The Effects of Styles of Dress on First Impressions

Many factors influence our first impression. Previous research found that clothes may affect people’s perceptions and attitudes toward others. Even subtle changes in the style of dress would affect others’ perceptions on multiple characters such as success, trustworthiness and reliability (Howlett, Pine, & Orakcioglu, 2013). It has also been found that the amount of similarities between raters and the individuals rated were positively correlated with the rating scores of favorable characteristics (Michinov & Michinov, 2011).The current research aimed to investigate how a person’s own style of dress would influence their perception on attraction based on those individuals’ style of dress. It was predicted that individuals would perceive others with the same style of dress as more attractive than those in different style of dress. To test this, an online survey was sent to undergraduate students in Cedarville University via a campus-wide email. Five hundred and fifty two participants were randomly shown six pictures of a male and a female model wearing one of three styles of dress, including hipster, classy, or athletic. The faces of the model were blurred. Participants were then asked to evaluate models’ characteristics on a 7 point Likert scale based on the statements, such as “This person is attractive. One is strongly disagree and seven is strongly agree. At end of the survey, the participants were also asked to report their own daily style of dress. Factorial ANOVA Analyses were conducted to compare the differences of the rating scores on the male and female models in three different style of dress. There were significant interactions between participants’ own style of dress and the model’s dress. The preliminary results indicated that participants tended to view the models wearing the same style of dress as more attractive than those in different styles of dress. Overall, the current study provided new evidence that a person’s own style of dress might impact their perception of others’ attraction as related to dress style. Individuals tended to view others with the same style of dress as more attractive

Reverse Freshman Fifteen: A Qualitative Study

The decision to make lifestyle changes as related to health cannot be easily summarized as it involves multiple areas of an individual\u27s life. To examine some of these issues 15 college women who had intentionally experienced significant weight loss during their college years were questioned using a semi-structured interview technique. The interviews contained questions concerning how factors such as identity, motivation, habits, availability of resources, and priorities affected their conscious choice to pursue a healthier lifestyle. Transcriptions were coded and analyzed to determine commonalities in factors related to these lifestyle changes. Three common themes emerged which included having an active lifestyle in high school, more availability of resources in college, and an understanding of their family’s overall health. Most participants ranked their overall health as important to them, but it was not always rated a top priority