Séminaire du LPS le 21 Mars 14h00 Bâtiment T1 Salle 3.09

Le séminaire du LPS du 21/03 à 14h00 aura lieu au bâtiment T1 Salle 3.09. Nous aurons le plaisir d’accueillir Isabel Urdapilleta (Université Paris 8 Saint-Denis).

Voici le titre et le résumé de son intervention : Representation of self-image among obese persons and stigma

The impact of stigma (Goffman, 1963) on individuals is an effect often described in the literature, whether it regards sexual orientation (Frost & Meyer, 2009), illness (AIDS: Herek & Glunt, 1988), mental health (Corrigan & Kleinlein, 2005), intellectual disabilities (Werner, Corrigan, Ditchman, & Sokol, 2012), etc. Stigmatization is also a key aspect of obese person’s life (De Brún, McCarthy, McKenzie, & McGloin, 2013).
Stigma has been approached mostly in the literature through verbal descriptions, by the observer or the individuals themselves. This research explores non-verbal and behavioural aspects of stigmatization, with novel techniques using image and video. This enables us to enlighten how, and at what behavioural and representational levels the obese persons actively contributes to reinforce their stigma.
Among the surprising results is the demonstration that obese persons have a body image about 30% larger than their real corpulence, and severely obese persons about 45% and how this impacts their daily behaviour.
Data have been collected by obese persons (women and men) using subcams (miniature video cameras worn at eye level) to get a first person perspective of their ordinary life. Following the SEBE (Subjective Evidence-Based protocols, Lahlou, Nosulenko, & Samoylenko, 2009) these participants have commented their own films as they watched them.
Data on body image have also been collected by the Body-Distorsion technique (Docteur, Urdapilleta, Defrance, & Raison, 2009; Urdapilleta, Aspavlo, Masse, & Docteur, 2010) which enables assessing how corpulent persons (sixty women) see themselves by asking them to adjust a distorted photography of themselves.
This study is a preview of a larger research investigating how gastric surgery (which dramatically changes the actual weight of subjects) also changes their representations.

References

Corrigan, P. W., & Kleinlein, P. (2005). The impact of mental illness stigma. In P. W. Corrigan (Ed.). On the stigma of mental illness: Practical strategies for research and social change. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
De Brún, A., McCarthy, M., McKenzie, K., & McGloin, A. (2013) “Fat is your fault”. Gatekeepers to health, attributions of responsibility and the portrayal of gender in the Irish media representation of obesity. Appetite, 62, 17-26.
Docteur, A., Urdapilleta, I., Defrance, C., & Raison, J. (2009). Body perception and satisfaction in obese, severely obese and normal weight female patients. Obesity, 18, 1464-1465, doi:10.1038/oby.2009.418.
Frost, D. M., & Meyer, I. H. (2009). Internalized homophobia and relationship quality among lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals. Journal of Counselling Psychology, 56, 97-109.
Goffman, E. (1963). Stigma: Notes on the management of spoiled identity. Prentice-Hall.
Herek, G. M., & Glunt, E. K. (1988). An epidemic of stigma. Public reactions to AIDS. American Psychologist, 43, 886-891.
Lahlou, S., Nosulenko, V., & Samoylenko, E. (2009). SUBCAM technology as an instrument in psychological science. Experimental Psychology, 1, 72-80.
Urdapilleta, I., Aspavlo, D., Masse, L., & Docteur, A. (2010). Body image perception and satisfaction in male versus female competitive swimmers using a picture distortion technique. Psychology of sport and exercise, 11, 568-573.
Werner, S., Corrigan, P., Ditchman, N., & Sokol, K. (2012). Stigma and intellectual disability: A review of related measures and future directions. Research in Developmental Disabilities 33, 748-765.