Overweight women disidentify with their ingroup because weight is viewed as controllable

Evidence

Although the categorization process may place the person at either extreme end of the continuum from social identity to personal identity, Brewer’s (1991) Theory of Optimal Distinctiveness suggests that there is an intermediate point along this continuum that optimally satisfies a person’s needs for identity. At this point, an individual’s need to be different from others (i.e., to be unique) and need to belong (i.e., to share a sense of similarity to others) are balanced. Optimally, perceiving one’s group as especially positive and distinctive relative to other groups satisfies both needs for belonging and distinctiveness simultaneously. Unfortunately, one consequence of this process can be intergroup bias. — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 549 (#complicates, via linked claim)

But it is false to claim that therein lies a biological given; in fact, it is a destiny imposed on her by her teachers and by society. … She is treated like a living doll, and freedom is denied her; thus a vicious circle is closed; for the less she exercises her freedom to understand, grasp, and discover the world around her, the less she will find its resources, and the less she will dare to affirm herself as subject; if she were encouraged, she could show the same vibrant exuberance, the same curiosity, the same spirit of initiative, and the same intrepidness as the boy. — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 691 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Women self-select away from the highest-reward positions, sustaining gender hegemony — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice: Fifty Years…, 767; Female passivity is socially imposed, not biologically determined, and self-reinforces through a vicious circle — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 691; People seek a balance between uniqueness and belonging that breeds ingroup bias — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 549 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• People seek a balance between uniqueness and belonging that breeds ingroup bias #complicates (0.76) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 549
• Female passivity is socially imposed, not biologically determined, and self-reinforces through a vicious circle #complicates (0.74) — Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex, 691