Effects of Appropriate and Inappropriate Attire on Attributions of Personal Dispositions

To test the hypothesis that an inappropriately dressed interviewee would receive more extreme and more confident trait ratings than an appropriately dressed interviewee, subjects viewed a videotape of a student being interviewed for a summer job. For one interview, the student wore a suit; for the other interview, the same student wore overalls. For half of the subjects, the interview was described as one for an orientation adviser. For the other half, the interview was described as one for a groundskeeper. In a 2 x 2 design (job interview by clothing), there were two appropriate cells (orientation adviser: suit and groundskeeper: overalls) and two inappropriate cells (orientation adviser: overalls and groundskeeper: suit). After viewing the videotape subjects rated the interviewee on 18 personality traits and indicated their confidence in each rating. Subjects did not differentiate between the appropriately and inappropriately dressed interviewee with regard to extremity of trait ratings. However, subjects did find a reason for the inappropriate attire. The inappropriately dressed interviewee for the groundskeeper job (suit) was judged as having less choice in deciding what to wear. The inappropriately dressed interviewee for the orientation adviser job (overalls) was judged as less interested in being hired and with less confidence. When dressed in a suit (regardless of job interview), the interviewee received more positive ratings on several personality traits than when dressed in overalls.