Petitioning: Dress Congruence Versus Belief Congruence1

“Hip” and “straight” Es asked 240 passersby, who were also classified as “hip” or “straight”, to sign a petition. Each E received more signatures from S s of like dress only when the petition was neutral. There were no significant differences between the E s or S s for the two politically stronger petitions. It is proposed that dress congruence will override belief congruence only when the beliefs involved are of little significance to the S.