Newsroom – California State University, Northridge

Study by Recent CSUN Grad Throws into Question Whether a Suit and Tie are All They Are Cracked Up to Be

(NORTHRIDGE, Calif., Jul. 26th, 2010) ―

Always conscious of how others perceive us, mothers for decades have admonished their children to be very careful with how they dress to avoid making a bad impression.

A new study by recent Cal State Northridge psychology graduate Anastacia “Stacey” Damon tends to support that advice—but not in the way you might think.

Her study, which was recently published in the Undergraduate Research Journal for the Human Sciences, found that research subjects were more likely to follow the directions of a student research assistant dressed informally, like them, than those of an assistant in more professional attire.

Northridge assistant professor of psychology Robert Youmans said the implications of Damon’s work go beyond the research laboratory.

“Stacey’s work shines some light on an area that most of us really don’t think about—how the way we dress can affect people,” Youmans said. “Our mothers always told us to dress professionally, but Stacey’s research indicates that in some instances dressing ‘professionally’ can make people nervous, thus making them less likely to do what you would like them to do, or to do it with less precision than you would like.”

Damon, who began her research in 2008, thinks the study supports the idea that people need to be conscious of the audience they are addressing.

“I think, if we were doing the experiment with a bunch of businessmen and women, then dressing more professionally would have made a difference and they would listen to me more,” she said. “Let’s say we were dealing with construction workers, then business casual might be more effective. In this instance, we were dealing with subjects of an experiment, college students.”

Damon, 24, of Santa Clarita, said the idea for the experiment grew out of a class discussion on what can influence the outcomes of an experiment. Some psychologists believe that the characteristics of the person who is conducting a study can influence how participants will perform during experiments. Damon wondered if something as simple as how the experimenter dressed could influence how participants performed.

Damon and a team of fellow students—Arineh Sarkissian, Cherrie Y. Cotilier, Nicole M. Staben and Jaime M. Lee—decided to find out.

“A business-like appearance is often thought to be a prerequisite to success in many societies, especially for those people who work in professional careers,” according to the article that appears in the journal. “Just as many businesses prefer professional dressed employees, many social scientists prefer that their research assistants dress professionally, and some have even suggested that attire be used as a selection criterion when recruiting undergraduate research assistants.”

Damon said she and her team were sure their research would substantiate prior studies, some that go back decades, that support professional dress by people conducting research.

When it didn’t, “we were kind of surprised by our results,” she said.

She said one possible interpretation of the study is that the casually dressed experimenter “made the participants feel less anxious about their participation in the study, thereby increasing those participants’ abilities to follow directions more closely.”

Another possibility is that the times have changed since the first studies were conducted. “Once, people believed that dressing professional meant good work ethics, but now people prefer a more casual work place,” Damon said.

Damon and Youmans hope future studies will point to an answer. In the meantime, Damon, who earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology in May, is applying to graduate school. She is interested in becoming a clinical psychologist with a possible emphasis in behavior research and therapy.

“I definitely want to do more research,” she said.

Youmans said the study has caused him to reconsider how he dresses for work.

“Wearing more professional attire in the classroom, particularly during those first few days of classes, could send just the right message—even make the students a little nervous—about what to expect,” he said. “But during office hours, when I want them to feel more relaxed and that they can talk to me, perhaps I should consider dressing down a little bit.”

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