Weight Stigma Reduction and Genetic Determinism

Weight Stigma Reduction and Genetic Determinism

One major approach to weight stigma reduction consists of decreasing beliefs about the personal controllability of-and responsibility for-obesity by educating about its biogenetic causes. Evidence on the efficacy of this approach is mixed, and it remains unclear whether this would create a deterministic view, potentially leading to detrimental side-effects. Two independent studies from Germany ...

Genetic modification and genetic determinism

In this article we examine four objections to the genetic modification of human beings: the freedom argument, the giftedness argument, the authenticity argument, and the uniqueness argument. We then demonstrate that each of these arguments against genetic modification assumes a strong version of genetic determinism. Since these strong deterministic assumptions are false, the arguments against g...

The weight of stigma: cortisol reactivity to manipulated weight stigma.

OBJECTIVE Rates of weight-based stigmatization have steadily increased over the past decade. The psychological and physiological consequences of weight stigma remain understudied. METHODS This study examined the effects of experimentally manipulated weight stigma on the stress-responsive hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) in 110 female undergraduate participants (BMI: M=19.30, SD=1.55)...

Genetic determinism or genetic discrimination?

Weight Stigma 1 Running Title: Children's Weight Stigma Weight Stigma and Educators’ Perceptions of Children’s Psychological Symptoms