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108
344

 

CLOTHING ATTRACTIVENESS AND PERSONAL
ATTRACTIVENESS RELATED TO SOCIAL ACCEPTANCE OF
ADOLESCENT BOYS AND GIRLS

Thesis for the Degree of M. A.
MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
LOIS ANN FLORKEY
1976

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ABSTRACT

CLOTHING ATTRACTIVENESS AND PERSONAL ATTRACTIVENESS
RELATED TO SOCIAL ACCEPTANCE OF
ADOLESCENT BOYS AND GIRLS

by Lois Ann Florkey

The purpose of this study was to establish
associations between clothing attractiveness and personal
attractiveness and social acceptance of high school boys
and girls. Positive associations were hypothesized
between clothing attractiveness and personal attractive-
ness and the five measures of social acceptance: presi-
dency, officerships, number of organizations joined, social
participation and scholastic standing.

A pretest was used to select and determine the
most reliable medium and the most reliable and valid
observers to use for the data collection. The six
observers rated a movie film of 241 subjects made during
the collection of the data for Michigan Project 1020 in
1968. Each subject was rated on the attractiveness of
his or her clothing and personal attractiveness. The
measures for clothing attractiveness and personal attrac-

tiveness were unique to the present study while the

Lois Ann Florkey

five measures of social acceptance were from the larger
project at Michigan State University.

Pearson product—moment correlations were the
major statistical analysis used in the study to determine
ithe associations between the variables.

The results of the study showed that a positive
association existed between clothing attractiveness and
personal attractiveness. Social participation and
number of organizations joined were also positively
associated to clothing attractiveness and personal
attractiveness for both boys and girls. A positive
association between scholastic standing and clothing
attractivenss existed for boys and not for girls. How-
ever, scholastic standing was positively associated to
personal attractiveness for both boys and girls. Officer-
ship was positively associated to girls' clothing attrac-
tiveness and no significant associations were found for
girls' personal attractiveness or boys' clothing
attractiveness and personal attractiveness. No signifi—
cant associations were found between presidency and
clothing attractiveness or personal attractiveness for

both boys and girls.

CLOTHING ATTRACTIVENESS AND PERSONAL ATTRACTIVENESS
RELATED TO SOCIAL ACCEPTANCE OF

ADOLESCENT BOYS AND GIRLS
BY

Lois Ann Florkey

A THESIS

Submitted to
‘ Michigan State University
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of

MASTER OF ARTS
Department of Human Environment and Design

1976

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The writer wishes to express sincere apprecia-
tion to her advisor, Dr. Anna M. Creekmore, for her
counsel and guidance in directing this thesis; to the
members of her committee, Mrs. Ila Pokornowski, Ms.
Gretel Geist and Dr. Ann C. Slocum for their helpful
suggestions and cooperation; to Mary Andrews for her
assistance with the computer programming and statistical
analysis; to fellow researchers, Michelle Morganosky,
Nancy L. Thompson, and Elaine Pedersen for their in-
valuable assistance; and especially to her husband, Peter,
for his faith and patience during the completion of this

research project.

ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . . . . .

LIST OF
Chapter
I.

II.

III.

IV.

TABLES O O O O O O 0

INTRODUCTION . . . .
REVIEW OF LITERATURE . . .

Interpersonal Interaction and
Social Acceptance . . .
Personal Appearance and Social
Acceptance . . . . . .

Clothing . . . . . .

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM .

Definition of Terms
Hypothesis . . . . . .
Assumptions . . . . . .

PROCEDURE . . . . . . .

Selection of the Sample .
Selection of Measures .
Selection of Observers
Pretest Procedure . .
Collection of the Data
Method of Analysis . . .

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION . .

Descriptive Data . . .
Clothing Attractiveness and
Personal Attractiveness .
Clothing Attractiveness and
Social Acceptance . . .
Personal Attractiveness and
Social Acceptance . . .
Summary . . . . . . .

iii

Page

ii

13
16

16
17
19

20
20
21
23
24
25
30
31
31
33
33

38
41

Chapter Page
VI. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS . . . . . . . 42
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Implications of the Findings . . . . . 48
Recommendations . . . . . . . . . . 50
BIBLIOGRAPHY O O O O O O O O O I O O O 53
APPENDIX A 0 I O O O O O O O O O O O 56

APPENDIX B O O O O O O O O O O O O O 59

iv

TABLE

1.

LIST OF TABLES

Pretest raters' reliability using the
Hoyt r analysis . . . . . . . . .

Pretest raters' reliability using the
Hoyt r analysis on filmed subjects . . .

Significance of correlation coefficients
between error and actual raters of filmed
subjects on clothing attractiveness and
personal attractivenss . . . . . . .

Actual Range Mean and Standard Deviation
of Clothing attractiveness and personal
attractiveness for boys and girls . . .

Significance of the correlation coefficients
between clothing attractiveness and personal
attractiveness . . . . . . . . .

Significance of the correlation coefficients
between clothing attractiveness and partici—
pation in school activities . . . . .

Significance of the correlation coefficients
between personal attractiveness and partici-
pation in school activities . . . . .

Page

.26

27

28

32

34

35

39

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

When two people meet for the first time, each
one is generally influenced positively or negatively by
the other's appearance. In a group situation, the quality
or appeal of the newcomer's appearance may determine the
initial acceptance of that individual by the group. Over
a period of time, in addition to appearance, there may
be other less visible factors which influence the process
of acceptance. These are often, the desire for member-
ship in the group, shared values and backgrounds and
.similar attitudes and interests. Byrne, London, and
Reeves found that attitude similarity and dissimilarity
influenced the attraction process and hypothesized that
attraction towards a stranger was a joint function of

physical attractiveness and attitude similarity.1 Cannon,

 

1Byrne, D., London, 0., and Reeves, L., "The
Effect of Physical Attractiveness, Sex, and Attitude
Similarity on Interpersonal Attraction," Journal of
Personality, Vol. 36, No. 2, (1968), pp. 259-271.

 

 

1

Staples and Carlson found personal appearance to be a
significant factor in the social acceptance of adoles-
cents.1

In research literature, personal appearance has
often been defined in non-specific terms although some
investigators (Dion, Jones, Gerard, Hamid, and Smucker)
have looked at one or more components of appearance.2'3’4'5
These components inClude facial expressions, physical
attributes, clothing. Separately, each component
was found to affect individual assessments of others and,
depending on whether the characteristic was socially

approved or not, appeared to enhance or to diminish the

attraction process.

 

1Cannon, Kenneth, L., Staples, Ruth, and Carlson,
Irene, "Personal Appearance as a Factor in Social Accept-
ance," Journal of Home Economics, Vol. 44, No. 9, (Nov-
ember, 1952), pp. 710-713.

2Dion, K. K., "Physical Attractiveness and Evalua-
tion of Children's Transgressions," Journal of Personalit
and Social Psychology, Vol. 24, No. 2, (I972), pp. 207-213.
3Jones, Edward, E. and Gerard, Harold, B.,

Foundations of Social Psychology (New York: John Wiley
and Sons, Inc., 1967), p. 260.

4Hamid, Paul N., "Some Effects of Dress Cues on
Observation Accuracy,""Perceptual Estimate, and Impres-
sion Formation," Journal of Social Psychology, Vol. 86,
(1972). PP. 279-289.

5Smucker, Betty, "Conformity to and Awareness of
the Clothing Mode Related to the Peer Acceptance of
Adolescent Boys and Girls" (unpublished Master's Thesis,
Michigan State University, 1969).

Hurlock, Coleman, and Stone suggested that
appearance affected personal attraction and emphasized
its importance in establishing communication.l'263
Stone theorized that clothing, as part of appearance,
is an important prerequisite to verbal exchange between
individuals.4 The limited research, in which the effects
of clothing have been assessed, suggests the need for
additional investigations into the subject of clothing
as an important part of personal appearance.

The purpose of this study was to investigate
the associations which may exist between the attractive-
ness of an individual's clothing and his personal attrac-
tiveness and social acceptance as measured by presidency,
officerships, number of organizations joined, social
participation and scholastic standing. A positive re—
lationship between these variables would support the

theory that clothing has a strong influence in social

acceptance.

 

lHurlock, Elizabeth B., Child Develgpment (New
York: McGraw-Hill Company, Inc., 1956). PP. 476-479.

2Coleman, James S., The Adolescent Society
(United States: The Free Press, Corp., 1961), pp. 30-31.

‘ 3Stone, Gregory P., "Appearance and the Self,"
in Human Behavior and Social Processes. ed. Arnold M.
Rose.- (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1962), pp. 86-
127.

4Stone, Gregory, "Appearance and Self," pp. 86-
127.

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

An extensive amount of research literature has
been recorded which deals with the effect of personal
appearance on social interaction and group acceptance.
Citations from the pertinent literature also indicated
relationships between clothing attractiveness and per-
sonal attractiveness and social acceptance. The review
of literature is arranged in the following sections:

(1) Interpersonal Interaction and Social Acceptance, (2)

Personal Appearance and Social Interaction, (3) Clothing.

Interpersonal Interaction and Social Acceptance

 

Verbal and non-verbal exchange between individuals
is aided by visual cues observed and interpreted by the
individuals involved in the interpersonal interaction.
Interpretation of these cues in influenced by the
observer's background or by his attitude towards the
other individual. In addition, each person comes to the
interaction with a set of expectations which have de-

veloped from past experiences with others.1 Sherif

 

lSherif, Muzafer, The Psychology ofLSocial Norms
(New York: Harper and Row, 1966), Chapter IV.

 

4

stated that an individual's "focal point of experience"
serves as a guide in social interaction.1

According to Stone, appearance influences the
impressions individuals form of one another. He
theorized that clothing affected appearance and was
significant in the communication process, leading ulti-
mately to acceptance.2 Hamid studied the effect of
clothing cues on person perception: for females, physi-
cal attractiveness was largely determined by clothing
and make-up; observers of males, however, were not sensi-

tive to clothing cues.3

-During interaction, individuals evaluate others'
characteristics and decide whether they will accept
them. Appearance seems to be one way used by others to
evaluate the characteristics desired by the group.
People want to associate with those whom they View as
having shared common characteristics, although, Byrne

found, the feeling of similarity may be greater than the

actual similarity between individuals.4

 

1Sherif, Muzafer, Social Interaction (Chicago:
Aldine Publishing Company, 1967), Chapter VII.

2Stone, Gregory, "Appearance and Self" pp. 86-

127.

3Hamid, Paul N., "Changes in Person Perception
As A Function of Dress," Perceptual and Motor Skills,
V01. 29' NO. 1’ (1969), pp. 191-1940

4Byrne, Donn, "Attitudes and Attraction," in
Advances in Experimental Social Psychology (Leonard
Berkowitz, ed.) Vol. 4, (1969), pp. 35-89.

Studies have been conducted testing for relation-
ships between popularity1 and social acceptancez'3 in
relationship to the aspects of the adolescent's social
environment. In the formal school structure, leadership,
participation and membership in clubs, and scholastic

4’5 There-

standing may be an indication of acceptance.
fore, measures of acceptance for this study will include

these variables.

,Personal Appearance and Social Acceptance

 

Physical attractiveness or personal appearance has
become a p0pu1ar variable with psychologists in recent
years and it has been rather loosely defined by most
investigators. It has been measured differently in
almost every study, hence the related variables are

difficult to separate and define. A few variables such

 

1Coleman, The Adolescent Society p. 79.

2Smucker, "Conformity To and Awareness of The
Clothing Mode Related to The Peer Acceptance of Adoles-
cent Boys and Girls," p. 13.

3Bjorngaard, Arlene, "The Relationship of Social
Class and Social Acceptance to Clothing and Appearance
of a Selected Group of Ninth Grade Girls" (Unpublished
Master's Thesis, Michigan State University, 1962).

4Chapin, Francis 8., Experimental Designs in
Sociological Research Rev. Ed. (new York: Harper, 1947),
pp. 276-278.

 

5Johnson, Edward, "Student Ratings of Popularity
and Scholastic Ability of Their Peers and Actual Scho-
lastic Performances of Those Peers," Journal of Social
Psychology: Vol. 47, (1958), pp. 127-132.

 

as facial expressions, physical attributes and clothing
have been associated with the evaluation of individuals
by others. Personal appearance has been found to in-
fluence or alter the ways in which individuals accept
and participate in social situations.1'2’3
Several investigations have been reported which
deal with the associations of physical attractiveness
to social acceptance, interaction, and person percep-

C 4 C 0
tion. '5 Researchers such as Cav1or, Berscheid, Walster,

and Bohrnstedt have found significant associations

 

lRice, S. A., "Stereotypes: A Source of Error
in Judging Human Character," Journal of Personnel
Research, Vol. 5, no. 7, (1926T) PP. 268-273.

2Dion, Karen, Berscheid, Ellen, and walster,
Elaine, "What is Beautiful is Good," Journal of Personality
' and Social Psychology; Vol. 24, No. 3, (1972), pp. 285-290.

3Miller, Arthur, "Role of Physical Attractiveness
in Impression Formation," Psychonomic Science, Vol. 19,
No. 4, (May 25, 1970), pp. 241-243.

4Jones, Edward E., and Gerard, Harold B., Foun-
dations of Social Psychology, p. 260.

5Newcomb, T. M., The Aquaintance Process (New
York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1961), p. 227.

between the level of the evaluation of physical attrac-
tiveness and the degree to which an individual is
accepted by others.1'2

Apparently, the social standards for evaluation
of physical attractiveness and the association of
socially appropriate behavior with different levels of
attractiveness begin at an early age. Cavior and
Lombardi found that at approximately six years of age,
children begin to use the same or similar criteria for
judging physical attractiveness as do adults. Before
this age, children seem to have no socially universal
standards by which to judge others' physical attractive-
ness.3

Adurt'assessments of certain social behaviors

of children seem to be directly related to evaluation

of physical attractiveness. Unattractive children

 

1Cavior, Norman and Dokecki, Paul R., "Physical
Attractiveness, Perceived Attitude Similarity, and
Academic Achievement as Contributors to Interpersonal
Attraction among Adolescents," Developmental Psychology,
Vol. 9, No. 1, (1973) pp. 44-54.

2Berscheid, Ellen, Walster, Elaine, and
Bohrnstedt, George, "Body Image, Physical Appearance,
and Self-Esteem, " Psychology Today, Vol. 7, No. 6,
(November, 1973) pp. 119-131.

 

3Cavior, Norman and Lombardi, David A., "Deve-
lopmental Aspects of Judgement of Physical Attractive-
ness in Children," Developmental Psychology, Vol. 8,
No. l, (1973), pp. 67-71.

studied by Dion and Berscheid were viewed by their
peers and adults as being more anti-social than attrac-
tive children.1

It appears that adults expect attractive chil-
dren to follow the socially approved behavior pattern
and reward them well for doing so. The willingness of
an individual to follow the expectations of others may
be determined by his or her desire for social accep-
tance.2

Acceptance of individuals may be assisted by
the similarity or dissimilarity of their personal
appearance. Byrne, London, and Reeves found that atti-
tude similarity and dissimilarity influenced the attrac-
tion process.3 They hypothesized that attraction toward
a stranger was a joint function of attitude similarity
and physical attractiveness. However, Brickman in

Psychology Today, stated the more dissimilar one

 

lDion, K.K. and Berscheid, Ellen, "Physical
Attractiveness and Social Perception of Peers Among
Preschool Children" (unpublished paper).

2Hollander, Edwin P., Principles and Methods of
Social Psychology (New York: Oxfbrd University Press,
1967), p. 573.

 

3Byrne, D., London, 0. and Reeves, K., "The
Effect of Physical Attractiveness, Sex, and Attitude
Similarity on Interpersonal Attraction" pp. 259-271.

10

perceives another to be, the higher the probability that
one will like him or her.1

The effects of physical attractiveness often
accompany an individual into adulthood. In the profes-
sional areas or in educational opportunities, an indivi-
dual's physical attractiveness may be related to future
success or failure. Berscheid, Walster, and Campbell
found job opportunities or qualifications for advance-
ment may also depend on the level of physical attrac-
tiveness perceived by others.2

Physical attractiveness among criminals was
found to be negatively correlated to anti-social be-
havior in a study by Kurtzber, Safor and Cavior.3
Apparently, the less physically-attractive, young-adult
criminal acted out more anti-social characteristics than
the more attractive. Improving physical attractiveness
among certain unattractive prison inmates, led to suc-

cessful rehabilitation for more ex-convicts after leav-

ing prison. Social and vocational therapy, used along

 

1Brickman, Leonard, "Social Roles and Uniforms:
Clothes make the Person," Psychology Today, Vol. 7, No.
11, (April, 1974), pp. 602-664.

2Berscheid, Ellen, Walster, Elaine and Campbell,
Richard, "Grow Old Along With Me," (unpublished paper).

3Kurtzber, Richard L., Safor, Howard and Cavior,
Norman, "Surgical and Social Rehabilitation of Adult
Offenders," Proceedings 76th Annual Convention, APA,
(1968).

11

with improvement of physical attractiveness, was more
effective in rehabilitation than the therapy alone.

The evaluation of physical attractiveness has
been shown also to influence the acceptance of indivi-
duals in dating and choosing marriage partners.
Murstein investigated the relationship of physical “
attractiveness to both dating and marriage.1 Similar
levels of physical attractiveness occurred between both
dating and married couples and individuals with equal
levels of attractiveness were found to be more likely
to marry one another. Berscheid, Walster, and
Bohrnstedt investigated matching of physical attractive-
ness and found that individuals who marry more attrac-
tive partners than themselves tend to compensate in
other ways.2 Either they possess some special talent
or they may be able to offer some financial reward.

The foregoing resarch indicates that an indi-
vidual's level of personal attractiveness affects his
present and future life. Those who are observed as
unattractive may have difficulty participating in

social groups while attractive individuals may be

 

1Murstein, Bernard L”."Physical Attractiveness
and Marital Choice," Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, Vol. 22, No. 1, (April, 19727, pp. 8-12.

2Berscheid, Ellen, Walster, Elaine, and
Bohrnstedt, George, "Body Image, Physical Appearance,
and Self-Esteem," p. 131.

12

accepted by others and acquire social success more
easily. A good part of the assessment of others' per-
sonal attractiveness is made up of clothing and its
uses; therefore, clothing may be influential in the pro-
cess beyond the current understanding. A review of

recent research in clothing will support the concept.

13

Clothing

As a visual cue in interpersonal attraction,
clothing provides information to others about an indi-
vidual. It is said to supply cues as to the age, sex,
occupation, socio-economic status, interest, group
affiliation and mood of the wearer.

Clothing may also provide cues which lead to
acceptance by others. Cannon, Staples, and Carlson
found that girls' personal appearance was significantly
related to social acceptance during the junior and senior
high school period.1 Smucker found that awareness of
the clothing mode was positively related to the amount
of participation in the formal organizations of the high
school, but that no significant relationship existed be-
tween participation in school organizations and con-
formity to the clothing mode.2 Young, investigating the
relationships of peer acceptance, personal appearance
and clothing, reported that personal appearance was
positively related to peer acceptance for males and

slightly related for females. However, the coefficients

 

1Cannon, Kenneth L., Staples, Ruth, and Carlson,
Irene, "Personal Appearance as a Factor in Social
Acceptance," pp. 710-713.

2Smucker, "Conformity To and Awareness of the
Clothing Mode Related to the Peer Acceptance of Adoles-
cent Boys and Girls," pp. 33-51.

14

were very low and significance was mainly due to a
large number of subjects in the study.1

Certain personal characteristics are inferred
from the clothes that one wears. Hamid investigated the
use of clothing as a visual one and found that observers
rated the attractiveness of the individual according to
the clothing he or she wore.2 The four modes of dress
studied in the investigation were uniforms, work, casual,
and evening clothing. The subjects in evening clothes
were rated higher on attractiveness and no mention was
made of control of grooming or make-up as clothing modes
changed. Dress condition was found to have more effect
on male ratings than on female ratings of females. This
might indicate a sexual difference in the evaluation of
clothing by others.

Social status may also be communicated to others
by the individuals' clothing. Hoult investigated
clothing's influence on social status assigned to men

and he discovered that different styles of dress were

found to generate different types of social

 

1Young, Mary Jane, "The Relationship of Clothing
to Peer Acceptance and to Personal Appearance of Adoles-
cents," (Unpublished Master's Thesis, Michigan State
University, 1967), pp. 69-76.

2Hamid, Paul N., "Some Effects of Dress Cues on
Observational Accuracy, A Perceptual Estimate, and
Impression Formation," Journal of Social Psychology, Vol.
86, No. 2 (1972), pp. 279-289.

15

ratings.1 Later Douty also found that an association
existed between clothing worn and assignment of social
status for certain stimulus persons.2

People may also be judged on scholastic ability by
their clothing appearance. Johnson investigated this and
found: (1) A high positive relationship between how a
student is rated on scholastic performance by his peers
and how well that student actually performs. (2) A sig-
nificantly high agreement among student rankings of popu-
larity and scholastic performance of their peers and rank-
ings of those peers on actual scholastic performance.

Based on the literature, clothing appears to
have an effect on attractiveness of individuals. Ob-
servers evaluating these clothing and appearance cues
make decisions from them about individuals they see.
Attractive clothing may influence others to evaluate
individuals more favorably. Improving appearance through
the use of clothing could lead to more acceptance by

others and greater chances of success in life.

 

lHoult, T. F., "Experimental Measurement of
Clothing as a Factor in Some Social Ratings of Selected
American Men," American Sociological Review, Vol. 19,
No. 3, (1954). pp. 234-238.

2Douty, Helen 1., "Influence of Clothing on
Perception of Persons," J urnal f H me E i ,
Vol. 55, No. 3, (March, 1963). pp. 197-202.

3Johnson, Edward, "Student Ratings of Popularity
and Scholastic Ability of Their Peers and Actual Scho-
lastic Performances of Those Peers," pp. 127-132.

CHAPTER III

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The first objective of this study was to investi-
gate the associations between clothing attractiveness
and personal attractiveness of adolescent boys and
girls in the high school environment. Secondly, the
associations of clothing attractiveness and personal
attractiveness with presidency, officerships, organiza-
tional membership, social participation and scholastic

standing were investigated.

Definition of Terms
Personal attractiveness was defined as the appeal
of an individual to the viewer.

Clothing attractiveness was the aesthetic

 

quality of the image created by the clothing each indi-

vidual wore.

Social acceptance was determined in five ways:

 

l. Presidency of school organizations occurred
when an individual was elected to the presidency of a
school organization for the school year and was given a

weighting of one for each presidency.

16

17

2. Officerships of school organizations was the
election of an individual to an officership of a school
organization for the school year, including presidency.
Each post held by an individual was weighted one, includ-
ing presidency.

3. Social participation was the score resulting
from a summation of the weighted participation in school
organizations for the school year with a prestigious
weighting assigned to each organization.1

4. Number of organizations was the score re-
sulting from the frequency of memberships in school
organizations by an individual for the school year.

5. Scholastic standing was measured by the num-
ber of times an individual's name appeared on the high

school honor roll for the school year.

Hypotheses

 

The following hypotheses have been proposed
for this study:
I. .Clothing attractiveness will be positively asso-
ciated to personal attractiveness for both boys and

girls.

 

1Smucker, "Conformity To and Awareness of The
Clothing Mode Related to the Peer Acceptance of Adoles-
cent Boys and Girls," p. 19.

II.

III.

A.

18

Clothing Attractiveness

Clothing attractiveness will be positively asso-
ciated with election to the presidencies of
school organizations for both boys and girls.
Clothing attractiveness will be positively
associated to Officerships of school organiza-
tions for both boys and girls.

Clothing attractiveness will be positively
associated to social participation for both

boys and girls.

Clothing attractiveness will be positively
associated to the number of organizations joined
for both boys and girls.

Clothing attractiveness will be positively asso-
ciated with scholastic standing for both boys

and girls.

Personal Attractiveness

Personal attractiveness will be positively
associated with election to the presidencies of
school organizations for both boys and girls.
Personal attractiveness will be positively
associated to Officerships of school organiza-
tions for both boys and girls.

Personal attractiveness will be positively asso-
ciated to social participation for both boys

and girls.

19

D. Personal attractiveness will be positively
associated to the number of organizations
joined for both boys and girls.

E. Personal attractiveness will be positively
associated to scholastic standing for both

boys and girls.

Assumptions

 

The clothing worn on the day of filming was typical
of the student's wardrobe.

The use of film was most representative of true-to-
life evaluations.

The raters were able to view the firm objectively
because of similarity of characteristics shared
with the subjects on both clothing and personal
attractiveness.

The individuals used as experts from the Department
of Human Environment and Design at Michigan State
University were qualified to evaluate clothing
attractiveness because of their clothing and design
experience. They did not evaluate the subjects'

personal attractiveness.

CHAPTER IV

PROCEDURE

The procedure for this study encorporates some
procedures from an interregional research project at
Michigan State University.1 The information and measures
for presidency, officerships, social participation, num-
ber of organizations and scholastic standing were from
the data of that project. Measures for personal attrac-
tiveness and clothing attractiveness were unique to the
present study; therefore, the findings add additional

knowledge of the socio-psychological aspects of clothing.

Selection of the Sample

 

The entire sophomore class of a central Michigan
high school was chosen for the sample. The high school
was randomly selected from one of four possible schools
with the same general characteristics. Selection of the
high school was based on the following criteria: (1) an

enrollment of at least 100 boys and 100 girls; (2) one

 

lWashington Agricultural Experiment Station
Bulletin, Number 750, "The Relationship of Clothing to
the Personal and Social Acceptability of Adolescents,"
Michigan State University Study under the direction of
Anna M. Creekmore.

20

21

high school to serve the entire community to ensure a
range of socio-economic levels from both urban and rural
settings; (3) a dress code that did not require a uni-

form and allowed a certain amount of freedom.

Selection of the Measures

 

Five variables were chosen from the larger re-
search project at Michigan State University.1 These
variables and their measures represented the students'
involvement with others in School organizations and was
based on the idea that students who have been accepted
by their peers will become involved in school organiza-
tions. They include Officerships and presidency of
school organizations, social participation, the number of
organizational memberships, and scholastic standing
in school.

A student received a score of one for each
presidency held in a school organization. The highest
possible score for presidency was three. For holding
any office in a school organization including presidency,
each student received a score for each officership held.
The range of scores was zero to three, a score of one
for each office held. The social participation score

for an organizational membership and office(s) held was

 

1"The Relationship of Clothing To The Personal
and Social Acceptability of Adolescents," p. 4.

22

based on weightings according to the following: member
(1), committee member (2), committee chairman (3),
elected officer (4), president (5). The weighted scores
for participation in each club were multiplied by the
club's prestige weighting, then added together for the
student's social participation score. The number of
organizations each student belonged to was tallied for
each school year and a score was established for each
year. For scholastic standing, a score was deve10ped
for each student by adding the number of times his or
her name appeared on the school honor roll.

The hypotheses were formulated to pertain only
to the subjects' sophomore year in high school, since
the clothing attractiveness and personal attractiveness
measure were only from that time period. However,
additional information for each subject's participation
over the four high school years was available for
analysis. The number of presidencies, officerships,
social participation, number of organizations joined and
scholastic standing were tallied separately for the
four—year variables. The results of the four-year
analysis were used to support the associations among

the variables for the sophomore year only (Appendix A).

23

Description of Clothing AttractiveneSS'and Personal
Attractiveness Measures

 

For clothing attractiveness, a rating scale of
one to 10 was arbitrarily chosen, one indicated a low
level of attractiveness for the subject and 10 a high
level. Raters assigned scores which reflected their
estimate of the level of each subject's clothing
attractiveness. An average was computed from the indi-
vidual ratings of the six observers and was used in the
statistical analysis.

For personal attractiveness, again, a scale of
from one to 10 was also chosen against which each sub-
ject was rated; one indicated a low level of personal
attractiveness and 10 a high level. Raters assigned
scores to each subject and the average of these ratings
was used in the statistical analysis as the subject's

personal attractiveness score.

Selection of the Observers
Since the investigator wanted raters who were
from similar backgrounds as the subjects, Michigan State
University students from one of the four cities pre-
viously selected as possible for the larger research
project were chosen. The age range from 18 to 22 years
was selected because the raters would have been the age

of the subjects when the film was made.

24

Letters were sent to 81 potential raters listed
in the Michigan State University phone directory asking
their help with a research project. A follow-up letter
was sent out three months later; however, because of
conflicts in the raters' schedules with the times of
the meetings only 8 possible raters were available for
the pretest procedure (Appendix B).

The raters included four male and four female
Michigan State University students. Four of the raters,
two males and two females were called "knowing raters"
because they had attended the same high school as the
subjects and may have had previous personal contact
with them. The other four raters, two male and two
females were called "unknowing raters" because they
had not had previous contact with the subjects. The
total number of raters was eight, two knowing female
raters, two knowing male raters, two unknowing female
raters, and two unknowing male raters. None of the

raters were home economics majors.

Pretest Procedure

 

The purpose of the pretest was to establish the
reliability and validity of the student raters and to
examine any differences between sex of raters and know-
ing and not knowing the subjects. Also, the pretest was

used to investigate the differences between the use of

25

color photographs, color slides and color movie for use
in the evaluations of subjects. This procedure would
establish, statistically, the best type of medium to
use in the actual data collection and which raters were

most reliable.

Collection of the Pretest Data

The eight raters were asked to evaluate 14 sub-
jects on clothing attractiveness and personal attractive-
ness. Three different types of media were used for the
procedure in the following order: color photographs,
color slides, and a 16 millimeter color movie of the
subjects. The 14 subjects were randomly grouped for each
type of media to prevent memorization by the raters.
The raters were instructed to evaluate the subjects on
personal attractiveness with first the photographs,
second the slides, and third the movie. Next, they were
instructed to start again with photographs and evaluate
the subjects on clothing attractiveness. Statistical
analysis was completed on the data and the Hoyt r was
used to establish reliability across subjects and across
raters (Table l). The amount of time allowed for each
evaluation was the same for each medium.

The male raters were found to be statistically
slightly more reliable than the female raters, although

they were quite similar. The knowing raters were

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26

 

 

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27

definitely more reliable statistically than the un-
knowing raters (Table l).

The results of the analysis supported the use of
the movie film for the data collection and two cf the
unknowing female raters were eliminated from the actual

data collection because of unreliability (Table 2).

Table 2. Pretest raters' reliability using the Hoyt r

analysis on filmed subjects.

 

 

 

 

Attractiveness
Raters Clothing Personal
Male (n=4) .79 .84
Female (n=2) .95 - .00a
Knowing (n=4) .93 .82
;Unknowing (n=2) .00a .67
Total (n=6) .87 .86

 

a .
no agreement across subjects or raters

During the pretest and data collection procedure,
an error was made in computing ratings. A knowing
female rater was substituted inadvertantly for the
selected female rater. New statistical analysis was
reported using the Pearson-product moment correlation

for the significance of similarity between the error and

28

actual raters (Table 3). The results indicate that the
two raters were statistically similar although less strong
associations for clothing attractiveness were found as

a result of the error.

Table 3. Significance of correlation coefficients
between error and actual raters of filmed
subjects on clothing attractiveness and per-

sonal attractiveness.

 

 

 

 

Attractiveness
Raters Clothing Personal
Error knowing
female .84** .70**
ACtual knowing
female .63** .65**
Total including
error female .53* .63*
Total including
actual female .54* .54*

 

*significant at .05

**significant at .01

Collection of the Data
The collection of the data took place over a two
week interval, with the raters meeting twice each week

in a large lecture hall at the College of Human Ecology.

29

Raters were shown the 16 millimeter color film taken of
the subjects in 1968. Because the film was in two reels
the subjects were divided approximately in half with the
group one rated first on personal attractiveness and,
one week later on clothing attractiveness. Group two
was rated on clothing attractiveness three days after
group one was rated on personal attractiveness and one
week later on personal attractiveness.

The raters scored approximately 25 subjects and
rested for approximately 5 minutes before completing
anOther set of subjects. Approximately 125 subjects
were rated per session. Each subject was on the screen
for approximately 8 seconds.

After the last of four rating sessions, the
raters were asked to complete a questionnaire on the
collection procedure. This was done to obtain feedback
on the procedure from the raters. The'hajority of the
raters felt the directions were clear and the rating
scale was easy to use during the actual data collection
(Appendix B).

DefinitiOn of Clothing
AttractiVeness and
Personal‘AttraCtiveness

Before the pretest procedure and data collection,
the raters were given brief explanations of clothing
attractiveness and personal attractiveness. This was

done to give each rater a general framework for rating

30

for the subjects. No examples of high or low clothing

or personal attractiveness were given.

Collection of Expert Data '

 

To test the validity of the student raters to
recognize attractiveness in clothing, two members of the
Department of Human Environment and Design were asked
to View the film and rate each subject on clothing
attractiveness. The results from the experts were used
to compute a mean score for each subject on clothing
attractiveness. Inter—expert reliability using the
Hoyt r, statistical treatment was .87. The correlation
coefficient between the raters and experts rating of
clothing attractiveness was .39 significant at the .01

level.

Method of Analysis

Data were coded and punched on IBM cards for
use in computer analysis. The CISSR program CORREL was
used to compute the Pearson product-moment correlation
coefficient for associations between variables. This
particular program was chosen for analysis because it
adjusted for missing or unusable data.

For this study, a probability of .05 or less
was accepted as a statistical indication that an

association did not occur by chance.

CHAPTER'V

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

The hypotheses were formulated to investigate
the associations between clothing attractiveness and
personal attractiveness along with social participation,
various types of memberships in high school organizations
and scholastic standing. The descriptive data of the
variables of the study are presented first, followed
by a discussion of the associations which were found to
support the hypotheses developed to guide the investi-

gation.

Descriptive Data

Subjects
There were a total of 241 subjects, 129 of them

were boys and 112 were girls. They were all enrolled
as tenth grade students in a central Michigan high school.
Ninety percent of the subjects (223) were 15 or 16 years
of age, seven percent (17) of the subjects were 17 years
of age, and one subject was 18.

In 1968 when the data were collected, 44% of the

subjects resided in rural areas, 7% were residents of -

31

32

the suburban area, and 49% were from the city which had
a population of 6754. The median income for the resi-
dents of the city was $5,681 based on 1960 census infor-
mation.

The mean scores for both clothing attractiveness
and personal attractiveness were slightly higher for the

girls than for the boys (Table 4). Cannon, Staples

Table 4. Actual range, mean and standard deviation of
clothing attractiveness and personal attrac-

tiveness for boys and girls.

 

 

 

Actual Standard
Attractiveness Range Mean Deviation
Clothing
Boys .l.66-5.50 3.9 1.0
Girls 2.00-6.66 4.5 1.1
Total 1.66-6.66 4.2 1.1
Personal
Boys 1.16-6.16 3.7 1.2
Girls 1.33-7.50 4.2 1.3

Total 1.16-7.50 4.0 1.3

 

33

and Carlson found that girls' appearance was also rated
higher than for boys.1 This could indicate that among

girls there was a stronger concern for personal appear-
ance than among boys or that attractiveness for girls

consisted largely of clothing and make-up.2

Clothing Attractiveness and Personal Attractiveness

Clothing attractiveness and personal attractive-
ness were hypothesized to be positively associated with
each other. The coefficient of correlation between
clothing attractiveness and personal attractiveness for
all the subjects was .70, highly significant beyond the
.01 level (Table 5).

The strong association found between clothing
attractiveness and personal attractiveness could signify
clothing's influence on the evaluation of an individual's

attractiveness by others.
Clothing Attractiveness and Social Acceptance

Presidengy

 

Clothing attractiveness was hypothesized as being

positively associated with election to presidency for

 

lCannon, Kenneth, Staples, Ruth, and Carlson,
Irene, "Personal Appearance as a Factor in Social
Acceptance," pp. 710-713.

2Hamid, Paul, "Some Effects of Dress Cues on
Observational Accuracy, a Perceptual Estimate, and Im-
pression Formation," pp. 279-289.

34

Table 5. Significance of the correlation coefficients

between clothing attractiveness and personal

 

 

 

 

attractiveness.
Clothing
Attractiveness
Boys Girls Total
Personal
Attractiveness .70** .69** .71**

 

**Significant at .01

both boys and girls. No significant relationship was
found to exist between these variables for the sophomore
year for either boys or girls. The decision was made

to reject the hypothesis for both boys and girls (Table
6).

Few s0phomores may have been elected to school
organizations because of their young age which would
explain the results of the analysis. For the entire
four years in school, an association was found between
election for presidency of clubs and clothing attractive-

ness for the boys only (Appendix A, Table 8).

Officerships

 

Clothing attractiveness and Officerships of
school organizations were hypothesized to positively

associate with each other for boys and for girls. A

35

Table 6. Significance of the correlation coefficients
Between clothing attractiveness and partici-

pation in school activities.

 

 

 

 

Clothing
Attractiveness

Variables Boys Girls Total

n=129 n=112 n=24l
Sophomore
presidency .00 -.00 .02
SOphomore
officership .08 .21* .17*
Sophomore social
participation .39** .31** .33**
SOphomore number
of organizations .43** .30** .34**
SOphomore
scholastic standing .24** .15 .21**

 

* significant at .05

**significant at .01

statistically significant association was found between
the girls' clothing attractiveness and Officerships dur-
ing the sophomore year in high school. Similar results
were found for girls' personal appearance and peer
acceptance by Cannon et_al.l No association was found

for the boys' clothing attractiveness and officership

 

1Cannon, Staples, and Carlson, "Personal Appear-
ance as a Factor in Social Acceptance," pp. 710-713.

36

of school organizations (Table 6) and no associations
existed between the variables for the four year period
(Appendix A, Table 8). The hypothesis that clothing
attractiveness was positively associated with officer-
ships of school organizations was accepted for the

girls and rejected for the boys.

Social Participation

 

Social participation as measured by Smuckerl
was hypothesized to be positively correlated with cloth-
ing attractiveness for both boys and girls. The results
showed a strong significant correlation between the
variables, with the coefficient slightly higher for the
boys (Table 6). A strong association also existed for
the four year period (Appendix A, Table 8).

Since the relationships between social partici-
pation and clothing attractiveness were generally
stronger for boys than girls, clothing attractiveness
may have played an important part in the amount of social
participation Open for some boys. The decision was to
accept the hypothesis that clothing attractiveness was
associated with social participation for both boys and

girls.

 

lSmucker, "Conformity to and Awareness of the
Clothing Mode Related to the Peer Acceptance of Adoles-
cent Boys and Girls," p. 19.

37

Number of Organizations

Clothing attractiveness was hypothesized to be
positively associated with membership in high school
organizations for both boys and girls. Again the re-
lationship for boys was higher than for the girls. Both
were significant at the .01 level (Table 6). Strong
correlations existed for the four year period for both
boys and girls (Appendix A, Table 8). The hypothesis
was accepted for both boys and girls.

From this data an inference might be made that
acceptance for membership in social organizations is re-
lated to or dependent on the individual's clothing
attractiveness. Smucker found that awareness of the
clothing mode related to the amount of school participa-

tion.1

Scholastic Standing

 

In the SOphomore year, clothing attractiveness
was hypothesized to be positively associated with being
listed on the school honor roll, for both boys and girls.
The analysis supported the hypothesis only for the boys
(Table 6). However, over the four high school years,

girls' clothing attractiveness correlated positively with

 

1Smucker, "Conformity to and Awareness of the
Clothing Mode Related to the Peer Acceptance of Adoles-
cent Boys and Girls," p. 49.

38

scholastic standing except for the freshman year (Appen-
dix A, Tables 8 and 10). Perhaps boys were viewed as
having more scholastic ability because of their cloth-
ing attractiveness. Young found that males' appearance
was more highly associated with peer acceptance than
females.1 It is possible that peer acceptance defined
by Johnson as pOpularity was associated with scholastic

2
performance.

Personal Attractiveness and Social Acceptance

 

Presidency

A Statistically there was no association between
personal attractiveness and the election to the presi-
dency of high school organizations for either boys or
girls (Table 7). The hypothesis that personal attrac-
tiveness was positively associated to the presidency
of a school organization was rejected. Again this could
mean that few SOphomores were elected to that office
during the SOphomore year. For the four-year period,

a significant association existed only for the boys,

 

1Young, "The Relationship of Clothing to Peer
Acceptance and to Personal Appearance of Adolescents,"
p. 59.

2Johnson, "Student Ratings of Popularity and
Scholastic Ability of Their Peers and Actual Scholastic
Performances of Those Peers," pp. 127-132.

39

perhaps indicating a preference for male presidents for

school organizations (Appendix A, Table 9).

Table 7. Significance of the correlation coefficients
between personal attractiveness and parti-

cipation in school activities.

 

 

 

 

Personal
Attractiveness

Variables Boys Girls Total

n=129 n=112 n=24l
SOphomore
presidency .00 .05 .05
Sophomore
officership -.03 -.08 -.05
Sophomore social
participation .36** .24* .29**
Sophomore number
of organizations .42** .27** .33**
SOphomore
scholastic standing .24** .22* .24**

 

*significant at .05

**significant at .01

Officerships

 

No association was found between personal attrac-
tiveness and the Officerships in school organizations.

It was hypothesized that both boys and girls would be

40

officers of school organizations and this would be
associated to personal attractiveness. The analysis
showed that no significant correlations existed for
either boys or girls (Table 7). The hypothesis was re-
jected for both boys and girls. For the four-year
measure no association existed between personal attrac-
tiveness and Officerships (Appendix A, Table 9). Age,
again, could have been the untested variable causing

non-significant correlations.

Social Participation

 

A positive association was found to exist between
personal attractiveness and social participation for
both boys and girls. The hypothesis that personal
attractiveness was positively associated with social
participation was accepted for boys and girls (Table 7).
The association between social participation and personal
attractiveness was slightly stronger for boys over the
four-year period (Appendix A, Table 9). This might indi-
cate that appearance was more important for boys than

girls.

Number of Organizations

 

The number of organizations joined by both boys
and girls was positively associated to personal attrac-
tiveness. The decision was to accept the hypothesis

(Table 7). Strong associations were reported for the

41

four-year period also (Appendix A, Table 9). The
appearance of boys and girls may be positively related
to willingness to participate in organizational member-

ship in the high school environment.

Scholastic Standing

 

Achieving honor roll status was hypothesized to
be positively associated to personal attractiveness for
both boys and girls. A statistically significant re-
lationship was found to exist for both boys and girls
(Table 7). Over the four-year period scholastic stand-
ing and personal appearance were correlated for each
sex (Appendix A, Tables 9 and 10). The decision was to

accept the hypothesis for both boys and girls.

Summary

Clothing attractiveness was found to be signifi-
cantly associated with personal attractiveness for both
boys and girls. Significant relationships also existed
between the subjects' clothing attractiveness, personal
attractiveness and social participation, organizational
memberships, and scholastic standing. Election to the
presidencies and Officerships of school organizations
was relatively infrequent for the sophomore students,
therefore significant relationships could hardly be

expected.

CHAPTER VI

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

Summary

The major purpose of this study was to investi-
gate the association between clothing attractiveness and
personal attractiveness and social acceptance of indi-
viduals. Recent researchers in psychology have investi-
.gated the influence of personal attractiveness on human
interaction and perception and have discovered that
positive relationships often exist between an individual's
level of attractiveness and acceptance by others. Since
their subjects always wore some type of clothing or
body covering, that factor could have influenced the
evaluation of personal attractiveness, although clothing
was rarely investigated. A positive association between
clothing attractiveness, personal attractiveness and
presidency, officerships, number of organizations joined,
social participation and scholastic standing would sup-
port the prOposed theoretical relationship between Cloth-
ing and personal attractiveness.

To guide the investigation a hypothesis was pro-
posed stating a positive association between clothing

attractiveness and personal attractiveness. Measurements

42

43

of social acceptance were established for presidencies,
Officerships and memberships in school organizations,
social participation and scholastic standing. Both
clothing attractiveness and personal attractiveness were
hypothesized to be positively associated with each of
these measurements for boys and girls.

The subjects for this study were filmed high
school boys (129) and girls (112) from an interregional
project completed by Michigan State University in 1972.
The subjects consisted of an entire s0phomore class of
a central Michigan high school having both rural and
urban students and a range of social class differences.
Michigan State Univeristy students were chosen as raters
on the basis of similarity of characteristics shared
with the subjects.

A pretest procedure was developed to determine
reliability and validity of the raters and also to
establish the form of media to use in the actual data
collection. The raters consisted of males and females
who either had or had not known the subjects during
their own high school years. After the analysis, using
the Hoyt r, statistical technique, the two unknowing
female raters were eliminated because of low reliability.
The 16 millimeter color movie rather than slides or photo-
graphs of the subjects was found to elicite the most

reliable data for the study.

44

Two members of Michigan State University's
Department of Human Environment and Design were asked
to rate the subjects on clothing attractiveness to
establish the standard against which to determine the
validity of the student raters as judges of clothing
attractiveness. The anlysis showed that both the ex-
perts and the student raters evaluated the subjects
similarly on clothing attractiveness.

The actual data collection took place over a
two week interval, with the raters evaluating the sub-
jects during four separate meeting periods. One half
of the subjects were evaluated first on personal attrac-
tiveness and then on clothing attractiveness, while the
other half were evaluated first on clothing attractive-
ness and then on personal attractiveness allowing three
days to elapse between rating periods. The raters used
the same rating scale for both clothing attractiveness
and personal attractiveness.

The major statistical analyses used for deter-
mining associations between variables were the Pearson
product-moment correlations. Ranges, means and standard
deviations were computed for clothing attractiveness
and personal attractiveness. Separate statistical
analyses were computed for boys and girls to discover

possible differences due to sex. Mean scores for girls'

45

clothing attractiveness and personal attractiveness
were slightly higher than for the boys'.

A summary of the hypotheses and the results
follow:

Hypotheses I. Clothing attractiveness will

be positively associated with personal attrac-
tiveness for both boys and girls.

 

Clothing attractiveness and personal attractive-
ness were strongly associated for both boys and girls.
The above hypothesis was supported.

Hypothesis II A. Clothing attractiveness will

be positively associated with election to the presi-

dencies of school organizations for both boys and
girls.

 

Clothing attractiveness was found not to be
associated with the presidencies of school organizations
for both boys and girls; therefore, the hypothesis was
not supported for either sex.

Hypothesis II B. Clothing attractiveness

will be positively associated with Officerships

of school organizations for both boys and
girls.

 

Officerships of school organizations was posi-
tively associated with clothing attractiveness for only
the girls during the SOphomore year. The results
support the hypothesis for the girls but-not for the
boys.

Hypothesis II C. Clothing attractiveness will

be positively associated with social participation
for both boys and girls.

 

46

Social participation in school was highly asso-
ciated with clothing attractiveness for boys and girls.
These findings were significant for both sexes during
both the SOphomore and high school years.

Hypothesis II D. Clothing attractiveness will

»be positively associated with the number of organi-
zations joined for both boys and girls.

 

The number of organizations joined by both boys
and girls was positively associated with clothing attrac-
tiveness. The hypothesis was confirmed for both boys
and girls.

Hypothesis II E. Clothing attractiveness will

be positively associated with scholastic standing
for both boys and girls.’

 

Clothing attractiveness was positively associated
with scholastic standing for boys only during the sopho-
more year. The decision was to reject the hypothesis
for the girls only.

Hypothesis III A. Personal attractiveness will

be positively associated with election to the presi-

dencies of school organizations for both boys and
girls.

 

Election to the presidency of school organiza-
tions and personal attractiveness was not associated for
either boys or girls. Therefore, the hypothesis was
rejected.

Hypothesis III B. Personal attractiveness will

be positively associated with Officerships of
school organizations for both boys and girls.

 

47

Personal attractiveness was not associated with
Officerships of school organizations for the boys and
girls. The decision was to reject the hypothesis.

Hypothesis III C. Personal attractiveness will

be posiEIVely associated with social participation
for both boys and girls.

 

The correlation coefficient measuring the asso-
ciation between personal attractiveness and social parti-
cipation was highly significant for the boys and
significant for the girls. The findings support the
hypothesis for both boys and girls.

Hypothesis III D. Personal attractiveness will

be positively associated with the number of organi-
zations joined for both boys and girls.

 

A positive association existed between personal
attractiveness and the number of organizations joined
for the boys and girls. The results confirm the above
hypothesis.

Hypothesis III E. Personal attractiveness will

be positively associated with scholastic standing
for both boys and girls.

 

Scholastic standing was positively associated
with personal attractiveness for both boys and girls.
Therefore, the hypothesis was accepted.

Finally the results supported the major objective
of this study, possibly indicating a strong association
between clothing attractiveness and personal attractive-
ness ratings. The findings also revealed that associa-

tions may exist between social acceptance by others and

48

an individual's over-all appearance made up primarily of

attractive clothing and grooming.

Implications of the Findings

 

The findings of this study supported all of
the prOposed hypotheses except for the associations of
clothing attractiveness and personal attractiveness to
election to the presidencies of school organizations and
personal attractiveness to filling the Officerships of
school organizations. The major hypothesis of the
study, the association of clothing attractiveness to
personal attractiveness was supported beyond the .01
level of significance. This highly significant correla-
tion coefficient presents strong support for the the-
orized association between these two variables. Perhaps
clothing plays a major role in the kinds of evaluations
individuals make of one another.

I Neither clothing attractiveness nor personal
attractiveness was statistically associated to the
election of presidencies of school organizations during
the SOphomore year. This finding could be a result of
the fact that sophomores are younger and relatively new
to high school organizations except for the SOphomore
class itself, would come from the junior or senior class.
However, over the four-year period, boys' clothing

attractiveness and personal attractivness were positively

49

associated with election to the presidencies of school
organizations.

For officerships of school organizations, only
the clothing attractiveness of girls was supported dur-
ing the s0phomore year. Again, this may be a result of
the lower class-status of the subjects rather than the
lack of real reliability. Personal attractiveness was
not associated with officerships for either girls or
boys over the four-year period.

Social participation was positively associated
with clothing attractiveness and personal attractive-
ness for both sexes for the SOphomore year and the
four-year periods; however, the correlation for girls
with personal attractiveness was slightly lower than
for the boys. Perhaps clothing attractiveness is a
bit more necessary for girls than the more general
personal attractiveness for participation in social
activities. For boys, both clothing attractiveness and
personal attractiveness appeared to be equal in impor-
tance.

The fact that the number of organizations to
which the subjects belonged was associated positively
with both clothing attractiveness and personal attrac-
tiveness may indicate that with a higher level of

attractiveness a feeling of social acceptability may

50

result in a willingness to participate more in social
functions.

Personal attractiveness correlated positively to
scholastic standing for both sexes during the s0phomore
year and the four-year period. For boys only, clothing
attractiveness correlated to scholastic standing in the
sophomore year but, for both boys and girls, statisti-
cally significant coefficients resulted from the four-
year analysis. The findings may mean that girls who
are more scholarly care less about either their appear-
ance or clothing and are less attractive. It could
also be that aesthetic qualities of boys' clothing are
more difficult for evaluators to determine.

Generally, the results of this study revealed
that the individual's clothing attractiveness was re-
lated to his or her personal attractiveness and to
social acceptance. Therefore, aesthetic qualities of
clothing should be considered in the evaluation of
personal attractiveness in determining the strength of

attraction between individuals.

Recommendations

 

The original purpose of this study was to
establish a link between the evaluation of clothing
attractiveness and the evaluation of personal attractive-

ness. Hypotheses were formulated to suggest additional

51

associations with various measures of social acceptance.
In future research, the measures of social acceptance
should be refined by narrowing the variables to more
specific concepts. Because this study was part of a
larger research project, it was possible to investigate
the relationships of clothing and personal attractive-
ness to peer acceptance, socio-economic standing, and
informal and formal acceptance within the high school
environment.

Additional research is recommended for deter-
mining the effects of differences among raters. The
writer came to feel that a closer examination should.
be made into the effects of sex differences and pre-
vious contact between raters and subjects. Only a
superficial evaluation was carried out in this study,
but interesting facts could come to light from other
investigations.

Further investigation into the effects of train-
ing raters may provide additional knowledge of the
aesthetic qualities of clothing and appearance. If
trained raters are used in the data collection process,
a more reliable and valid technique for determining
clothing attractiveness could reshlt.

Future studies investigating the influence of
media in evaluation of clothing attractiveness should

try to control the lighting and movement of the subjects.

52

Standardizing posture and movements may be important
in the evaluation procedure to separate the clothing

attractiveness variable from gestures, posture and other

visual cues.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Berscheid, Ellen, Walster, Elaine, and Bohrnstedt, George.
"Body Image, Physical Appearance, and Self—
Esteem," Psychology Today, Vol. 7, No. 6, (Novem-
ber, 1973), 119-131. '

 

Berscheid, Ellen, Walster, Elaine and Campbell, Richard.
"Grow Old Along With Me." Unpublished papers.

Bjorngaard, Arlene. "The Relationship of Social Class
and Social Acceptance to Clothing and Appearance
of a Selected Group of Ninth Grade Girls."
Unpublished Master's Thesis, Michigan State
University, 1962.

Brickman, Leonard. "Social Roles and Uniforms: Clothes
Make the Person," Psychology Today, Vol. 7, No.

 

Byrne, Donn. "Attitudes and Attraction," in Advances in
Experimental Social Psychology. Leonard
Berkowitz, ed. Vol. 4, (1969), 35-89.

Byrne, D., London, 0., and Reeves, K. "The Effect of
Physical Attractiveness, Sex, and Attitude Simi-
larity on Interpersonal Attraction," Journal
of Personality, Vol. 36, No 2, (1968), 259-271.

 

Cannon, Kenneth L., Staples, Ruth and Carlson, Irene.
"Personal Appearance as a Factor in Social
Acceptance," Journal of Home Economics, Vol.
44, No. 9, (November, 1952), 710-713.

Cavior, Norman and Dokecki, Paul R. "Physical Attractive-
ness, Perceived Attitude Similarity and'
Academic Achievement as Contributors to Inter-
personal Attraction among Adolescents," DeveloE-
mental Psychology, Vol. 9, No. l, (1973), 44-45.

 

Cavior, Norman and Lombardi, David A. "Developmental
Aspects of Judgement of Physical Attractiveness
in Children," Developmental Psychology, Vol. 8,
No. l, (1973), 67-71.

53

54
Chapin, Francis S. Experimental Designs in Sociological
Research. Rev. Ed. New York: Harper, 1947.

Coleman, James S. 'The Adolescent Society. United States:
The Free Press, Corp., 1961.

 

Dion, K. K. "Physical Attractiveness and Evaluation of
Children's Transgressions," Journal of Person-
ality and Social Psychology. Vol. 24, No. 2,
(1972), 207-213.

 

 

Dion, K. K. and Berscheid, Ellen. "Physical Attractive-
ness and Social Perception of Peers Among Pre-
school Children" Unpublished paper.

Dion, Karen, Bersheid, Ellen, and Walster, Elaine.
"What is Beautiful is Good," Journal of Person-
ality and Social Psychology, Vol. 24, No. 3,
(1972), 285-290.

 

Douty, Helen I. "Influence of Clothing on Perception
of Persons," Journal of Home Economics, Vol. 55,

 

Hamid, Paul N. "Changes in Person Perception as a
Function of Dress," Perceptual and Motor Skills,
Vol. 29, No. l, (1969), 191-194.

Hamid, Paul N. "Some Effects of Dress Cues on Observa-
tion Accuracy, A Perceptual Estimate, and Im-
pression Formation," Journal of Social
Psychology, Vol. 86, No. 2, (1972), 279-289.

 

Hollander, Edwin P. Principles and Methods of Social
Psychology. New York: Oxford Univeristy Press,
1967.

 

Hoult, T. F. "Experimental Measurement of Clothing as
a Factor in Some Social Ratings of Selected
American Men," American Sociological Review,
Vol. 19, No. 3, (1954), 324-328.

Hurlock,.ElizabethlB. Child Development. New York:
McGraw-Hill Company, Inc., 1956.

Johnson, Edward. "Student Ratings of POpularity and
Scholastic Ability of Their Peers and Actual
Scholastic Performances of Those Peers,"
Journal of Social Psychology, Vol. 47, (1958),
127-132.

 

55

Jones, Edward E. and Gerard, Harold B. Foundations
‘ of‘Social‘PsychologX. New York: John Wiley
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Kurtzber, Richard L., Safor, Howard and Cavior, Norman.
"Surgical and Social Rehabilitation of Adult
Offenders," Proceedings 76th Annual Convention,
APA, 1968.

Miller, Arthur. "Role of Physical Attractiveness in
Impression Formation," Psychonomic Science,
Vol. 19, No 4, (May 25, 1970), 241-243.

Murstein, Bernard L. "Physical Attractiveness and
Marital Choice," Journal of Personality and
Social P§ychologyp Vol. 22, No. 1, (April 1972),
8-12.

Newcomb, T. M. The Aquaintance Process. New York:
Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1961.

Rice, S. A. "Stereotypes: A Source of Error in Judging
Human Character," Journal of Personnel Research,
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Sherif, Muzafer. Social Interaction. Chicago: Aldine
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Smucker, Betty. "Conformity to and Awareness of the
Clothing Mode Related to the Peer Acceptance of
Adolescent Boys and Girls." Unpublished
Master's Thesis, Michigan State University, 1969.

Stone, Gregory P. "Appearance and the Self," in
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Michigan State University, 1967.

APPENDICES

APPENDIX A

56

Table 8. Significance of the correlation coefficients
between clothing attractiveness and 4 year

participation in school activities.

 

 

 

Clothing
Attractiveness

Variables Boys Girls Total

n=129 n=112 n=241
4 year
presidency .37** .17 .26**
4 year
officership .10 .14 .14*
4 year social
participation .41** .29** .34**
4 year number
of organizations .42** .31** .34**
4 year scholastic
standing .29** .22* .28**

 

*significant at .05

**significant at .01

57

 

 

 

Table 9. Significance of the correlation coefficients
between personal attractiveness and 4 year
participation in school activities.

Personal
Attractiveness

Variables Boys Girls Total

n=129 n=112 n=24l
4 year
presidency .39** -.08 .13*
4 year
officership .13 .09 .12
4 year social
participation .43** .25** .33**
4 year number
of organizations .43** .29** .35**
4 year scholastic
standing' .23** '.26** .26**

 

*significant at .05

**significant at .01

58

Table 10. Significance of the correlation coefficients
between clothing attractiveness, personal

attractiveness and scholastic standing.

 

 

 

 

Attractiveness

Scholastic Standing Clothing Personal
Freshman

Boys n=129 .24** .20*

Girls n=112 .15 .22*

Total n=24l .22** .23**
Junior

Boys n=129 .23* .20*

Girls n=112 .20* .15

Total n=241 .23** .19**
Senior

Boys n=129 .27** .11

Girls n=112 .22* .26**

Total n=24l .28** .22**

 

*significant at .05

**significant at .01

APPENDIX B

May 20, 1974

Dear Student,

I need your help with my thesis problem about
how clothing affects attractiveness and appeal of
individuals. The subjects are high school students
photographed for a previous research project at Michigan
State. Because of the characteristics of your hometown,
you have been selected from Michigan State students to
participate as an evaluator if you will.

I If you plan to re-enroll at MSU next fall and
think yOu would like to help, please fill out the
enclosed card and return it to me in the campus mail.
There will be a meeting next fall to explain the project

in detail.
Thankyou,
Lois Florkey

(Graduate Student)

59

RETURN CARD:

 

NAME:

 

ADDRESS NEXT FALL AT MSU:

 

 

 

LIKE TO PARTICIPATE
CAN NOT PARTICIPATE

THANK YOU__PLEASE RETURN BY CAMPUS MAIL

 

60

September 30, 1974

Dear

Welcome back to Michigan State. Last spring I
asked you to help me with my thesis problem about how
clothing affects attractiveness and appeal of indivi-
duals. You were kind enough then to say you would
participate this fall.

I have set up a meeting for Wednesday, Oct. 9,
at 4:00 o'clock in Room 115, Human Ecology. During this
meeting, I will explain the details of the project and
what your role will be. If you can not attend please
call me at my home after 6:00 o'clock at 5-9877 so

that we may arrange another time for you.

Thank you,

Lois Florkey
Graduate Student

61

QUESTIONNAIRE

1.

In the pre-test which medium did you find easiest
to evaluate?

still photos
slides
film

Was the definition of clothing helpful in your rating
of the subjects?

Yes No

Was the definition of attractiveness helpful in your
rating of subjects?

Yes No, why?

Which scale would you have chosen for the ratings?

1-5 0-9 1-15
1-6 1-10

Were the directions given for the ratings clear?
Yes No, why?

Rank order influences on your ratings of clothing.
(list)

Rank order influences on your ratings of attractive-
ness (list)

Were the rest periods satisfactory or not during the
rating sessions?
satisfactory too long too short

Do you have any comments or suggestions concerning
your part in the project? Please comment.

62

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