In an experiment, men and women in adjoining rooms participated in “get acquainted” conversations over an intercom system. Before the conversations took place, the men were shown a photograph of the woman who was supposedly their conversation partner. Some saw a photo of an obese woman while others saw a woman of normal weight, but the photos were unrelated to the women in the next room. Independent judges who had not seen any of the research participants listened to recordings of the conversations and made ratings of the women’s behavior and personality traits. The women who had talked to men who thought they were of normal weight were rated as more articulate, lively, interesting, exciting, and fun to be with than were the women whose conversation partner thought they were obese. These results suggested that when men thought they were talking to a woman of normal weight, they were more friendly and engaging than when talking to a woman who they thought was obese, and that these differences in the men’s behavior drew correspondingly different behavior from the women.

[Reference: Snyder, M., & Haugen, J. A. (1995). Why does behavioral confirmation occur? A functional perspective on the role of the target. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 21, 963–974.]