You may have the IQ of Einstein and the diplomatic skills of a UN
ambassador,but if you've got the body of a 170-pound Madonna, you may
just have to forget about your dream job.
A team of Chicago psychologists reports that overweight job
applicants, especially women, are highly susceptible to employment bias.
Even moderate overweight is a minus.
The psychologists videotaped professional actors, male and female,
who presented themselves as normal-weight applicants in mock-employment
interviews. Then the same actors were interviewed and videotaped again,
this time using elaborate make-up and devices to make them appear 20
percent overweight.
Researchers showed the videos to 320 raters, along with resumes
that showed the candidates to have relevant experience, education, and
motivation, and asked them to make a hiring decision. The raters had
earlier been screened for body satisfaction and for the centrality of
body awareness to their self-concept.
According to Regina Pingitore, Ph.D., of the Chicago Medical
School, weight played much more of a role among female decision-makers
than male ones. The raters least likely to hire an overweight person were
those who expressed satisfaction with their own bodies and whose body
image was central to their self-concept. It's the "If I can do it, why
can't you?" take on weight loss. Interviewers who are less satisfied with
their bodies, in contrast, may be more sensitive to the difficulties of
meeting society's often elusive weight standards, Pingitore
surmises.
She isn't shocked that such bias exists. What did surprise her was
that weight-sensitive evaluators "felt disdain, but couldn't put a label
on it." Their prejudice revealed itself instead in a gut-level
reaction--as if some inner voice said, "This person's fat. I don't like
her," These subjects had a hard time explaining why they thought heavier
applicants were unfit for the job. Unfortunately, this kind of bias might
be most resistant to change.
Tags:
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Body image,
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dream job,
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gut level,
inner voice,
interviewers,
overweight person,
raters,
relevant experience,
self concept,
surmises,
weight,
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