(PSYS 499) by Haley Armstrong Thesis Advis

46 Pages·2015·17.39 MB·English

Attire Bias: The Effects of Clothing on Perceptions of Group Members
An Honors Thesis (PSYS 499)
by
Haley Armstrong
Thesis Advisor
Dr. Mary Kite
Ball State University

Muncie, Indiana

April 2013

Expected Date of Graduation

May 2013
Abstract
This study sought to find the spectrum of biases and judgments that are made through the
perception of dress. Participants from a Midwestern university rated a group and its leader on
levels of energy, knowledge, friendliness and socio-economic status. The leader's dress style
varied by condition as either professional or causal. Results did not indicate that judgments
varied as a function of attire; however, exploratory analyses did find a relationship between age
and judgment of the target's energy level, knowledge level and leadership ability. Younger
participants viewed the leader more positively regardless of her style ofdress. Limitations are
discussed and suggestions for modification of the current study for future research are provided.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Dr. Mary Kite for advising me through this project. Her guidance and
knowledge cannot be repaid. Her assistance with this year-long thesis only represents a very
small fraction of the tremendous support she gave to me during my four years as a student at Ball
State University.
I would like to thank Dr. Thomas Holtgraves for his guidance through this project. I appreciate
the hours of reading put towards this project.
I would like to thank my classmates Carin Smith, Kaitlin Pickett, and Alex Kuka for their
suggestions and critiques regarding this thesis as well. Teamwork never fails- thank you for
being my teammate.
IRBNet Board Action https:llbl2prd051 O.outlook.com/owal?ae=ltem&t=IPM.N ote&id= ...
IRBNet Board Action
Chris Mangelli [[email protected]]
Sent:Friday, November 30, 2012 6:45 PM
To: Armstrong, Haley; Kite, Mary
Please note that Ball State University IRB has taken the following action on

IRBNet :

Project Title: [395465-1 ) Evaluations of Interactions Among Group Members

Principal Investigator: Haley Armstrong

Submission Type: New Project

Date Submitted: November 28, 2012

Action: APPROVED

Effective Date: November 30, 2012

Review Type: Exempt Review

Should you have any questions you may contact Chris Mangelli at

cmmangelli@bsu .edu.

Thank you,

The IRBNet Support Team

WWV-!. irbnet. org
I of I 41l 8/2013 8:34 AM
IRBNet Board Document Published https://b12prdOSI O.outlook.com/owal?ae=Item&t=IPM.Note&id= ...
IRBNet Board Document Published
Chris Mangelli [[email protected]]
Sent:Friday, November 30, 2012 6:45 PM
To: Kite, Mary; Armstrong, Haley
Please note that Ball State University IRB has published the fol l owing Board

Document on IRBNet:

Project Title : [395465-1] Evaluations of Interactions Among Group Members

Principal Investigator : Haley Armstrong

Submission Type: New Proj e ct

Date Submitted: November 28, 2012

Document Type: Exempt Letter

Document Description: Exempt Letter

Publ ish Date: November 30 , 2012

Should you have any questions you may contact Chris Mangelli at

cmmangell i @bsu . edu.

Thank you ,

The IRBNet Support Team

www.irbne .org

I of 1 4118/20138:34 AM
CIT] Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative
Social & Behavioral Research - Basic/Refresher Curriculum Completion

Report

Printed on 2/4/2013

Learner: Haley Armstrong (username: harmstrong 17)
Institution: Ball State University
Contact Information Department: Psychological Science
Email: [email protected]
Social & Behavioral Research - Basic/Refresher: Choose this group to satisfy
CITI training requirements for Investigators and staff involved primarily in
SociallBehavioral Research with human subjects.
Stage 1. Basic Course Passed on 07/19/12 (Ref # 7910690)
I Date
Required Modules iCompleted Score
=-
Belmont Report andcmCourse Introductii~--=--- - r- 06/05~~'3/~ (67%)
Students in Research 06/05/12 j9/1 0 (90%)
- -- - - - --- - - -- - - ---
History and Ethical Principles - SBR 06/07/12 14/4 (100%)
Det~g Resea~ch with Human Subjects - SBR - I 06/20/12 1415 (80%)
The RegulatiOns and The Social and Behavioral 06/20/12 14/5 (80%)
Sciences - SBR
Assessing Risk in Social and Behavioral Sciences - SBR 06/22/12 15/5 (100%)
Informed Consent - SBR 07/08/12 515 (100%)
----- -
Privacy and Confidentiality - SBR 07/08/12 5/5 (100%)1
-
- r- I
IResearc~~th P~isoners - SB_R_ _ f 07/0811- 2 ~/4 (100%)1
Research with Children - SBR 07/08/12 214 (50%)
- - - - - ------
Research in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools - 07/19/12 414 (100%)
SBR
-- ---- -- -
-Int-erna-tio-nal Research- --SBR I 07/19/12 13/3 (100%)
Internet Research - SBR 07/19/12 414 (100%)
Research and HIPAA Privacy Protections 07/19/12 115 (20%)
I-­
Vulnerable Subjects - Research Involving 07/19/12 414 (100%)
WorkerslEmployees
._ - -­
Conflicts of Interest in Research Involving Human 07/19/12 315 (60%)
Subjects
- -- - .­
Unanticipated Problems and Reporting Requirements in 07/19/12 313 (100%)
Social and Behavioral Research I
- -- - -
I
Ball State University 07/19/12 no quiz
For this Completion Report to be valid, the learner listed above must be
affiliated with a CITI participating institution. Falsified information and
I 01' 2 2/4:'20 13 9:26 AM
unauthorized use of the CITI course site is unethical, and may be
considered scientific misconduct by your institution.
Paul Braunschweiger PhD.
Professor, University of Miami
Director Office of Research Education
CITI Course Coordinator
Return
201'2
2/4i2013 9:26 AM
Running head: EVALUATIONS OF INTERACTIONS AMONG GROUP MEMBERS
Attire Bias: The Effects of Clothing on Perceptions of Group Members

Haley M. Armstrong

Ball State University
EVALUATIONS OF INTERACTIONS AMONG GROUP MEMBERS 2
Abstract
This study sought to find the spectrum of biases and judgments that are made through the perception
of dress. Participants from a Midwestern university rated a group and its leader on levels of energy,
knowledge, friendliness and socio-economic status. The leader's dress style varied by condition as
either professional or causal. Results did not indicate that judgments varied as a function of attire;
however, exploratory analyses did find a relationship between age and judgment of the target's
energy level, knowledge level and leadership ability. Younger participants viewed the leader more
positively regardless of her style of dress. Limitations are discussed and suggestions for modification
of the current study for future research are provided.
EVALUATIONS OF INTERACTIONS AMONG GROUP MEMBERS 3
Attire Bias: The Effects of Clothing on Perceptions of Group Members
The consequences of appearance in Western culture are circumstanced by simple
judgment from the general public. Judgments of others' physical appearance are based on
mUltiple stereotypes and schemas associated with social presentation. Perceptions based on
physical appearance occur simply, almost instinctually, yet at the same time are based on socially
constructed ideas about what is appropriate for people from different backgrounds and in
different social settings. People understand that outer appearance influences views of their own
character, and therefore adapt their outer appearance to communicate messages about their
personality. Clothing is one seemingly controllable alteration people can make to their
appearance. Although clothing choice might simply be a result of clean laundry, it ultimately
serves as an available tool to categorize persons into personality types and attitudes.
The Categorization Process
In order to understand how others are judged, it is important to grasp how those
judgments begin to form. The perceiver's first step is to mentally place people into groups
through categorization. Categorization is a process during which people are identified through
physical characteristics as a member of some socially constructed group of people, sharing a
commonality in identified traits (Fiske, Neuberg, Beattie & Milberg, 1987). Categories form so
that people can more easily and swiftly make sense of the world around them. The most basic
physical attributes that become social constructs are age, gender, and race (Macrae &
Bodenhausen, 2000). The process of putting people into such basic categories happens very
quickly and unconsciously. In the amount of time it takes to recognize a vague object, the
specificity of its features is already nearly completely determined. For example, Jacques and
Rossion (2006) posit that the time it takes to recognize an individual face amongst other faces