A neuroscientific guide to weight implicit bias

As a senior in the APEX Capstone Project at Walter Johnson High School, I was prompted to create a product on anything I was passionate about with an academic stretch. I knew I wanted to work with the brain to challenge beliefs about weight in our society from the start. I bounced from idea to idea, not feeling satisfied with any of them. I quickly realized that there is no quick fix to our implicit biases, and my product had to reflect that. To actively challenge the reader, I decided to use the format of a guide. I learned a lot from this project about the science behind implicit bias and the process. I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to participate.

Implicit Bias

Bias is an unfair prejudice toward one thing, group, or person compared to another. There are two types of bias: explicit and implicit. Explicit biases are consciously held beliefs towards a group that directly impact how a person acts towards that group. Since the person acknowledges these biases, explicit bias can be combated with logic. Implicit biases, on the other hand, are automatic and unintentional. These biases are often harder to fight because they are outside conscious awareness. In most cases, these beliefs lie outside of people’s sense of self, as they operate on an unconscious level.

Why does implicit bias exist?

The Brain

Implicit biases form involuntarily from experiences and messages we receive from society. Typically, they don’t align with what we feel is our “sense of self,” unlike explicit biases. There are a few neuroscientific explanations as to why these biases form. For one, the brain tends to seek shortcuts in understanding how the world works. This often means simplifying complex things into frequently harmful stereotypes. Alternatively, the brain simply seeks out patterns and tries to form associations. These patterns and how we view the world ultimately contribute to our identity formation.

Identity Formation

There are two categories for identity formation: individual and collective. Individual identity typically refers to your unique personal characteristics, whereas collective identity refers to the groups you belong to in society. Often, the collective becomes part of the individual; it’s an interdependent relationship. If the individual trait is playing soccer, the collective is part of the soccer community, for example. Attachment to these identities can help us feel secure and confident, but it can quickly become unhealthy. These traits often create groups within society that turn against each other. Another way to categorize identity formation is to classify the traits into ascribed and achieved. Ascribed means that you were born with that trait, and you can’t change it. Race and gender are typically considered to be ascribed traits. On the other hand, achieved traits are roles you fall into as your life progresses. Your profession and parenthood can both be considered achieved traits. Many traits, however, are considered to be influenced by both how you were born and your behavior.

The Unfamiliar

From an animalistic point of view, we as humans can’t feel curious about something if we don’t feel safe and secure. The novel object recognition test is an experiment done with rats; they are placed in a box with something unfamiliar. The experimenters take note of the nature and frequency of the interactions the rats initiate, and what they find is that the rats will stay away from what they don’t recognize. Things that are different and new can threaten us, even if we don’t explicitly feel that way. To get over our implicit biases, it can help focus on what’s the same between other people and us. Not only is this a compelling method of fostering empathy, but it can also help us be more trusting with people different from us.

Us vs. Them

The Us vs. Them phenomenon in psychology states that we tend to categorize people with similar characteristics into groups and have varying levels of affinity for those groups. The “us” group, also known as the in-group, possesses characteristics we associate with our sense of self. Typically, we find acceptance and self-esteem from this sense of belonging. For the out-group, on the other hand, we tend to seek negative characteristics to inflate our sense of security. For example, of the most famous psychological experiments, the Stanford Prison Experiment illustrates how a sense of belonging to a group can completely alter our behaviors towards another group. For a week in 1971, 24 young men from California volunteered to be guards and prisoners for 15 dollars a day. They were randomly assigned to each role and quickly adapted. The guards did cruel things to the prisoners, like put them in solitary confinement, strip them, and harass them. The prisoners felt inferior; afterward, they indicated that the taller volunteers were picked to be the guards, even though roles were randomly assigned. Perceived differences made these groups turn against each other.

What influences weight?

Weight is multifactorial, meaning that many things influence it. Genes, race, age, gender, diet, access to resources, physical activity, sleep, and culture all influence weight and how our bodies look. In our society, being thin implies that you have good self-control. The truth is, however, even if two people ate the same and exercised the same, their bodies would still be different.

What is fatphobia?

When you break down the word, fatphobia means fear of fat. It is a form of discrimination. In general, there are three levels of fatphobia. Internalized fatphobia refers to how someone sees themselves. Practically everyone experiences some degree of this. Internalized fatphobia does not discriminate. This level can find the most common ground among body types. This fear can make people so hard on themselves that they can’t enjoy a dessert or go to the beach because of how insecure they are about their bodies. Interpersonal fatphobia refers to how we treat each other. At this level, experiences diverge between body types. Statistically, fat and Black women experience the most interpersonal fatphobia, although it can happen to anyone. Comments about someone’s appearance or what they’re eating fall under this category. Lastly, institutional fatphobia refers to whether or not the culture is invested in you and your contribution. Like with interpersonal fatphobia, the level of institutional fatphobia you experience depends on your appearance. Fat people typically experience lower-quality health care, for example, often being told to lose weight to get rid of their symptoms.

Why is Fatphobia Dangerous?

Stereotype Threat

Stereotype threat is a psychological predicament that occurs when an individual has a chance to conform to the negative stereotypes about their group. The NIH did an experiment where they had males and females take math tests. In the experimental group, they preemptively told both men and women that there was a known gender difference in the test results. The women in the experimental group did worse than the women who were not reminded of the stereotype that women were worse at math. When we create negative stereotypes about a group, we risk conforming to that stereotype by decreasing their self-esteem.

F*T

Throughout history, the word fat has had many connotations. In the 1600s, being fat or getting called a “fat cat” meant that you were wealthy and had enough money to feed yourself well. As the 1800s approached, however, the word was used to illustrate someone as a fool. As thinness spread as the new ideal for health and beauty, all sorts of dieting, fat-shaming, and discrimination arose. In our society, fat is an insult that indicates a lack of control in eating and a lack of discipline when it comes to working out. Today, the word has a negative connotation, but history shows us that it can mean what we want it to mean. Like tall, hairy, and smooth, fat is an adjective, and it deserves to be a neutral one.

Neurological Connection

The Neuron

The nervous system serves to collect sensory input from the environment, interpret it, and respond to it. The neuron is a type of cell within the nervous system that communicates with other neurons and effectors, such as the muscles and glands. Typically, neurons have a cell body, an axon, and dendrites. Information comes in through dendrites and gets transmitted down the axon as an action potential. Chemicals, like neurotransmitters, are then released into the synapse to be interpreted by the next neuron. You can think of a neuron shaped like a tree; the dendrites are the branches, and the axon is the trunk.

The Synapse

The synapse is a tiny space between neurons that allows them to communicate. Once the action potential has traveled the axon of the presynaptic neuron, neurotransmitters are released into the synapse to receive the postsynaptic neuron. The interaction that occurs in the synapse is chemical and not electrical. If the neurotransmitters are excitatory, the postsynaptic neuron will generate an action potential. If the neurotransmitters are inhibitory, the postsynaptic neuron won’t fire. Like many other parts of the nervous system, synapses can be strengthened or weakened depending on how often they are used. Because we have a lot of developed neuronal pathways, changing our habits and beliefs can be challenging. However, the brain is plastic, and we can physically change it by developing new neural pathways. We need to be aware, intentional, and consistent to uproot our implicit bias.

Neuroplasticity

Neuroplasticity is the ability of the brain to adapt to both internal and external stimuli. The brain can physically change over time by building and strengthening new neuronal networks. Every time you learn something new, your gene expression changes to strengthen a new synapse and a new long-term memory. Genes make proteins, which carry out your body’s functions. When you learn, your neurons learn, and in turn, your gene expression changes. The most significant thing about neuroplasticity in psychology is that it gives us the chance to change our thoughts, beliefs, and habits. To put this into effect, to get rid of our implicit biases, we need to practice, practice, and practice.

Use It or Lose It

As humans, we are born with many potentials for neuronal connections. When you learn something new, you strengthen connections between different neurons. Over time, when used, those connections become stronger and stronger. The neurons and connections we don’t use, however, become weaker. As we grow older, our neuronal pathways become more developed, and it becomes harder to change our habits and beliefs; that’s what makes it hard to get rid of our implicit biases. However, the good news is that we can still physically change our brains by being intentional and active in our pursuits.

Critical Period

Psychologically speaking, the critical period is when the nervous system is developing and is sensitive to stimuli from the environment. Some skills, like emotional regulation, are not developed efficiently during the critical period. Typically, the brain is considered more plastic during this time, usually during the infant and toddler years. Ideally, practice for any skill begins in the critical period. For advanced skills, even practicing the basics is good in the long run. When it comes to implicit bias, we need to expose our children to diversity from the start. That way, they can form a deep trust for those different from them.

Brain development

Brain development can be broken into three parts: neurulation, synaptogenesis, and myelination. Understanding how our neurons develop and form connections with each other can help us maximize their usage and efficiency when it comes to breaking down our implicit beliefs and creating new ones. Neurulation refers to the process where the neurons are first being made and migrating to the places they will occupy in the body, which occurs during pregnancy. This step is mainly dictated by genes and is the least likely to be influenced by the environment. Synaptogenesis refers to the making and breaking of connections between neurons. Neurons make connections with each other through the synaptic cleft, a space in between one neuron’s axon and one neuron’s dendrite. Neurotransmitters are electrical cells, so they don’t physically touch. After an action potential, neurotransmitters will diffuse across the synaptic cleft to receive the next neuron. This stage mainly occurs from your time in the womb and through adolescence. Myelination is the key to the brain’s efficiency. It refers to the process of speeding up our neuronal pathways with myelin, a white matter that covers a neuron’s axon and increases the rate of impulse. In other words, myelin is the neuron’s electrical insulation. Myelination starts in the womb and continues for decades. Practice is the most efficient way to increase myelination for any particular neuronal circuit given a healthy, functioning brain.

Passive Learning

Priming

Priming refers to the passive introduction of information that makes specific neurons ready to fire in your brain. In other words, one stimulus affects how you will respond to a subsequent stimulus. In working against fatphobic implicit bias, priming could occur when attending a gym with healthy instructors of all sizes that people look up to. Online, it could happen while seeing TV shows with people of all sizes displayed as successful. Even though it’s not active, this exposure can help our brains realize that body size does not determine success.

Counter Stereotypes

Counter stereotypes genuinely live up to their name; they are simply ideas or people that portray the opposite of their stereotype. A woman who is good at driving, a white person good at dancing, and a fit fat person are all examples of counter stereotypes. Experiments show that while exposure to counter stereotypes decreased bias levels on the IAT, they only did so for around 24 hours. Counter stereotypes are passive; while they can make us feel better about ourselves and help us start to negate our biases, it takes time, practice, and effort to minimize our biases in the long run.

Active Learning

Goal-Directed Behavior

Every habit and belief starts with goal-directed behavior. Practice with a deliberate goal in mind is always more effective than aimless or forced practice. Self-control involves overriding urges that interfere with the goals you have in mind. When it comes to fatphobic implicit bias, we need to be intentional. Motivation helps us understand why we do the things we do. Intrinsic motivation means we do something because it rewards us internally. For example, going on a run because you love running would be considered intrinsic. On the other hand, extrinsic motivation means you do something because you believe you will be rewarded exteriorly. Going on a run because you want to appear healthy, for example, is considered extrinsic motivation. In general, intrinsic motivation is more powerful than extrinsic because the behavior itself is regarded as the reward. When it comes to getting rid of your implicit bias, note why you want to practice this. Is it to elevate society or to be seen as a thoughtful person?

Mindfulness

Mindfulness refers to what we pay attention to how we govern our emotions and our self-awareness. In mindfulness, with awareness comes reflection. That’s what makes it active. By noting how people are treated and learning from it, you can physically change your synaptic functioning and myelination; you can change your brain and how your genes are expressed.

Your Circle

Who is in your immediate circle of influence? Do you see people of all body types, races, and genders successful? Jot down a list of the people most important to you and those you spend the most time with. Put a checkmark next to their name if their approximate size, age, race, gender, sexuality, income level, and any other traits you would like to evaluate are similar to yours. Are you exposed to diversity? We often trust our close circles of influence, which usually means less bias. Is your circle diverse enough to help you minimize your implicit bias?

Discrimination in Your Life

Not only is it essential to explore the level of diversity you’re exposed to, but it’s also important to notice patterns of discrimination around you. Are you actively aware of the implicit bias and the people around you experience? Make a list of times you have seen or experienced implicit bias, especially in your school, workplace, or anywhere else you spend a lot of time. It’s important to note that fatphobic discrimination can be intrapersonal, interpersonal, or institutional. Try to classify your list to hold a deeper understanding of the levels.

There is always something new to learn, and that’s why practice doesn’t make perfect. However, the more you expose yourself to something and practice it, the more the neuronal connections associated with that idea will strengthen. Practice leads to progress no matter how old the brain is or how long between the first firing and the second. You need to be intentional, consistent, and flexible to practice any skill efficiently. It takes hard work to dump your implicit biases and replace them with new ideas. Work on being open to new ideas, and don’t give up. This process lasts a lifetime, and it will always be worth the effort.