Psychologist: Minorities Are Obese Because of Racism 9/8/14 via National Review

[*GG*]

A study by Rutgers University – Newark claims that minorities are obese because racial microaggressions cause them to eat fast food and avoid exercise.

“When you are exposed to negative stereotypes, you may gravitate more toward unhealthy foods as opposed to healthy foods,” said Luis Rivera, the experimental social psychologist who conducted the study.

“You may have a less positive attitude toward watching your carbs or cutting back on fast food, and toward working out and exercising,” he explained.

cont'd

http://www.nationalreview.com/artic...ties-are-obese-because-racism-katherine-timpf

http://www.thewestwire.com/rutgers-...tes-obesity-rates-among-minorities-to-racism/

So does this fit under phsychobabble studies also?

GG

 

[alex3619]

Its quite possibly babble, these kinds of studies are frequently at risk of bias or poor methodology, but the issue is how the study is conducted and under what assumptions. So it might be right, wrong, partly right, or babble. Its hard to even begin to decide without a full paper.

However the media like to sensationalize, and sometimes get it wrong. The range could be anywhere from complete media hype to serious journalistic misunderstanding. Misunderstanding goes from the range of getting it wrong, to mis-evaluating the impact, which might be even worse or non-existent or anywhere in between. Vigilance is necessary, but we also cannot presume its necessarily wrong.

The thing is the various factors looked at are probably real, including negative stereotypes. Its the causation issue that is in question.

However obesity is a real tough research topic. So very many factors are involved. Claiming one factor has primacy is very unlikely to be right. Though if I were to name the one I think most responsible, its bad government advice on diet going back to the 70s. Number two would be over processing of food, and number three would be environmental factors. Those are just my hunches though, not anything like what we need with sound science.