Body Language changes when dealing with the overweight or obese

Body language and Obesity. Obesity rates in adults rose in 23 states and more than 1 in 4 adults in 31 states are obese with Mississippi in the lead for adults according to Trust for America's Health quoted in USA today. The report also said that Medicare spends 1,400 to 6,000 dollars more a year on health care for an obese senior. There is quite a long list of research on how people discriminate against people based on their weight.There is body language research on nonverbal behaviors of store clerks dealing with overweight shoppers. "Sales clerks tend to subtly discriminate against overweight shoppers but treat them more favorably if they perceive that the individual is trying to lose weight, according to a study by Rice University researchers. (www.news-medical.net) The research found that, "Based on data from interactions in 152 stores in a large mall, the researchers found greater levels of interpersonal discrimination directed toward obese shoppers than toward average weight shoppers. The findings were based on the observers' and customers' reports of the sales clerks' eye contact, friendliness, rudeness, smile, premature ending of the interaction, length of interaction time, and negative language and tone. Almost three-fourths of the sales clerks were women." This again shows the difference in body language and interpersonal behaviors due to attractiveness or perceived lack of attractiveness.