Stigmata and negotiated outcomes: Management of appearance by persons with physical disabilities

This paper explores the role of clothing in the management of appearances by persons with disabilities. A negotiated outcomes perspective is used to study the clothing choices of disabled persons, rather than viewing them as passive recipients of the labels supplied by perceivers. A two‐part study of college students with physical disabilities, including comments from a series of focused group interviews and open‐ended responses to a questionnaire with national distribution, resulted in the data presented. The data indicated that most of the students strived to appear as normative as possible through their clothing choices and accordingly used a variety of techniques: “making do” with ingeniously adapted ready‐to‐wear apparel; using clothes to conceal a disability; deflecting attention from a disability toward more normative but slightly discrediting attributes; compensation through fashionable dress or by emphasizing other social roles and abilities; and social inclusion, i.e., the assertion that all persons vary in physical appearance. Some students employed dress to take advantage of their social uniqueness through such techniques as wearing bright or prominent clothing or by displaying humor. Possible directions for future research on the social interactions of disabled persons, particularly involving the implications of normalizing appearance versus emphasizing social uniqueness, are presented.     

Employed Females' Clothing Preference, Self-Image Congruence, and Career Anchorage

A model was developed that related the clothing preference of employed females with self-congruity, ideal congruity, and career anchorage. It was hypothesized that (a) employed females are more likely to wear those outfits that match their actual self-image and ideal self-image than those that do not match their actual and ideal self-image; (b) the more upward the career anchorage, the greater the self- and ideal congruity involving a business-like outfit, and the greater the preference for wearing business-like outfits. The sample consisted of 227 women faculty and staff members at three universities. Five garment images were used: feminine, business-like, casual, sexy, and collegiate. The hypotheses were mostly supported.     

Relationship of perceived physical self-concept and physical activity level and sex among young children

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between level of physical activity and perceived physical self-concept of young children. The sample comprised 364 children from Slovenia, aged 6.4 yr. (SD = 0.3), of which 179 were boys and 185 girls. Parents and teachers reported children's physical activity using the Harro questionnaire. We divided children into Low and High Activity groups based on their mean scores. The children completed Stein's Children's Physical Self-concept Scale, which assesses Global Physical Self-concept and the subdomains of Physical Performance, Physical Appearance, and Weight Control behavior. Two-way analysis of variance with both sex and physical activity levels, and their interaction were used to examine differences in Physical Self-concept. There were significant differences between the Low and High Activity groups on scores for global Physical Self-concept Scale, Physical Performance, and Weight Control, on which children from the High Activity group scored higher; whereas on the subscale Physical Appearance, there were no significant differences. There were no significant sex differences on the Physical Self-concept Scale. The most important conclusion of this research indicates the theoretical assumptions that Physical Activity and perceived Physical Self-concept are related. Direction of the relationship remains unclarified.     

The Who and When of “Gender-Blind” Attitudes: Predictors of Gender-Role Egalitarianism in Two Different Domains

We compared gender-role egalitarianism in two domains: employment and social roles. We also investigated the influence of four variables—gender, ethnicity (Asian and non-Asian), scores on the Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ), and the perceived importance of men's social privileges—on egalitarianism in each domain. Participants (205 male and female college students of varying ethnicity) were more egalitarian in the employment than in the social domain. Women were more egalitarian than men, but this gender difference was greater in the employment domain. Asian Americans were less egalitarian than non-Asians only in the social domain. Expressiveness score on the PAQ predicted higher egalitarianism, whereas the perceived importance of men's social privileges was negatively related to egalitarianism. Theoretical explanations are discussed.     

Availability,Similarity, and Gender as Determinants of Adolescent Peer Acceptance1

Attributes of accepted classmates were investigated as a function of (a) respondent-target similarity, (b) availability of desirable peers, (c) gender of respondent and accepted peers, and (d) level of intimacy of the social contact. It was assumed that availability would play a greater role than was previously recognized, in determining attributes of accepted peers in casual as well as intimate contacts, and same-gender and opposite-gender acceptance of males and females would be affected differentially by availability and similarity. Seven hundred and fitly-five 6th, 7th. and 8th grade male and female students indicated their readiness to engage in closer or more casual contacts with each of their classmates, using the Interpersonal Relationship Assessment Technique. It was found that in more superficial relations attributes of accepted peers tended to reflect availability of desirable peers (mean level of desirable student attributes in class), but not respondent-peer similarity; whereas readiness to maintain more intimate contacts with peers was significantly associated with similarity between respondent and accepted peers, as well as availability of desirable peers. It was found further that availability and similarity play different roles in determining acceptance of same-gender or opposite-gender peers by boys and by girls. These results were replicated over four levels of intimacy and four different student attributes.     

TEACHING RETARDED WOMEN A CLOTHING SELECTION SKILL USING COMMUNITY NORMS

Five institutionalized retarded women were taught a clothing selection skill to coincide with popular fashion. Normative data concerning popular styles of color-coordinated clothing were collected through observations of women's apparel in a local community. Using a puzzle simulation of a woman with alternative pieces of colored clothing, color coordination training was conducted using modelling, instructions, practice, praise, and feedback to teach popular selections of color combinations. A generalization training component with actual clothing was also included. Training was accompanied by large increases in percentage of popular color selections with the puzzle and actual clothing. The increases maintained over a seven- to 14-week followup period. Time efficiency measures supported the use of the simulation procedure as opposed to total reliance on actual clothing. The results underscore the utility of local norms in community preparation programs and the efficacy of instructional procedures for severely and profoundly retarded persons as part of their participation in the deinstitutionalization movement.     

Dressing “in code”: Clothing rules,propriety, and perceptions

Does dressing in line with societal clothing rules make a woman appear more professional and competent? We used a within-subjects design and tested if participants rated women dressed in compliance with school and workplace clothing rules more positively than women not dressed in compliance with rules. Participants (N = 89) at a mid-sized mid-western university rated 10 pictures of women captured from the internet on 11 attributes. Participants rated the five women dressed following clothing rules higher on a composite measure of positive attributes (intelligent, competent, powerful, organized, efficient, and professional), F(1, 86) = 68.92, p < .001 η_p² = .45. Participant’s ratings did not correlate with their own self-reported levels of sexism. Participants’ gender was not a significant correlate. Our findings indicate that how students perceive women significantly relates to dressing in code. Participants rated women in less revealing and less tight clothing more positively.     

Dressing up posture: The interactive effects of posture and clothing on competency judgements

Individuals often receive judgements from others based on their clothing and their posture. While both of these factors have been found to influence judgements of competency independently, their relative importance in impression formation is yet to be investigated. We address this by examining interactive effects of posture and clothing on four competency measures: confidence, professionalism, approachability, and likeliness of a high salary. Participants rated photographs of both male and female models pictured in different postures (strong, neutral, weak) in smart clothing (a suit for males; both a trouser suit and skirt suit for females) and casual clothing. We confirm that posture manipulations affected judgements of individuals differently according to the clothing they were pictured in. The nature of these interactions varied by gender and, for women, competency judgements differed according to attire type (trouser or skirt suit). The implications of these findings in relation to impression formation are discussed.     

Psychometric evaluation of the outcome based performance measures

The Outcome Based Performance Measures are widely used to evaluate and accredit organizations providing services to persons with disabilities. This study evaluated the interrater reliability, levels of difficulty for items, and factor groupings of this measure with 448 Nevadans with mental retardation. Results supported the measure's reliability and most of the items' levels of difficulty. Factor analysis yielded seven factors with item loadings that varied moderately from prior reports, tending to coincide with the original measure's logically-based groupings. Revisions to the measure are suggested.     

Stopping Criteria in Sequential Choice

The essential decision in sequential choice is not which alternative to choose but when to stop acquiring additional information and commit to the leading alternative. Two studies investigate individuals’ stopping strategies. The key difference between the two studies is whether the experimenter or subjects controlled the order in which information was acquired. We hypothesize that subjects’ stopping criteria do not remain fixed, but are sensitive to acquisition costs and to the achieved progress during the choice. Across both studies 21 of 26 subjects exhibited significant adaptation. We also found an effort-reducing heuristic, stopping after all attributes in a predetermined set of core attributes had been acquired. As expected, use of this Core Attributes heuristic was greater when subjects controlled the order in which information was acquired. Both adaptation and the Core Attributes heuristic are compatible with the adaptive view of decision making and with the cost-benefit framework more generally.     

Essential and Perceptual Attributes of Words in Reflective and On-line Processing

Access to essential and perceptual attributes of word meanings was investigated in a series of tasks. First, perceptual attributes of a number of natural kind concepts were determined by asking participants to generate the most salient features of those concepts; they were asked to assess the importance of both those features and features that fit criteria for essential attributes. Attributes fitting the criteria for essential attributes were found to be judged more important than perceptual attributes in identifying an object and to have more connections to other attributes of the concept. Semantic priming for both types of features was then investigated. Prime-target pairs consisting of the natural kind concept term and the perceptual or essential attribute were presented for lexical decision (Experiments 1a and 1b) or naming (Experiments 2a and 2b). Interstimulus intervals were either 0 or 200 ms. Both types of features were primed at a 200 ms interstimulus interval but only in the lexical decision task.     

The contribution of temperament,popularity, and physical appearance to children’s happiness

The relation between the happiness of 9–12 year old children and their temperament, popularity, and physical appearance was examined. Participants included 432 children and their parents and teachers. Happiness in children was assessed using a self-rating scale, parents’ ratings, teachers’ ratings, and the Happiness and Satisfaction Subscale of the Piers-Harris Children’s Self-Concept Scale 2 (Piers-Harris 2) [Piers, E. V., & Herzberg, D. S. (2002). Manual for the Piers-Harris Children’s Self-Concept Scale, 2nd ed. Los Angeles: Western Psychological Services]. Estimates of children’s temperament, popularity, and physical appearance included parents’ ratings, individual items on the Piers-Harris 2, and three domain scales from the Piers-Harris 2: the Freedom From Anxiety Subscale, Popularity Subscale, and Physical Appearance and Attributes Subscale. Children’s happiness was correlated with and predicted by ratings of their temperament, popularity, and appearance. Demographic variables did not account for appreciable variance in children’s happiness. The results parallel the common finding that internal factors (e.g., personality), but not external factors (e.g., demographics), predict adults’ happiness.     

Predicting Creative Problem-Solving in Math From a Dynamic System Model of Creative Problem Solving Ability

Six attributes of creative problem-solving ability were investigated as predictors of creative problem solving ability in math. A total of 409 Taiwanese fifth and sixth graders were administered the recently developed Creative Problem Solving Attributes Inventory and other corresponding established instruments that measure similar attributes. The Creative Problem Solving Attributes Inventory yielded valid and reliable data on creative problem solving attributes. Results also demonstrated that divergent thinking and domain specific knowledge and skills directly predicted math problem-solving ability, whereas divergent thinking, convergent thinking, motivation, general knowledge and skills, and environment indirectly predicted math problem solving ability. Implications for nurturing creative problem solving ability and limitations of the study are discussed.     

Attitudes Toward Employing Persons With Disabilities: A Test of the Sympathy-Discomfort Categories

While persons with disabilities comprise approximately 17% of American and Canadian populations, they comprise a mere 3% of the workforce. This study examined the attitudes of 231 Canadian management undergraduates toward employing persons with disabilities. Participants were assigned to MacLean and Gannon's (1995) fourfold table of low-high combinations of the sympathy and discomfort scales derived from the Interaction With Disabled Persons scale (IDP; Gething, 1991). Results showed that the fourfold classification of attitudes was useful in identifying differences in attitudes, as measured by the 13-item Attitudes Toward Employing Persons With Disabilities instrument (ATEPD; Loo, 2002). Scores on the IDP and ATEPD were independent of social desirability scores. Recommendations are presented for organizations and educators to promote positive attitudes toward employees with disabilities.     

The Relationship Between Sexualized Appearance and Perceptions of Women’s Competence and Electability

Women do not have a uniform or standardized “suit” to wear in the workplace so they must make daily decisions about what to wear. Some propose that women should dress in a sexualized way to gain power and influence, but sexy attire is related to lower perceptions of competence for women in leadership positions. We explored the effect of revealing or conservative attire on perceptions of women’s leadership competence. We also used eye-tracker technology to determine whether looking at sexualized body parts (i.e., breasts, hemline) was related to lower perceptions of leadership competence and electability. A female candidate for a student senate presidency at a U.S. university wearing revealing clothing was perceived by 191 college students as less honest and trustworthy, electable, and competent than one wearing conservative clothing. Sexualized body parts were looked at longer when the candidate was wearing revealing clothing compared to conservative clothing. Furthermore, mediation analyses indicated that the revealing clothing led participants to gaze at sexualized body parts, which, in turn, led to perceiving the candidate as less honest/trustworthy, which lowered their evaluations of her competence and electability. These findings suggest that viewing a woman in a sexy outfit can lead others to stare more at her body and make negative evaluations of her personal attributes. This finding has implications for the choices women make in workplace and leadership contexts.     

Reasonable accommodation for employees with mental disabilities: a mandate for effective supervision?

Reasonable accommodation under Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) for employees with mental disabilities is explored from a behavior analytic perspective. Although much of the attention in issues of reasonable accommodation is concentrated on persons with physical disabilities, it is argued that the needs of individuals with mental disabilities are in greater need of further study. The criteria for successful accommodation in the workplace for employees with mental disabilities is seen to be structurally different, but functionally similar to successful accommodations for employees with physical disabilities, and is based on the development of enabling environments. Behavior analysis offers a theoretical basis and performance management presents a methodological basis for analyzing, developing, implementing, and evaluating reasonable accommodation for persons with mental disabilities, largely in terms of effective supervision. It is concluded that Title I of the ADA may be seen as providing a mandate for effective supervision, which may also be extended to all employees.     

Evolutionary Theory and Self‐perception: Sex Differences in Body Esteem Predictors of Self‐perceived Physical and Sexual Attractiveness and Self‐Esteem

Responses to the body esteem scale (Franzoi & Shields, 1984) and multiple regression were used to determine if evolutionary biological theory is relevant to an understanding of self‐perceived physical and sexual attractiveness and self‐esteem and to determine if physical and sexual attractiveness are the same construct. It was hypothesized that regression models of physical and sexual attractiveness would differ within and across sex groups and that models of self‐esteem would differ across sex groups in accordance with evolutionary theory. These hypotheses were supported. Attributes of the body related to fecundity and successful mothering characteristics predicted for women and attributes of the body related to strength and dominance predicted for men. In addition, attributes of the body dealing with sexual maturity were stronger predictors of sexual attractiveness. Physical and sexual attractiveness are not the same constructs. This research indicates that evolutionary bological theory can provide relevant insight for an understanding of self‐perceived attractiveness and self‐esteem.     

A multiple-criteria decision-making approach for the evaluation of retail location

This study proposes an ANP-based evaluation of retail locations. Authors acted as decision analysts and interacted with professionals in Turkish apparel retailing sector for acquiring their knowledge and expertise. As a result, evaluation criteria of the study were identified. These criteria are clustered into five groups: store, other retailers, shopping centre/business district, accessibility, and environmental. The relationship among criteria were assessed and a network was formed. ANP approach was then utilized in order to evaluate possible retail locations for the apparel stores. Besides global preferences of these alternatives, relative importance of the criteria was also revealed. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cues and Components in Multiattribute Evaluation

Multiattribute additive evaluation models largely ignore the causal structure connecting attributes and overall evaluations. We propose here a distinction between two such causal structures. In "cue-type" tasks, attributes reflect or indicate the value of a distal variable measuring all or part of the entity′s worth. In "component-type" tasks, attributes are themselves the constitutive elements of worth. Attributes of the two kinds should be combined differently. Results are reported from two experiments in which the verbal context was manipulated so as to induce either cue-type or component-type interpretations of identical attribute sets. The data strongly suggest that subjects are sensitive to the distinction and respond in theoretically appropriate ways.