Past research indicates that apparel influences our behavior and our impressions of others. One type of apparel that is both salient and symbolically significant is the uniform. Few studies, however, have examined the influence of uniforms on behavior, especially with female authority figures. In this study a female confederate who was dressed in a uniform, professional attire, or sloppy clothing told subjects to give change to a person who was parked at an expired parking meter (Bickman, 1974). The results showed that compliance was higher when the confederate was dressed in a uniform. Verbal reasons given for complying also differed across conditions. The study shows that a uniform is a certificate of legitimacy (Joseph & Alex, 1972)for females as well as males and that both sexes are influenced by a female dressed in a uniform.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Allen, F. L. (1965). Trend to breakdown of class lines in clothes. In M. E. Roach & J. Bubolz (Eds.), Dress, adornment, and the social order. New York: John Wiley.
2.
Bell, D. J. (1982). Police uniforms, attitudes, and citizens. Journal of Criminal Justice, 10, 45-55.
3.
Bickman, L. (1971). The effect of social status on the honesty of others. Journal of Social Psychology, 85, 87-92.
4.
Bickman, L. (1974). The social power of a uniform. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 4, 47-61.
5.
Blumberg, P. (1974). The decline and fall of the status symbol: Some thoughts on status in a post-industrial society. Social Problems, 21, 480-498.
6.
Bushman, B. J. (1984). Perceived symbols of authority and their influence on compliance. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 14, 501-508.
7.
Clothes Power . Psychology Today (1982, December), pp. 68-73.
8.
Cooper, J. , Darley, J. M., & Henderson, J. E., (1974). On the effectiveness of deviant -and conventional-appearing communicators: A field experiment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 29, 752-757.
9.
Craig, J. M. , & Jacobs, R. R. (1985). The effect of working with women on male attitudes toward female firefighters. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 6, 61-74.
10.
Dean, L. M. , Willis, F. N., & Hewitt, J. (1975). Initial interaction distances among individuals equal and unequal in military rank. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 32, 294-299.
11.
DeFleur, L. B. , Gillman, D., & Marshak, W. (1978). Sex integration of the U.S. Air Force Academy. Armed Forces and Society, 4, 607-622.
12.
DeLong, M. R. , Salusso-Deonier, C., & Larntz, K. (1983). Use of perceptions of female dress as an indicator of role definition. Home Economics Research Journal, 11, 327-336.
13.
Durning, K. P. (1978). Women at the navy academy: An attitude survey. Armed Forces and Society, 4, 569-588.
14.
Fleiss, J. L. (1971). Measuring nominal scale agreement among many raters. Psychological Bulletin, 76, 378-382.
15.
Frank, M. G. , & Gilovich, T. (1988). The dark side of self -and social perception: Black uniforms and aggression in professional sports. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 74-85.
16.
French, J. R. P., Jr. , & Raven, B. H. (1959). The basis of social power. In D. Cartwright (Ed.), Studies in social power. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
17.
Goffman, E. (1951). Symbols of class status. British Journal of Sociology, 2, 294-304.
18.
Hamind, P. N. (1968). Style of dress as a perceptual cue in impression formation. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 26, 904-906.
19.
Hamind, P. N. (1969). Changes in person perception as a function of dress. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 29, 191-194.
20.
Harris, M. B. (1974). Mediators between frustration and aggression in a field experiment. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 10, 561-571.
21.
Hensley, W. E. (1981). The effects of attire, location, and sex on aiding behavior: A similarity explanation. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 6, 3-11.
22.
Hicks, J. M. (1978). Women in the U.S. Army. Armed Forces and Society, 4, 647-657.
23.
Horne, P. (1980). Women in law enforcement. Springfield, IL: Charles C Thomas.
24.
Hurlock, E. B. (1965). Sumptuary law. In M. E. Roach & J. Bubolz (Eds.), Dress, adornment, and the social order. New York: John Wiley.
25.
Joseph, N. , & Alex, N. (1972). The uniform: A sociological perspective. American Journal of Sociology, 77, 719-730.
26.
Judd, N. , Bull, R. H. C., & Gahagan, D. (1975). The effects of clothing style upon the reactions of a stranger. Social Behavior and Personality, 3, 225-227.
27.
Knowles, E. S. (1973). Boundaries around group interaction: The effect of group size and member status on boundary permeability. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 26, 327-331.
28.
Lambert, S. (1972). Reactions to a stranger as a function of style of dress. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 35, 711-712.
29.
Leff, H. S. , Nydegger, R. V., & Buck, M. (1970). Effect of nurses' mode of dress on behavior of psychiatric patients differing in information-processing complexity. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 34, 72-79.
30.
Long, L. N. , & Long, T. J. (1976). Influence of religious status and religious attire on interviewees. Psychological Reports, 39, 25-26.
31.
Long, T. J. (1978). Influence of uniform and religious status on interviewees. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 25, 405-409.
32.
Mauro, R. (1984). The constable's new clothes: Effects of uniforms on perceptions and problems of police officers. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 14, 42-56.
33.
Raven, B. H. , & French, J. R. P. (1958). Legitimate power, coercive power, and observability in social influence. Sociometry, 21, 83-97.
34.
Reynolds, H. T. (1984). Analysis of nominal data (2nd ed.). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
35.
Safilios-Rothschild, C. (1978). Young women and men aboard the U.S. Coast Guard barque "Eagle": An observation and interview study. Youth & Society, 10, 191-204.
36.
Samuel, W. (1972). Response to the Bill of Rights paraphrases as influenced by the hip or straight attire of the opinion solicitor. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 2, 47-62.
37.
Sigelman, C. K. , & Sigelman, L. (1976). Authority and conformity: Violation of a traffic regulation. Journal of Social Psychology, 100, 35-43.
38.
Steffensmeier, D. J. , & Terry, R. M. (1973). Deviance and respectability: An observational study of reactions to shoplifting. Social Forces, 51, 417-426.
39.
Sterling, F. E. (1980). Net positive social approaches of young psychiatric inpatients as influenced by nurses' attire. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 48, 58-62.
40.
Stone, G. (1965). Appearance and the self In M. E. Roach & J. Bubolz (Eds.), Dress, adornment, and the social order, New York: John Wiley.
41.
Suedfeld, P. , Bochner, S., & Wnek, D. (1972). Helper-sufferer similarity and a specific request for help: Bystander intervention during a peace demonstration. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 2, 17-23.
42.
Walker, J. W. , & Borden, R. J. (1976). Sex, status, and the invasion of shared space. Representative Research in Social Psychology, 7, 28-34.
