By Angela Green, Reporter
Robert Carels, a psychology professor said obesity is the last socially-acceptable form of prejudice.
Carels is working with other professors and students to discover why, and to find better methods for people to lose weight.
He also researches weight stigma, or bias, towards obesity.
"Typically, people report a greater dislike for people who are obese," Carels said. "There are stereotypes that they're lazy, weak-willed and they overeat. Even teachers and doctors have perceptions of obese people as non-compliant and lazy."
Carels has been involved with the treatment and research of obesity for 10 years.
"I think it's a big problem," said Kathleen Young, one of the graduate students who work with Carels. "In general, people do show there's a bias explicitly and implicitly, and we find people that are overweight have that same bias too."
Carels has worked on at least five studies which look at different areas of weight bias. He had students create models with different body mass indices and then students rated the models on likability.
"You can see at what level the bias starts to kick in, or when it's at the highest," he said.
He found that bias increases with weight and the heaviest person experiences the most bias.
Carels said research is important because of health concerns that come with obesity, such as diabetes and heart disease.
"There are big psychological costs to being perceived by others negatively," Carels said. "There are economic costs, depression, poor body image and lower self-esteem."
Carels furthers his research while helping the community by holding weight loss groups.
"Typically, we do one type of weight loss intervention every year," Young said. "We come up with questions we want to answer, and we try to help people lose weight and keep weight off."
Lynn Darby, a kinesiology professor, has worked with Carels for the past nine years as the exercise physiologist for the weight loss groups. She helps by completing physical fitness tests, screening and evaluations on the participants.
"We see if they've changed," Darby said. "We look at body composition of body fat and weight, aerobic fitness levels and we also do blood pressure and measurements."
"Normally, [we] have 50 to 60 people a year, but given how many people in the population that are obese, I'm surprised we don't have more," Carels said.
The class lasts from three to six months and is mostly University faculty and staff.
"We talk about nutrition and the psychological aspects," Young said. "We encourage them to do exercise on their own, and they weigh in once a week when they have the class."
Darby said the group uses a book called "The LEARN Program," which focuses on walking and was developed by Kelly Brownell, a professor at Yale.
Carels has developed his own method, called the Stepped-Care model, for the weight loss groups.
"Each year, there is psychological twist or turn, but the unique part is [that] it's a stepped-care approach to weight loss," Darby said. "Those that can do it on their own are given the book and the go-ahead."
Participants who are having trouble at the lowest intensity are then stepped up to the next level, which includes more intense interventions, such as meeting with nutritionists or psychologists.
Then undergraduate and graduate students help with research and data collection.
"The things we find, we use when we do future groups," said Young. "We do research and we hope what we do will be helpful in one way or another. It has an immediate impact and that's what I like about it."
The research group which all the graduate students and Carels are a part of write papers about their findings. These are published in journals and the group presents at conferences.
Carels is working with other professors and students to discover why, and to find better methods for people to lose weight.
He also researches weight stigma, or bias, towards obesity.
"Typically, people report a greater dislike for people who are obese," Carels said. "There are stereotypes that they're lazy, weak-willed and they overeat. Even teachers and doctors have perceptions of obese people as non-compliant and lazy."
Carels has been involved with the treatment and research of obesity for 10 years.
"I think it's a big problem," said Kathleen Young, one of the graduate students who work with Carels. "In general, people do show there's a bias explicitly and implicitly, and we find people that are overweight have that same bias too."
Carels has worked on at least five studies which look at different areas of weight bias. He had students create models with different body mass indices and then students rated the models on likability.
"You can see at what level the bias starts to kick in, or when it's at the highest," he said.
He found that bias increases with weight and the heaviest person experiences the most bias.
Carels said research is important because of health concerns that come with obesity, such as diabetes and heart disease.
"There are big psychological costs to being perceived by others negatively," Carels said. "There are economic costs, depression, poor body image and lower self-esteem."
Carels furthers his research while helping the community by holding weight loss groups.
"Typically, we do one type of weight loss intervention every year," Young said. "We come up with questions we want to answer, and we try to help people lose weight and keep weight off."
Lynn Darby, a kinesiology professor, has worked with Carels for the past nine years as the exercise physiologist for the weight loss groups. She helps by completing physical fitness tests, screening and evaluations on the participants.
"We see if they've changed," Darby said. "We look at body composition of body fat and weight, aerobic fitness levels and we also do blood pressure and measurements."
"Normally, [we] have 50 to 60 people a year, but given how many people in the population that are obese, I'm surprised we don't have more," Carels said.
The class lasts from three to six months and is mostly University faculty and staff.
"We talk about nutrition and the psychological aspects," Young said. "We encourage them to do exercise on their own, and they weigh in once a week when they have the class."
Darby said the group uses a book called "The LEARN Program," which focuses on walking and was developed by Kelly Brownell, a professor at Yale.
Carels has developed his own method, called the Stepped-Care model, for the weight loss groups.
"Each year, there is psychological twist or turn, but the unique part is [that] it's a stepped-care approach to weight loss," Darby said. "Those that can do it on their own are given the book and the go-ahead."
Participants who are having trouble at the lowest intensity are then stepped up to the next level, which includes more intense interventions, such as meeting with nutritionists or psychologists.
Then undergraduate and graduate students help with research and data collection.
"The things we find, we use when we do future groups," said Young. "We do research and we hope what we do will be helpful in one way or another. It has an immediate impact and that's what I like about it."
The research group which all the graduate students and Carels are a part of write papers about their findings. These are published in journals and the group presents at conferences.
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