Abstract

This study is set and tested, through an experiment, a two-way interaction hypothesis, which proposes that the level of weight stigma will affect Eating Behavior according to the level of self-affirmation. It was a completely randomized design of 2 (weight stigma: weight stigma/non-stigma) × 2 (self-affirmation: self-affirmation/non-affirmation), and data from 82 females were analyzed. After introducing the participants to the "Task Immersion Study and A New Snacks' Taste Evaluation Study," we manipulated the weight stigma by presenting the first task of the Task Immersion Study as "article-related writing tasks. After manipulating weight stigma, we presented feedback to all participants, inducing ego-threatening by informing them of low immersion scores. Following that, we manipulated self-affirmation by presenting the second task of the Task Immersion Study as "value list-related writing tasks." Afterward, participants in a new snack's taste evaluation study were requested to taste and evaluate three snacks. As a result of this study, the two-way interaction between weight stigma and self-affirmation on eating Behavior was significant, and thus the hypothesis was supported. That is, in the case of the group with non-affirmation, the group with weight stigma ate more snacks than the group with non-stigma, while in the group with self-affirmation, there was no significant difference in eating Behavior between both groups. The results suggest that providing psychological resources, such as identifying important aspects of oneself unrelated to threats in threat situations, can buffer the increase in eating Behavior, a defensive behavior related to threat information. Based on these results, we discuss this study's implications, limitations, and future research directions.