Attribution of behavioral intentions to obese and normal‐weight stimulus persons

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Abstract
This study examines the relationship between the attribution of traits and the attribution of short‐term, situation‐specific intentions and probable behaviors, with particular reference to the perception of obese persons. College students performed one of four tasks: (1) Rating photographs of obese and normal‐weight female faces for likeability and attractiveness; (2) attributing short‐term intentions and probable behaviors to these stimulus persons within the context of briefly described social interactions; (3) judging the situationally determined demand characteristics of the intentions and probable behaviors; or (4) judging the ‘meaning’ of the intentions or behaviors in terms of trait scales.The results demonstrate that although the obese faces were consistently rated significantly less likeable and less attractive than the normal‐weight faces, these judgments were paralleled by only a few differences in the situation‐specific intentions or behaviors attributed to the two groups of stimulus faces. It is suggested that impression‐formation measured in terms of global, dispositional characteristics such as traits cannot be assumed to directly predict many differences in behavioral expectations in specific interpersonal settings. On the basis of the few attributions of intention which did discriminate, an ‘obese personality’ stereotype emerged, consisting either of socially undesirable traits or traits of ambiguous social desirability.The implications of the relationships among traits, intentions and situational demand characteristics for an interactive model of situational vs. personality determinants of expected behavior are discussed.