<p>It is easy to fall into an interpretive bias when evaluating the capabilities of overweight people. In other words, we understand that they are not as physically capable, and therefore undervalued/underestimated due to the interpretive bias.</p>

<p>Another thing is, similar to the idea of racism, Positive Distinctiveness kicks in. This is where, as humans, we see ourselves as part of a group (in this case, a non-overweight group) and we like to perceive our group as the more significant one. Unfortunately, one of the ways to perceive ourselves that way is by looking down on other groups (overweight people), and therefore they are undervalued.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-02-04T16:52:52.047Z
2016-02-04T16:52:52.047Z
Mena Labib
<p>Several studies have shown that a lot of people are biased to underestimate / undervalue overweight people:
<a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2013/06/06/188891906/the-fat-shaming-professor-a-twitter-fueled-firestorm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">http://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2013/06/06/188891906/the-fat-shaming-professor-a-twitter-fueled-firestorm</a></p>
<p>Why is this?</p>

<social-psychology><bias>
Why are people biased against overweight people?
Berit Larsen
# Why are people biased against overweight people?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-02-04)

Several studies have shown that a lot of people are biased to underestimate / undervalue overweight people:
<http://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2013/06/06/188891906/the-fat-shaming-professor-a-twitter-fueled-firestorm>

Why is this?

**Tags:** social-psychology, bias


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2016-02-04. Score: 2

It is easy to fall into an interpretive bias when evaluating the capabilities of overweight people. In other words, we understand that they are not as physically capable, and therefore undervalued/underestimated due to the interpretive bias.

Another thing is, similar to the idea of racism, Positive Distinctiveness kicks in. This is where, as humans, we see ourselves as part of a group (in this case, a non-overweight group) and we like to perceive our group as the more significant one. Unfortunately, one of the ways to perceive ourselves that way is by looking down on other groups (overweight people), and therefore they are undervalued.


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