Underweight vs. overweight/obese: which weight category do we prefer? Dissociation of weight‐related preferences at the explicit and implicit level

Summary Objective Although stigma towards obesity and anorexia is a well‐recognized problem, no research has investigated and compared the explicit (i.e. conscious) and implicit (i.e. unconscious) preferences between these two conditions. The present study conducted this investigation in a sample of 4,806 volunteers recruited at the Project Implicit website (https://implicit.harvard.edu). Methods Explicit and implicit preferences were assessed among different weight categories (i.e. underweight, normal weight and overweight/obese) by means of self‐reported items and the Multi‐category Implicit Association Test, respectively. Results Preferences for the normal weight category were found both at the explicit and implicit levels when this category was compared with overweight/obese and underweight categories. On the contrary, when the underweight category was contrasted with the obese/overweight category, results differed at the explicit and implicit levels: pro‐underweight preferences were observed at the explicit level, while pro‐overweight/obese preferences were found at the implicit level. Conclusions These results indicate that preferences between overweight/obese and underweight categories differ at the explicit and implicit levels. This dissociation may have important implications on behaviour and decision‐making.