Public Health and Health Professions
Body Image and Stigma Lab (BIAS)
Led by Rebecca Pearl · Clinical and Health Psychology
What we study
The BIAS Lab studies how weight stigma affects health, using surveys, interviews, and clinical research to explore its psychological and physical impacts.
What working here is like
- Surveys & interviews
- Clinical
- Human participants
- Projects
- 2
- Papers
- 5
Current projects
Transdiagnostic Intervention to Reduce Internalized Health-Related Stigma
Developing interventions to reduce internalized stigma in individuals with obesity.
Genetic Attributions and Perceptions of Obesity
Examining how genetic beliefs influence perceptions of obesity and health.
Summaries are written by AI in plain language from public symposium abstracts and may be imperfect.
Recent papers, explained
- The relationship between internalized weight stigma and acceptance of weight-loss treatment resources
2026 · Journal of Health Psychology
Finds people with more weight stigma are more likely to accept weight-loss treatments.
- Feasibility and acceptability of a social media-based physical activity intervention for college women
2026 · Psychology of sport and exercise
Show 3 more papersShow fewer
- School-Focused Interventions for Weight-Based Victimization in Youth
2026 · Current Obesity Reports
- The role of shame and self-esteem in the relationship between internalized health-related stigma and mental health symptoms in adults with chronic health conditions
2026 · Journal of Health Psychology
Tests how shame and self-esteem affect mental health in people with chronic illnesses.
- Weight Bias Internalization Scale-Modified (WBIS-M)
2025 · Cambridge University Press eBooks
Develops a tool to measure how people internalize weight bias.
Plain-language summaries are AI-written and reviewed by us; check the paper for details.
How to reach out
Rebecca Pearl hasn't set up this page yet. You can also look them up in the UF directory (search “Rebecca Pearl”).