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Points to Ponder
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the latest in a series of “Points to Ponder” articles that will run occasionally in the Opinion section of Northwestern Today as a means of informing students, faculty, staff and alumni about issues relating to diversity. We hope that the process of reading these articles will provide an impetus for introspection and conversation about this important topic. We welcome your comments regarding the topics we will be presenting related to diversity. After all, intellectual dialogue is at the heart of any institution of higher education.
Additional “Points to Ponder” articles are available on the Diversity area of Northwestern Health Sciences University’s web site. Click here for more.
Thoughts on Carrying a Few Extra Pounds
submitted by Sondra Thiederman, PhD, author and consultant for the MultiCultural Development Center, a community partner of Northwestern Health Sciences University.
What comes to mind when you think of these people – actress Kathy Bates, singer/actress Queen Latifah, and CCN commentator Candy Crowley? Can you picture them? If so, you know that one thing these top-achieving professionals have in common is that they all carry what our North American culture would categorize as "a few extra pounds." Because we know what these three people do for a living and how much they have accomplished, their physical appearance probably doesn't lead us to jump to any conclusions about their abilities, energy, or self discipline. But what happens when we encounter people of similar weight in our workplaces? What sort of knee-jerk assumptions might we make about their potential to succeed?
Researchers are fond of reminding Americans that, as a group, we are getting heavier. According to the Centers for Disease Control, excess weight among adults has increased by 60 percent in the last 20 years. I'm not disputing this statistic nor am I saying that keeping reasonably trim isn't a good idea. What bothers me is the conclusions we jump to - the bias we have – about what a few extra pounds means about the character and abilities of the individual.
It also bothers me that this weight bias is increasing at the exact time as the number of people who are considered heavy grows. Somehow I would have thought that, as being heavier becomes closer to the norm, the bias would subside. Also, it seems reasonable to assume that if there are more heavyset people, we would have more opportunities to come to know them as individuals. As a result, more of us would have an accurate view of what weight does or not tell us about character and ability.
Sadly, the opposite seems to be the case. Biases against the heavy-set are on the upswing. Within the last year alone, three studies have appeared, all of which agree that in the workplace, heavyset people are often assumed to be lazy, sloppy, and lacking in self-control. (Wayne State University, the Society for Industrial Organizational Psychology, State University of Detroit)
Some researchers even go so far as to say that weight-based stereotypes are stronger than race or gender bias. This at first seems unlikely, but begins to make some sense when we consider what Boris Baltes, PhD, a psychology professor at Wayne State University, has to say. He theorizes that the reason weight bias is so strong and pervasive is because people assume that how much a person weighs is, unlike race or gender, within his or her control.
I'm not here to dispute the reality that beyond some vaguely described limit, carrying extra pounds does impact health and, therefore, productivity and corporate health care costs. But that's not the kind of obesity I'm talking about. I'm talking about those millions of healthy, productive, valuable human beings who are overlooked or rejected solely because they no longer, or never could, fit into a pair of size 8 jeans.
As with most solutions, the solution to weight bias begins with the individual. The challenge for each of us is to identify our biases and weaken them to a degree that will allow us to judge an individual's character and ability accurately. Here are some steps to get you started:
1. Get in the habit of watching your first assumption when encountering a heavyset person. Do you find yourself immediately worrying that she will move slowly, be sick a lot, or have trouble keeping up? If the answer to that question is "yes," follow it with: "Would I feel the same way about the person's character or abilities if she weighed a few pounds less?" If the answer is that you would feel differently - that concerns about health or pace would never cross your mind - you might just have a bias on your hands.
2. If you find you do have a weight bias, examine your past experience with overweight people. Do you have a negative association with this group? Did you have a relative who was substantially overweight and with whom you did not have a good relationship? Were you at one time overweight yourself and struggle not to associate yourself with those who are? The answers to these questions will help you understand the root of your inflexible belief, and, because the process calls on the rational parts of the brain, will automatically begin to erode the bias.
3. Think of three people you know or know of who do not conform to this bias. Kathy Bates, Queen Latifah, and Candy Crowley are a start, but I'm sure you personally know three more people who, by the culture's standards, could drop a few pounds. Ask yourself: What have those people accomplished? How hard do they work? How clean, neat, and energetic are they? My guess is that the answers to these questions will provide ample bias-defeating evidence that weight-based stereotypes are usually wrong.
4. Make a conscious effort to seek out and get to know three people who fall into this category. One of the researchers, Cort Rudolph, hints at this solution when he points out that weight bias is most apt to impact decisions at the hiring stage and less when it comes time to completing performance evaluations or making decisions about promotions. Clearly, the longer we know a person, the more apt we are to evaluate him as an individual human being rather than as a member of group against which we might hold a bias.
Knowledge is the answer - knowledge of ourselves and knowledge of others. The more knowledge we have, the harder it will be for bias to prevail.
Editor’s Note: Sondra Thiederman, PhD, is the author of "Making Diversity Work: 7 Steps for Defeating Bias in the Workplace" and a preferred consultant for the MultiCultural Development Center, a community partner of Northwestern Health Sciences University. For more information contact www.mcdc.org.