Explicit and Implicit Attitude Tests Examining Attitude Towards Obese People Among Undergraduate Psychology Students

English Studies examining attitudes towards obese people have mainly focused on conscious or explicit attitudes which may be biased by social desirability. Therefore, the present study examined both explicit and implicit, that are considered to be unconscious, attitudes towards obese individuals. A sample of 46 undergraduate psychology students participated in the study. The results showed that there is a negative bias towards obese individuals with 73% participants demonstrating strong, moderate or slight implicit bias of which 33% showed strong bias. There was a small, but significant correlation between implicit and explicit measures of attitudes. As hypothesized social desirability was associated with explicit attitudes but counter to hypothesis social desirability was also associated with implicit attitudes. Lastly, women and younger participants had more negative explicit attitudes but no difference was found on implicit attitudes. The findings demonstrate that there is a negative bias towards obese individuals as assessed with both implicit and explicit attitude measures. As these negative biases can severely affect quality of life among obese individuals educational interventions are needed to address and correct these anti-fat biases.