People's sense of power is often a more crucial determinant of their behavior than their actual level of power. In this paper, we suggest that individuals may perceive themselves as more powerful when anticipating interaction with a member of a stigmatized out-group than with a member of a nonstigmatized group. Normal weight participants (N = 77) expected to have an interaction with a target randomly identified as obese or thin. Participants were quicker to endorse words describing themselves in terms of traits associated with power when the target was obese than thin. They were also likely to expect greater interpersonal power, to endorse more negative attitudes towards obese people and to form more negative impressions, if the target was obese rather than thin. These findings suggest that a perception of empowerment is spontaneously activated prior to interaction with an obese person.
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