"Why do people often think back to a pleasant evening with friends and realize they were eating food from becoming worse than they want to see?" ask the authors, Margaret C. Campbell (Leeds Business School) and Gina S. Mohr (University of Colorado, Boulder). If any of these guys make some extra kilos, just being in their presence could cause what the authors call a "negative stereotype."
The research suggests that merely seeing someone who is strongly associated with an undesirable behavior leads to surprising increases in the behavior. "Seeing someone overweight leads to a temporary decrease in a person's own felt commitment to his or her health goal," the authors explain.
In one study, researchers asked people who were walking through a lobby if they would take a quick survey. The surveys had photos of an overweight person, a person of normal weight, or a lamp. After completing the survey, the researchers asked respondents to help themselves from a bowl of candy as a thank you. "People who completed the survey that included a picture of someone who was overweight took more candies on average than people who saw either of the other two pictures," the authors write.
In later studies, people who have been invited to do a taste test cookie ate twice as cookies and candy after seeing someone who was overweight. This was true even if participants had the goal of maintaining a healthy weight and found that the cookies and sweets can lead to weight problems.
Two main strategies were used to counteract the tendency of people to overeat in the presence of overweight people: reflections on health goals and to remember the link between diet and obesity.
Because weight problems can spread through social networks, the authors have advice for people who care about the abuse. "Think of the personal fitness goals and remember the side effects of indulgent food consumption when possible may help prevent overeating," the authors conclude.
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