Reducing social distance caused by weight stigma: Nostalgia changes behavior toward overweight individuals
Open accessAbstract
Weight stigma, a negative attitude toward the overweight, can lead to discriminatory practices, as well as increase overweight individuals' vulnerability to depression, anxiety, and low self‐esteem. We propose that a nostalgia induction can attenuate weight stigma. Participants identified an overweight individual, before writing about an interpersonal encounter with that individual, characterized by either central (e.g., “keepsakes” and “childhood”) or peripheral (e.g., “wishing” and “daydreaming”) features of the construct “nostalgia.” Participants who recalled a central (vs. peripheral) nostalgic encounter reported more positive feelings and beliefs toward overweight individuals in general. Moreover, nostalgia influenced behavior: Nostalgic (vs. control) participants reduced their social distance when anticipating an interaction with an overweight individual. The effect of nostalgia on all three outcomes (i.e., positive feelings, beliefs, and behavior) was mediated by greater social connectedness, which in turn was associated with higher inclusion of the outgroup in the self and increased outgroup trust.
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Nostalgia promotes prosocial attitudes and behaviors, such as cooperation, charitable donations, and prejudice reduction.
“Third, nostalgia promotes prosocial attitudes and behaviors, such as cooperation30,50, charitable donations51,52, and prejudice reduction53–56, all of which can be perceived as sociomoral concerns linked to moral values57.”
From Nostalgia increases punitiveness by intensifying moral concern (2024) · cites this paper as [54]
Nostalgia reduces negative attitudes toward stigmatized groups (overweight, mentally ill, older adults).
“Those who reflected on a nostalgic experience subsequently expressed less negative attitudes toward the stigmatized group.”
From Nostalgia: An impactful social emotion (2023) · cites this paper as [51]
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Self-citationHow and why weight stigma drives the obesity ‘epidemic’ and harms health
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Self-citationThe greatest magic of <scp>H</scp>arry <scp>P</scp>otter: Reducing prejudice
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Nostalgia: An impactful social emotion
Juhl, J., & Biskas, M. (2023) · Current Opinion in Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2022.101545 · Cited by 84 · see citing works
Nostalgia increases punitiveness by intensifying moral concern
Lasaleta, J. D., Wildschut, T., & Sedikides, C. (2024) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/s41598-024-61858-x · Cited by 3 · see citing works
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- Authors
- Turner, R., Wildschut, T., & Sedikides, C.
- Affiliations
- Queen's University Belfast (GB)
- University of Southampton (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Turner, Rhiannon
- Venue
- Journal of Applied Social Psychology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2022-04-13
- Volume
- 52
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 429-438
- ISSN
- 0021-9029 (ISSN-L)
- 1559-1816
- OpenAlex
- W4223917908
- Cited by
- 17
- References
- 14
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 1
- FWCI
- 5.24
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Applied Social Psychology (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Research Portal (Queen's University Belfast) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- ePrints Soton (University of Southampton) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Pharmacy › Obesity and Health Practices
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Nostalgia and Consumer Behavior
- Keywords
- weight stigma, nostalgia, social distance, overweight individuals, social connectedness, outgroup trust, prejudice reduction, social encounters
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