normal weight women received higher social desirability ratings than white overweight women did. But, social desirability ratings of black women did not differ. These results are discussed in terms of prior research on beauty and weight. # 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Weight; Beauty; Halo effects; Personality evaluations; Social desirability
Much attention is directed towards one’s weight in our society. A majority of this attention is directed toward women. Weight plays a crucial role in the evaluation of women. Women are considered more attractive, better mate choices, and more positively, in general, if they are thin (Harris & Smith, 1983; Monello & Mayer, 1963; Rothblum, 1992; Venes, Krupka, & Gerard, 1982). Obesity among women is considered a character flaw and a handicap, caused solely by overeating that can be overcome at will and should be (Monello & Mayer, 1963). Additionally, Larkin and Pines (1979) report that overweight people are stereotyped as lazy, greedy, and selfish, characteristics that lead to discrimination against them in employment contexts. §
Versions of this paper were presented at the 71st Eastern Psychological Association Convention, Baltimore, Maryland, 23–25 March 2000 and the 72nd Eastern Psychological Association Convention, Washington, DC, 20-22 April 2001. * Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-570-577-1693; fax: +1-570-577-7007. E-mail address: [email protected] (T.J. Wade). 0191-8869/02/$ - see front matter # 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. PII: S0191-8869(02)00042-9
264
T. Joel Wade et al. / Personality and Individual Differences 34 (2003) 263–268
It appears as though there are ‘‘halo effects’’ (more positive evaluations) associated with thinness for women. This would not be surprising since weight is related to beauty (Cunningham, Roberts, Barbee, Druen, & Wu, 1995; Wade, 2000) and since Dion, Berscheid, and Walster (1972) report that beauty leads to ‘‘halo effects’’ for women. Cash and Duncan (1984) report that beauty ‘‘halo effects’’ also occur for ratings of black women. Race also plays a role in perceptions of women’s weight. A thin figure is preferred for white women (Cohn & Adler, 1992). However, for black women there is no clear weight preference. Thomas and James (1988) report that thinness is preferred for black women. But, Powell and Kahn (1995) report that heavier bodies are preferred for black women. Since weight and beauty are related and halo effects occur for both white and black women, halo effects may also occur for thinness for white women. The present research examines this issue in two experiments.
1. Experiment 1 Experiment 1 Hypothesis—An interaction of race and weight was hypothesized such that normal weight white women receive higher ratings than overweight white women while ratings of black women do not differ. 1.1. Method 1.1.1. Participants Participants were 64 students, 15 white men and 49 white women, ranging in age from 18 to 21 (M=18.44, S.D.=0.66) from a private university in the northeastern USA. 1.1.2. Procedure Participants were told that the experiment was a study of person perception accuracy. They were told that the purpose of the study was to compare the accuracy of untrained college students with the accuracy of graduate students in clinical psychology and clinical psychologists. Participants received one of two possible descriptions of a woman (black or white) with one of two photographs (normal/thin or overweight) attached to a questionnaire. Each description contained information pertaining to where the individual lived, what sport they played, what they did in their spare time, and what their favorite color was to reinforce the cover story. Participants were asked to rate the individual on the 27 different seven point scalar bipolar personality trait characteristics from Dion et al.’s (1972) research. Participants were asked how: altruistic, conventional, self-assertive, exciting, stable, emotional, dependent, safe, interesting, genuine, sensitive, outgoing, sexually permissive, sincere, warm, sociable, competitive, obvious, kind, modest, strong, serious, sexually warm, simple, poised, bold, and sophisticated each stimulus person was. A seven point scalar attractiveness question, and a weight, and race of stimulus person manipulation check were also included. Participants were asked: how attractive the women were (1=unattractive to 7=attractive); what is the individual’s weight (1=overweight to 7=normal weight); and to indicate the individual’s race. Additional questions focusing on the extraneous information in the description were also included in order to reinforce the cover story. The order of the 27 traits, the attractiveness question, and the extraneous information questions were varied
265
T. Joel Wade et al. / Personality and Individual Differences 34 (2003) 263–268 Table 1 Mean personality(social desirability) rating as a function of race and weight of stimulus person Race
White Black
Weight Normal
Over
4.67a*** 4.53b
3.97a*** 4.83b
Higher numbers mean more positive personality attributes, means with the same letters were compared. *** P< 0.0001. Table 2 Mean attractiveness ratings for experiment 1 as a function of race and weight of stimulus person Race
White Black
Weight Normal
Over
4.69a*** 3.93b
2.38a*** 3.88b
Higher numbers mean more attractive, means with the same letters were compared. *** P< 0.0001.
across conditions. The manipulation checks always came last in the questionnaire. To minimize any possible psychological tension associated with evaluating an African American, the experimenter was a white female. 1.2. Results 1.2.1. Manipulation checks The manipulations of race and weight were effective. Individuals correctly recorded the race of the stimulus person. Additionally, the normal weight stimulus women were rated as more normal weight than the overweight women, F(1,63)=32.57, P< 0.0001 (M=6.10 vs. M=4.30 for normal and overweight, respectively). 1.2.2. Personality halo effects Dion et al. (1972) and Eagly, Ashmore, Makhijani, and Longo (1991) did not find sex of perceiver differences associated with personality halo effects. Therefore, data for men and women was analyzed together. A 22 race (white or black) by weight (normal or overweight) ANOVA was computed on an average of the 27 personality traits, and the attractiveness question. The traits average score was created by summing the trait ratings and computing an average for each participant. Prior to summing the items, items were reversed scored, consistent with Dion et al. (1972), so that higher numbers reflected a positive evaluation. Cronbach’s (1951) alpha for the traits average score was 0.80. The ANOVA revealed a significant interaction for race and weight on the trait average, F(1,61)=25.00, P< 0.0001 (see Table 1). Normal weight white women received better ratings than overweight white women [t (30)=5.67, P<0.0001), but weight did not matter for ratings of black women [t (28)=1.90, ns].
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T. Joel Wade et al. / Personality and Individual Differences 34 (2003) 263–268
A 22 race (white or black) by weight (normal or overweight) ANOVA also revealed a significant interaction of race and weight, F(1,63)=15.73, P<0.0001 for the attractiveness question, (see Table 2). The normal weight white woman was rated higher in attractiveness than the overweight white woman [t (30)=5.58, P<0.0001], but attractiveness ratings did not differ for black women [t (30)=0.13, ns]. Since Feingold (1992) and Eagly et al. (1991) report that halo effects only occur for social desirability aspects of personality a second experiment was conducted. Experiment 2 included a measure of the Big-5 dimensions of personality to determine if weight only affects social desirability aspects of women’s personalities.
2. Experiment 2 Experiment 2 Hypothesis—No significant effects are expected for ratings on the Big-5 personality dimensions since prior research (Eagly, et al., 1991; Feingold, 1992) finds that halo effects for beauty only occur for social desirability, but not for more meaningful aspects of personality. 2.1. Method 2.1.1. Participants Participants were 102 students, 38 white men and 64 white women, ranging in age from 18 to 21 from a private university in the northeastern USA. 2.1.2. Procedure The same procedure from experiment 1 was utilized. Once again to minimize any possible psychological tension associated with evaluating an African American, the experimenter was a white female. The dependent measure was the Interpersonal Adjectives Scale (Trapnell & Wiggins, 1990). The Interpersonal Adjectives Scale includes the Big-5 personality dimensions of surgency/extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience. 2.2. Results 2.2.1. Manipulation checks The manipulations of race, and weight were effective. Individuals correctly recorded the race of the stimulus person. Additionally, the normal weight stimulus women were rated as more normal weight than the overweight women, F(1,101)=21.16, P<0.0001, (normal weight mean=5.77 vs overweight mean=4.35, higher numbers mean slimmer). 2.2.2. Personality halo effects Because the Big-5 dimensions of personality have not been included in prior research on halo effects data was not collapsed across sex of participants. A 222 race (white or black) by weight (normal or overweight) by sex of participant (male or female) MANOVA was computed on the Big-5 dimensions. The MANOVA revealed no significant effects for any of the Big-5 personality dimensions.
T. Joel Wade et al. / Personality and Individual Differences 34 (2003) 263–268
267
Table 3 Mean attractiveness ratings for experiment 2 as a function of race and weight of stimulus person Race
White Black
Weight Normal
Over
4.46a** 4.28b
2.72a** 3.85b
Higher numbers mean more attractive, means with the same letters were compared. ** P< 0.002.
A 222 race (white or black) by weight (normal or overweight) by sex of participant (male or female) ANOVA was computed to see if weight affects attractiveness perception. As in experiment 1, the ANOVA revealed a significant interaction of race and weight, F(1,101)=7.82, P<0.006, for the attractiveness question, (see Table 3). The normal weight white woman was rated higher in attractiveness than the overweight white woman [t (55)=5.70, P<0.002], but attractiveness ratings did not differ for black women [t (43)=1.24, ns].
3. Discussion As predicted, personalities of white normal weight women were evaluated more positively than personalities of white overweight women and weight did not matter for evaluations of black women’s personalities or attractiveness. Additionally, the effects only occurred for social desirability aspects of personality, not the Big-5 dimensions. The latter finding is consistent with prior research (Eagly et al., 1991; Feingold, 1992). Race and weight differentially affect social perceivers’ evaluations of social desirability aspects of women’s personalities and their attractiveness. Additionally, consistent with Dion et al. (1972), the results of this study suggest that a personality halo effect for social desirability also exists for weight for white women. Normal weight white women are assumed to possess more socially desirable personalities than overweight white women. This effect occurs because lighter weight is associated with beauty for white women (Cohn & Adler, 1992; Cunningham et al., 1995; Monello & Mayer, 1963). Alternatively, one may argue that since the participants are white they may have some apprehension about judging women of another race in terms of their weight. They may not want to appear to be racist. However, if participants were truly attempting to appear nonracist they would most likely have rated the normal and overweight African American women higher than the white women on all items. This did not occur in the present research. Nevertheless, additional research incorporating non-reactive measures of racism is necessary to fully rule out participants’ apprehension over appearing racist. Future research should also determine if weight halo effects also occur for personality evaluations of men since beauty affects the perception of men (Frieze, Olson, & Russell, 1991). It is possible that these halo effects exist for men as well. However, since beauty is more important for
268
T. Joel Wade et al. / Personality and Individual Differences 34 (2003) 263–268
women (Wade, 2000), men might not experience the same degree or type of halo effects that women do. References Cash, T. F., & Duncan, N. C. (1984). Physical attractiveness stereotyping among Black American college students. The Journal of Social Psychology, 122, 71–77. Cohn, L. D., & Adler, N. E. (1992). Female and male perceptions of ideal body shapes: distorted views among Caucasian college students. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 16, 69–79. Cronbach, L. J. (1951). Coefficient alpha and the internal structure of tests. Psychometrika, 16, 297–334. Cunningham, M. R., Roberts, A. R., Barbee, A. P., Druen, P. B., & Wu, C.-H. (1995). ‘‘Their ideas of beauty are, on the whole, the same as ours’’: consistency and variability in the cross cultural perception of female physical attractiveness. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68, 261–279. Dion, K., Berscheid, E., & Walster, E. (1972). What is beautiful is good. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 24, 285–290. Eagly, A. H., Ashmore, R. D., Makhijani, M. G., & Longo, L. C. (1991). What is beautiful is good, but. . .: a metaanalytic review of research on the physical attractiveness stereotype. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 110(1), 109–128. Feingold, A. (1992). Good-looking people are not what we think. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 111(2), 304–341. Frieze, I. H., Olson, J. E., & Russell, J. (1991). Attractiveness and income for men and women in management. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 21(13), 1039–1057. Harris, M. B., & Smith, S. D. (1983). The relationships of age, sex, ethnicity, and weight to stereotypes of obesity and self perception. International Journal of Obesity, 7, 361–371. Larkin, J. C., & Pines, H. A. (1979). No fat persons need apply, experimental studies of the overweight stereotype and hiring preference. Sociology of Work and Occupations, 6, 312–327. Monello, L. F., & Mayer, J. (1963). Obese adolescent girls. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 13, 35–39. Powell, A. D., & Kahn, A. S. (1995). Racial differences in women’s desires to be thin. International Journal of Eating Disorders, 17, 191–195. Rothblum, E. D. (1992). The stigma of women’s weight: social and economic realities. Feminism & Psychology, 2, 61–73. Thomas, V. G., & James, M. D. (1988). Body image, dieting tendencies, and sex role traits in urban Black women. Sex Roles, 18(9–10), 523–529. Trapnell, P. D., & Wiggins, J. S. (1990). Extension of the interpersonal adjective scales to include the big five dimensions of personality. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59(4), 781–790. Venes, A. M., Krupka, L. R., & Gerard, R. J. (1982). Overweight/obese patients: an overview. The Practitioner, 226, 1102–1109. Wade, T. J. (2000). Evolutionary theory and self-perception: sex differences in body esteem predictors of self-perceived physical and sexual attractiveness and self-esteem. International Journal of Psychology, 35(1), 36–45.