Fatness Psychology

15.03.11 / Motivation / Author: cyborg

A bias is a tendency. Most biases—like preferring to eat food instead of paper clips, or assuming someone on fire should be put out—are helpful. But cognitive shortcuts can cause problems when we’re not aware of them and we apply them inappropriately, leading to rash decisions or discriminatory practices (based on, say, racism and sexism). Relying on biases but keeping them in check requires a delicate balance of self-awareness.

Stereotypes are being chased away in medicine—at least on paper. It’s no longer permissible to discriminate against women (and since women are likely taking over medicine, that’s a good thing!) The topic of race is verboten, as is religion. Cultural competency is everywhere in medicine, working to break down stereotypes of culture and language.

But there is one group that remains significantly marginalized, with no “awareness group” dedicated to easing tensions—the obese. Very overweight patients have a rough time in medicine, as they do in society at large. Despite the heightened PC-environment of medicine, doctors have a hard time suppressing unconscious bias. Obese patients are quite attuned to this and feel as though their doctors do not treat them with respect.

Medical issues