Abstract
M.A.(Psychology)
The principal aim of the present study was the determination of the role of aggression, the self concept and stereotyping in obesity. A subsidiary goal was to construct
a scale for the measurement of stereotyping. A scale for the measurement of the stereotyping of obese women was constructed and applied to a general sample of
229 first year psychology students. This scale, namely the Attitude Questionnaire (AQ), comprised forty 7-point scales. The first 20 scales were designed to characterise
obese women and the last 20 scales to characterise normal weight women. Separate item analyses were done for the first and the second parts of the scale. The first part
of the scale yielded a reliability coefficient of 0,86 according to Kuder-Richardson Formula 20 and the second part a coefficient of 0,87. The first part of the scale
was subjected to a factor analysis to determine its structure. It yielded a single second-order factor which was defined as "general stereotyping of obese women".
Similarly the second part of the AQ yielded a single second-order factor which was defined as "general stereotyping of normal weight women".
The scores of the student sample, in respect of the AQ,were used in order to determine their perception of obese women compared with normal weight women. The vector of
means of obese women were contrasted with the vector of means of normal weight women and the difference between the two vectors was tested with the aid of Hotelling
T2 (dependent test). The Hotelling T2 proved to be statistically significant and was consequently followed up by a series of t-tests. From the t-tests it transpired that the perception of the student sample of obese women was largely negative.
A battery of tests comprising the Picture Situation Test (PST), the Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory, the Adolescent Self-Concept scale (ASCS) and the newly constructed AQ,
was administered to 50 obese women who were members of the .
Weight Watchers organisation (experimental group) and 50 Weight Watchers organisation (experimental group) and 50 normal weight women who worked for a large cosmetic company (control group)