Weight Halo Effects: Individual Differences in Perceived Life Success as a Function of Women's Race and Weight

The question of whether or not life success halo effects occur for weight for Black and White women was examined in an experiment using a 2 (race of woman) × 2 (weight of woman) × 2 (sex of participant) design and measures of perceived life success, attractiveness, and personality. The thinner White woman was expected to receive higher life success, attractiveness, and personality ratings than the heavy White woman. However, the heavy Black woman was expected to receive higher ratings than the thinner Black woman. The results were consistent with expectations. These results are discussed in terms of prior research on beauty, weight, and stereotyping.