Weight stigma is pervasive and has a range of deleterious effects. Among the most promising approaches for modifying this form of stigma are cognitive dissonance and social consensus. Due to their theoretical connection, this study tested the effects of an experimental manipulation of cognitive dissonance blended with social consensus for targeting weight stigma. It also added to research investigating the effects of cognitive dissonance on weight stigma by investigating a broader range of stigma measures. Participants were university students aged 18–35 years (N = 98) who were randomly allocated to one of four experimental conditions: blended cognitive dissonance, standard cognitive dissonance, blended control or standard control. Stigma measures included the perceived characteristics of, affective reactions towards, social avoidance of, and blameworthiness attributed to a higher-weight individual, and general weight stigma. Results showed that those in the cognitive dissonance conditions reported significantly lower weight stigma than those in the non-dissonance, control conditions. Moreover, those in the blended cognitive dissonance condition with higher in-group identification reported less negative affective reactions than those with lower in-group identification. The results provide consistent support for cognitive dissonance as an approach for reducing weight stigma and some additive support for an integrated cognitive dissonance and social consensus approach.

重量耻辱无处不在，并具有一系列有害影响。改变这种污名形式的最有前途的方法之一是认知失调和社会共识。由于他们之间的理论联系，本研究测试了针对社会性别共识的认知失调实验操作的干预效果，以针对体重歧视。它还通过调查更广泛的污名测量手段，增加了研究认知失调对体重污名的影响的研究。参加者为18-35岁的大学生（N= 98），他们被随机分配到以下四个实验条件之一：混合认知失调，标准认知失调，混合控制或标准控制。污名的衡量标准包括体重较高的个体的感知特征，对社交的回避，对社会的回避以及应归咎于较高体重的人的情感特征，以及一般体重的污名。结果表明，认知失调条件下的体重柱头显着低于非失调对照条件下的柱头。而且，与那些具有较低组内认同的人相比，处于混合认知失调状态且具有较高的组内认同的人的负面情感反应更少。