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The words used to refer to weight and individuals with large bodies can be used to reinforce weight stigma. Given that most previous research has examined preferred terminology within homogenous groups, this research sought to examine terminology preferences across populations. This paper reports on data gathered with the general public, family physicians, and obesity researchers/practitioners. Participants were asked about the words they commonly: (1) used to refer to people with large bodies (general public); (2) heard in their professional contexts (physicians and obesity specialists); and (3) perceived to be the most socially or professionally acceptable (all samples). Similarities and differences were evident between samples, especially related to weight-related clinical terms, the word fat, and behavioral stereotypes. The results provide some clarity into the differences between populations and highlight the need to incorporate use of strategies that may move beyond person-first language to humanize research and clinical practice with people with large bodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Weight bias is a widespread and persistent form of oppression that adversely impacts the lives of individuals with obesity in many areas of society. In this paper, we discuss the implications of weight bias as a social justice issue for counsellor education and practice. We provide recommendations for professional education, including the need to examine social location, knowledge, assumptions, and biases about weight and individuals with obesity. We also provide recommendations related to advocacy for individuals with obesity in practice.

Reviews a collaborative process established at the University of Calgary in the earliest stages of strategic planning and maintained throughout undergraduate curriculum redesign and implementation. Offers some lessons learned by the change agents operating within a reluctant environment, including: start with serious self-reflection, understand the change context, and balance passion for change with enlightened self-interest. (EV)

The present article explores the hypothesis that gambling might serve a justice-seeking function for some people, as gambling might offer a means to pursuing desirable outcomes that people feel they deserve but might be unable or unwilling to attain through conventional means. In Study 1, across two separate samples, self-reports of personal relative deprivation predict problem gambling and gambling urges over and above relevant control variables. In Study 2, the authors manipulate personal relative deprivation by informing participants that they have either less or more discretionary income than 'similar others.' They then give participants $20 and the opportunity to gamble. The results show that a greater percentage of participants who are 'relatively deprived' (vs. 'not relatively deprived') opt to gamble. Two manipulation validation studies demonstrate that the 'relatively deprived' participants are preoccupied with justice during a modified Stroop task and feel resentful. Implications for understanding why people gamble are discussed. Keywords: gambling; gambling urges; problem gambling; personal relative deprivation; justice motivation; belief in a just world

Deciding that negative experiences are punishment for prior misdeeds, even when plausible causal links are missing, is immanent justice (IJ) reasoning (Piaget, 1932/1965). Three studies examined a just world theory analysis of IJ reasoning in adults (Lerneg, 1980). Studies 1 and 2 varied the valence of a target person's behavior prior to them experiencing an unrelated negative (car accident, Study 1) or positive (lottery win, Study 2) outcome. Participants viewed the outcomes as the result of prior behavior most when they fit deservingness expectations (good person won the lottery, bad person injured in automobile accident), suggesting that just world concerns influenced IJ reasoning. The lottery-winning finding (Study 2) also extends IJ reasoning to positive experiences. A third study found that a manipulation of just world threat in one context (prolonged or ended suffering of an HIV victim) influenced IJ responses in a subsequent unrelated context (automobile accident scenario). Keywords: belief in a just world; justice motivation; immanent justice; deservingness; moral reasoning

Forgiveness, when thought of as an unsolicited gift, may increase the perceived debt of the transgressor to the victim whereas retribution should reduce it. Male undergraduates participated in a study designed to test this equity interpretation of forgiveness and retribution. Participants were induced to break a piece of electronic equipment during an ostensible memory study; the reaction of the experimenter served as the experimental manipulation. Participants experienced one of forgiveness, retribution, both retribution and forgiveness, or neither, and were then asked to comply with a request from the experimenter as an indirect measure of perceived inequity. Consistent with an equity analysis, a planned contrast analysis indicated that forgiveness alone yielded the most compliance and retribution yielded the least compliance.

Third-party observers (N = 123) learned about a layoff from a newspaper article developed for this study. Two aspects of the layoff procedure were manipulated in the article: (a) the level of input (voice) by layoff victims in the layoff procedure and (b) how the layoff was communicated to the victims. Both variables predicted observers' perceptions of the procedural justice of the layoff. Victim derogation was positively related to observers' procedural fairness of the layoff. Victim derogation also moderated the relationship between the justice manipulations and fairness. Procedural fairness predicted observers' behavioral intentions both as a customer and potential employee.

People who have experienced a traumatic life event may blame themselves, in part, because they perceive that they could have avoided the event. A study of respondents with spinal cord injuries shows that their causal attributions for the event are distinguishable from their perceptions of avoidability, the latter frequently focusing on mutable aspects of their own behavior. Respondents with spinal cord injuries and trained raters attributed the same degree of causal significance to the respondent but differed in their assignment of blame: Respondents assumed more personal blame than raters gave them. Regression analyses suggest that a significant portion of respondents' self-blame can be attributed to their self-implicating perceptions of avoidability. The degree to which respondents believed that they could have avoided their accident predicted self blame even after controlling for their causal attributions for the event. Implications for the study of self-blame and perceived avoidability are discussed.

Drawing on theory from the literatures both on close relationships and on stress and coping, the present study attempts to enhance our understanding of the ways women cope with physical and emotional abuse while remaining with their abusive partners. Women who had experienced conflict and/or violence in a close relationship with a man were recruited through public service announcements. One hundred and thirty women (78.3% response rate) returned completed questionnaires assessing several variables, including characteristics of the abuse, positive aspects of their relationships, the use of downward comparisons, and attributions for positive behaviors and for the abuse. Forty-four (34.4%) women were still involved in the abusive relationship, while 86 (65.6%) were no longer involved with their abusive partner. Results of a discriminant function analysis suggest that women who remain with abusive partners appear to employ cognitive strategies that help them perceive their relationship in a positive light. For women still involved with their abusive partners, this positive relationship appraisal is unrelated to whether or not they have ever left their partners in the past. Moreover, it is unrelated to the frequency of moderate or severe physical abuse, but appears less likely the more frequently verbal abuse is experienced. In addition, women still involved with their abusive partners are not differentiated from those no longer involved in terms of their level of psychosocial adjustment. Our results suggest that it may be useful to adopt a stress and coping perspective and to view abusive relationships as a special class of close relationships in order to more fully understand the reasons why women may remain with their abusive partners.