Sociology and Psychology of Obesity

1. Sociology and Psychology of Obesity

2. Sociology & Psychololgy of Obesity • Clinical characteristics of obesity • Neurological • Physical • Emotional

3. Sociology & Psychololgy of Obesity • Clinical characteristics of obesity • Neurological - mainly those obese since childhood • Physical – health related illness and diseases • Emotional – most feel their bodies are grotesque, and loathsome and that others view them with hostility and contempt.

4. Sociology & Psychololgy of Obesity Emotional – most feel their bodies are grotesque, and loathsome and that others view them with hostility and contempt. Allon: Stigmatization of Obesity Obesity is a sin Obesity is a disease Obesity is a crime

5. Sociology & Psychololgy of Obesity Allon: Stigmatization of Obesity • Obesity is a sin: lacking in self control, self indulgent, weak willed. • Obesity is a disease: similar to leporsy • Obesity is a crime: Obese people should be held responsible and punished for their offense. Punishment is prejudice, discrimination in education, employment and everyday life. Most alarming:

6. Sociology & Psychololgy of Obesity Allon: Stigmatization of ObesityMost alarming: They believe it!

7. Obese woman clip • Children study clip

8. Sociology & Psychololgy of Obesity • Albert Stunkard: Emotional disturbances related to obesity • Overeating • Complications of dieting • Disparagement of the body image (like Allon; grotesque and loathsome)

9. Sociology & Psychololgy of Obesity • Albert Stunkard: Emotional disturbances related to obesity • Overeating • Clock study • Liquid meal study • McDonald’s study

10. Sociology & Psychololgy of Obesity • Albert Stunkard: Emotional/Physiological disturbances related to obesity • Overeating • Does not account for all of obesity • Complications of dieting • Deprivation = caloric thrift • Deprivation = failure to respond to signals of hunger/full • Deprivation often creates a backlash effect

11. Sociology & Psychololgy of Eating,Diets and Dieting • Body Image: An individual’s perceptions, feelings and attitudes toward his own body. • Body image distortion: Thompson Psychology Today Mirror study. • Estimating body size of others – very accurate • Estimate their own bodily dimensions – distortion as much as 25%. > 95% of women overestimate their body size – on their cheeks, then waist, then thighs and hips.

12. Sociology & Psychololgy of Eating,Diets and Dieting Body image distortion: Thompson Psychology Today Mirror study. • Estimating body size of others – very accurate • Estimate their own bodily dimensions – distortion as much as 25%. > 95% of women overestimate their body size – on their cheeks, then waist, then thighs and hips. • Women are less satisfied than men in all areas except face and height. Greatest – torsos, muscle tone, weight. Why so??

13. Sociology & Psychololgy of Eating,Diets and Dieting Patzer The Physical Attractiveness Phenomena: Discrimination based on physical attractiveness probably excels prejudicial discrimination based on sex, race, or religion. Regardless of context or age of participants, society tends to view the attractive as inherently better than those of less physical attractiveness.

14. Sociology & Psychololgy of Eating,Diets and Dieting Patzer The Physical Attractiveness Phenomena: The implicit stereotype has produced an environment with serious implications for such far-reaching activities as employment, helping behavior, dating and mating, election of politicians, and even personality development.

15. Sociology & Psychololgy of Eating,Diets and Dieting Patzer The Physical Attractiveness Phenomena: The major dissimilarity between discrimination based on physical attractiveness vs. sex or race discrimination is that the latter are legislated against whereas the former is not – yet!

16. Sociology & Psychololgy of Eating,Diets and Dieting Sheen and Ward France Pagan: One of the most difficult to document and describe is the extent to which any individual participates in the mutually constructed consciousness of his culture and age. It has been estimated that even strong personalities are 60 – 80% the result of their environment.

17. Sociology & Psychololgy of Eating,Diets and Dieting • Advertisement: we see 400-600/day, 1/11 are about beauty (36-55/day) • We should be thin and firm Present an image of perfection 2) We can get that way Insinuate you don’t measure up 3) Resolve Buy our product or service

18. Fat video - commercials

21. Children and Teens “Afraid to Eat” • 30-40% of 9-year-olds and 46-81% of ten-year-olds are dysfunctional eaters • 1/12 teen girls vomit or take laxatives. • 1/3 teens are dysfunctional eaters (disordered eating) • ½ are undernourished • 1/10 have eating disorders All during a critical growth phase

22. College Women “Afraid to Eat” • Females 25 years and under have the worst body images: 80% dislike their bodies and 40% on roller-coaster diets • Food fears: milk and meat, anything with fat

23. The church seldom touches this issue • Book: Firm Believer • Book: God’s Answer to Fat: Loose it! • Book: Free to be Thin • “Your motive in losing pounds is to please God…if serious he’s ready to help you…now you have a new body you’re thin and gorgeous for Jesus”

24. The church seldom touches this issue • Book: Disciplines of a Beautiful Woman • “How are your hips, thighs, tummy? Do you need to get into that jogging suit and run? How is your hair? Does it have a good cut, and is it clean and healthy? What kind of a program are you on to stretch, bend, and stay supple; to stand tall; to be a good advertisement of God’s wonderful care of his children?”

25. The church seldom touches this issue • Virtue Magazine: “Fashion Sense for Worship”

26. Biblical passages • I Cor 6:19-20. “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in you body and in your spirit, which are God’s

27. Biblical passages • I Cor 6:19-20. “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.

28. Biblical passages • I Cor 6:18. “Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body”. • I Cor 6:19-20. “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s”.

29. Biblical passages • Rom 12:1 “I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship”.

30. Biblical passages • Rom 12:1 “I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship”.

31. Biblical passages • Rom 12:2 “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind”. • Rom 12:2 (New English Bible) “Adapt yourselves no longer to the pattern of the present world, but let your minds be remade and your whole nature be transformed”.

32. Biblical passages • Point: Physical appearance and attractiveness are not a criterion to being accepted and used by God! More often than not attractiveness is a hindrance to usefulness. • Isaiah 53:2 “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him – nothing in his appearance that we should desire him”.

33. Biblical passages Master Plan of Evangelism Selection of David to be king (I Sam 16:6-7) So it was, when they came, that he looked at Eliab and said, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before him”! But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart”.

34. Biblical passages God wants us to celebrate our bodies! • Ps 139:13-14. “For you formed my inward parts; you covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are your works, and that my soul knows very well.” • Gen 1:26-31

35. Biblical passages God wants us to celebrate our bodies! • Rom 8:23 “be changed to be like Christ’s glorious resurrected body”. • Rom 3:20-21 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself. • 4:1 …stand fast in the Lord, beloved!

36. Biblical passages How does God want us to treat the overweight and obese? • The same way He want us to treat one another! He cleansed the leper (Matt 8:1-4), healed the paralytic (Mk 2:1-12), gave sight to the blind (Matt 9:27-34), gave speech to the mute (Jn 12:12-19). In short, Jesus obviously demonstrated love and compassion to those who were considered outcasts of society.

37. Biblical passages Summary: Physical appearance and physical attractiveness are not criteria to being accepted and used by God. He created us in His image and said His creation of man was very good (Gen 1:31). Our hope is in God’s promises, not on the approval of society. He loves us with an infinite love!