Weight Salience and Cognitive Reflection among African Americans: Insights from A Randomized Field Experiment

Last registered on November 03, 2025

View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Weight Salience and Cognitive Reflection among African Americans: Insights from A Randomized Field Experiment

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0017107

Initial registration date

October 31, 2025

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published

November 03, 2025, 10:02 AM EST

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Country

United States of America

Region

Primary Investigator

Name

Hieu Nguyen

Affiliation

Southwestern University

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status

In development

Start date

2025-11-05

End date

2025-12-01

Keywords

Behavior, Education, Labor

Additional Keywords

JEL code(s)

Secondary IDs

Prior work

This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.

Abstract

Amid escalating concerns about the obesity epidemic in the United States, ample research has shown that obesity disproportionately affects the African American community. In this field experiment, I will examine a possible nexus between body weight self-awareness and critical thinking by studying whether, and how, exogenous changes in weight salience lower performance on the classical Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT) in psychology and behavioral science. Recruited through Prolific, a sample consisting 100% ofAfrican American adults will be randomly split into two groups, with one performing a weight-salient reflective writing task (treatment group) and the other doing a neutrally toned reading comprehension task (control group), prior to completing the CRT task. The results of this study will reveal how Blacks' cognitive performance responds to external signals about the body weight, and inform employment screening and related policymaking in real-life health and health care settings.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Nguyen, Hieu. 2025. "Weight Salience and Cognitive Reflection among African Americans: Insights from A Randomized Field Experiment." AEA RCT Registry. November 03. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.17107-1.0

Sponsors & Partners

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

Treatment (T): Weight Salience.
Participants in this group will be asked to share how body weight or shape affects their everyday activity and/or relationships. This writing task is open-ended, neutrally toned, and deliberately uses non-judgmental language.

Control (C): Neutral Reading.
Participants in this group will not be asked to write anything, but instead requested to read a short paragraph completely unrelated to obesity or the body weight.

Intervention (Hidden)

Intervention Start Date

2025-11-05

Intervention End Date

2025-12-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

The total number of CRT items answered correctly (0-4)

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Simple sum of correctly answered items out of four standard items.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

1. Salience slider (0-10): immediate weight salience (the extent to which the participant is currently thinking about weight).
2. Standardized CRT score (z-score based off of the primary outcome computed above).
3. Writing length: character count of the writing prompt (treatment only) for manipulation fidelity; not used to define compliance.

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

This is a one-shot online survey experiment with two arms (Treatment vs. Control). Randomization occurs at the individual level with equal probability using Qualtrics. A simple flowchart is provided below:

Simple demographic questionnaire (including questions about height and weight) --> Randomization (T-Writing; C-Reading) --> All participants then answer a weight-salience question (slider) and complete the CRT.

Experimental Design Details

Randomization Method

Done using Qualtrics randomizer.

Randomization Unit

Individual

Was the treatment clustered?

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

200-600 individuals.

Sample size: planned number of observations

200-600 observations.

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

T: 100-300
C: 100-300

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

Main: OLS ITT estimate Secondary: IV 2SLS using treatment as instrument Covariates: age, sex at birth, BMI, perceived weight Two-sided α = 0.05; Robust SEs Here are my two power estimates: 80% power at Cohen’s d = 0.396 with n = 100 per arm (α = 0.05). Assuming SD(CRT) ≈1.2, I have an MDE of ≈ 0.48 CRT points. 80% power at Cohen’s d = 0.229 with n = 300 per arm (α = 0.05). Assuming SD(CRT) ≈ 1.2, I have an MDE of ≈ 0.27 CRT points (on the 0–4 scale).

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB