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University of Washington study: Heavier Asian Americans seen as "more American"

C

clav

Member
https://www.washington.edu/news/2017/07/31/heavier-asian-americans-seen-as-more-american-study-says/

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0956797617720912

A University of Washington-led study has found that for Asian Americans, those who appear heavier not only are perceived to be more “American,” but also may be subject to less prejudice directed at foreigners than Asian Americans who are thin.

Researchers believe this effect relates to common stereotypes that Asians are thin and Americans are heavy — so if someone of Asian heritage is heavy, then they appear to be more “American.”
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More than 1,000 college students viewed photos of men and women (Asian, black, Latino, and white) of varying weights, then answered questions about the photo subject’s nationality and other traits.

“In the U.S., there is a strong bias associating American identity with whiteness, and this can have negative consequences for people of color in the U.S.,” said corresponding author Caitlin Handron, a doctoral student at Stanford University who conducted the study while at the UW. “We wanted to see whether ideas of nationality are malleable and how body shape factors into these judgments.”
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“People in the U.S. often encounter prejudice if they are overweight — they may be mistreated by a customer service person, for example, or a health care provider. Weight can be an obstacle to getting good treatment,” Cheryan said. “We found that there was a paradoxical social benefit for Asian Americans, where extra weight allows them to be seen as more American and less likely to face prejudice directed at those assumed to be foreign.”

For years, Cheryan has examined stereotypes and the ways people of various races and ethnicities navigate the idea of what it means to be American. In 2011, she published a study showing that immigrants to the United States eat quintessentially (and frequently unhealthy) American foods to show that they belong.

The new study, she added, is a reminder that notions of who is “American” are powerful, and that judgments can be made by a simple photo.
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The study points to the potential for future analysis of stereotypes and identity. For instance, if Americans are stereotyped as outgoing, and Asians are generally believed to be reserved, does someone who is Asian American seem more “American” if they’re gregarious? Does the same hold true for Latino Americans, since Latinos are often stereotyped as outgoing?

This has potential consequences for who is considered inside or outside a group. People who are already marginalized are often the most vulnerable to exclusion based on behaviors or physical features, researchers noted in the paper.
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B

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
You could almost say this is not "unconscious bias" but rather "conscious bias".

I think a lot of us might do the math that living in Asia will help you be skinnier while living in America makes that much harder.

"More American identity" is problematic. But "More likely to live in America"... I kinda get it.
 
C

Conciliator

Banned
Randolph Freelander said:
More studies proving just how stupid we all are.
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or how complex and tangled all our biases, preconceptions, and mental shortcuts are.

BocoDragon said:
You could almost say this is not "unconscious bias" but rather "conscious bias".

I think a lot of us might do the math that living in Asia will help you be skinnier while living in America makes that much harder.

"More American identity" is problematic. But "More likely to live in America"... I kinda get it.
Click to expand...

that is itself a stereotyped shortcut though, since there's plenty of fat people in Asia and plenty of Asian Americans who really like cheeseburgers but aren't overweight.
 
K

Kayhan

Member
lol one of the Koreans I work with, who looks to be pretty average weight-wise for America, tells me that they call him fat when he goes back to Korea.
 
G

God Dayumm

Banned
Conciliator said:
or how complex and tangled all our biases, preconceptions, and mental shortcuts are.



that is itself a stereotype though, since there's plenty of fat people in Asia and plenty of Asian Americans who really like cheeseburgers but aren't overweight.
Click to expand...

There are plenty of fat people in Asia, but not 80% plenty like in America
 
Zoe

Zoe

Member
Wonder if that's what a Taiwanese friend meant when she said she thought I was white.
 
S

SephCast

Brotherhood of Shipley's
Kim-Jong-un-600873.jpg


As American as apple pie.
 
M

Moose Biscuits

It would be extreamly painful...
This actually happens outside the USA, as well. We're more likely to think you're American if you're overweight.
 
Kite

Kite

Member
Kayhan said:
lol one of the Koreans I work with, who looks to be pretty average weight-wise for America, tells me that they call him fat when he goes back to Korea.
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This is very true, for example I am Taiwanese-American 5 ft 8 in 158 lbs. I don't consider myself obese, fairly normal in fact, and wear medium shirts in the US. But a few years back when visiting in Taiwan.. I could barely fit into the largest tshirt in the stores, think they were XL or XXL. The people over there are reeeeealllly skinny, the typical guy's thighs are about the same as my upper arms. I felt like The Rock walking among the normies there which was very odd since in the US I'm on the average to slightly below side.

Go to a university and you can mostly tell which Asian students are american-born and which are from their native countries. Whether it's the nutrition, drinking more milk, or the hormones in the meat but it is noticeable.
 
B

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
Conciliator said:
that is itself a stereotyped shortcut though, since there's plenty of fat people in Asia and plenty of Asian Americans who really like cheeseburgers but aren't overweight.
Click to expand...
Sure it is a stereotype that Asians are skinny, and a non-skinny Asian would therefore be "Western". I do see something to take issue with here.

But it's pretty objective to say that the average person in an East Asian countries has a lower body weight than the average American, so it's not outrageous that many would do that math.
 
L

Litan

Member
Stumpokapow said:
I genuinely do not believe these studies or their interpretation.
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Yeah, people really need to be more critical of these things.
Its not hard to manipulate them to get the results you want. God knows, the fitness/bodybuilding industry does it a lot.
 
C

Conciliator

Banned
BocoDragon said:
Sure it is a stereotype that Asians are skinny, and a non-skinny Asian would therefore be "Western". I do see something to take issue with here.

But it's pretty objective to say that the average person in an East Asian countries has a lower body weight than the average American, so it's not outrageous that many would do that math.
Click to expand...

There's a lot of things you could say "well, there is a statistical pattern, so it's cool to assume what this person is about based on racial/physical traits." That doesn't mean you should. It's about accepting that we don't know what someone is about by just looking at them.

It's not outrageous at all. It's just one example of the many, countless biases and preconceptions we carry around with us all the time to try to peg people as soon as we can see them. But it's just good to be aware of it so we can try to overcome it.
 
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