'Generalising the black clothing stereotype'

‘Black Clothing Stereotype’ Hemis No. 207806

Title ‘Generalising the black clothing stereotype’

Abstract

The black clothing stereotype suggests an association between black clothing and aggressiveness and deceit. The present study was devised to investigate whether this stereotype was applicable to areas more subtle than aggression. A counselling scenario was devised and the colour of the counsellors clothing was manipulated. It was hypothesized that the counsellor in black clothing would be regarded more negatively than the counsellor in light clothing. The study employed an Independent groups design, which included 50 participants. 25 participants were assigned to each condition. The results proved to be not significant. Therefore the hypothesis was rejected. The results demonstrated that the black stereotype has a limited generality.

Introduction

Within psychology, the impact of stereotypes has been extensively addressed (Boon, 1988; Brown, 1995; Fiske and Neuberg, 1990, as cited in Psychology, Crime & Law). These include gender stereotypes (Eagly, 1994; Eagly and Stephen, 1986, as cited in Psychology, Crime & Law), physical attractiveness stereotypes (Eagly et al., 1991, as cited in Psychology, Crime & Law), racial stereotypes (Brown, 1995, as cited in Psychology, Crime and Law), as well as stereotypes of the elderly (Snyder & Peter, 1994, as cited in Psychology, Crime & Law). The black clothing stereotype, which suggests an association between black clothing and aggressiveness and deceit, has received less attention.

According to Frank & Gilovich (1988, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology) the colour black invites negative connotations within most cultures. Whilst taking this notion into consideration Frank and Gilovich investigated whether black clothing had an impact upon behaviour. The examined whether professional footballers and ice-hockey players, who wore black, exhibited more aggressive behaviour than those teams that wore non-black clothing. Interestingly, Frank and Gilovich (1988, as cited in Psychology, Crime and Law) discovered that the colour black influenced both the referee’s judgements, alongside increasing the levels of aggressiveness exhibited by the players that wore black. These results revealed both social perception and self-perception processes.

In an experiment conducted by Vrij (1996, Psychology, Crime& Law), which also demonstrated the impact of the black clothing stereotype upon behaviour, participants were shown a videotape of an aggressive offender. In this experiment the variable manipulated was the colour of the offenders shirt i.e. black or white. The results confirmed the prediction that the offender in the black shirt would be viewed as more aggressive than the offender in the white shirt.

An issue that was highlighted by both Vrij (1997) and Vrij and Akehurst (1996, Psychology, Crime & Law) was whether the black clothing phenomenon could be generalised to other areas. Presumably, priests and vicars do not induce a negative impression by wearing black clothing; therefore it is doubtful that this phenomenon is applicable in all circumstances. According to Frank and Gilovich (1988, as cited in Psychology, Crime and Law) black clothing is only expected to produce negative impressions in circumstances, which involve competition, confrontation and physical aggression. Furthermore, Vrij (1997) added that the black stereotype is also demonstrated in situations such as sport, crime, abuse, within the playground and disciplinary circumstances.

The present study was devised to investigate whether the black clothing stereotype is applicable to areas more subtle than aggression. Other than aggression, there has been very little research conducted into the effects of clothing colour on impressions formation. This study intends to investigate whether issues of trust, emotions and empathy will be affected by the black clothing stereotype. The devised scenario for this study comprised of the participant having to imagine they were seeking counselling for unresolved childhood issues. It was decided that telephone contact had been made prior to an arranged appointment and that the counsellor was ...

This is a preview of the whole essay

For this study there are five hypotheses that related to each of the five questions and one overall hypothesis to encompass all the hypotheses. The general hypothesis for this study will be that the counsellor in this black clothing would be regarded more negatively than the counsellor in the light clothing. The first hypothesis will be ‘the counsellor in the black clothing will be trusted less than the counsellor in the light clothing’. The second hypothesis will be ‘ the counsellor in black clothing will be less understanding than the counsellor in light clothing’. The third hypothesis will be ‘the client will be less open with the counsellor in the black clothing than the counsellor in light clothing’. The fourth hypothesis will be ‘the black clothed counsellor will be regarded with less confidence than the counsellor in the light clothing’. The fifth hypothesis will be ‘the black clothed counsellor will be more emotionally distant than the light clothed counsellor’.

Participants

Each psychology student was required to generate results from approximately seventeen participants. It was decided that the participants would be gathered from the experimenters’ friends and relatives. Once the data was obtained, it was collated with other members of the psychology tutor group to produce an overall amount of fifty participants. The participants varied in ages, ethnic and socio-economic background and included relatively equal numbers of males and females.

Materials

Materials included two photographs of the male counsellor (one in black clothing, one in light clothing); individual consent and debriefing forms; a raw data sheet; a questionnaire outlining the scenario with five questions to be rated by a Likert scale. (All materials can be found within the appendix).

Procedure

Each participant was asked if they would be prepared to take part in a psychological study regarding impression formation. Upon agreement an Informed consent form (see appendix) was presented to the participant, which outlined the expectations of the study and the participants right to withdraw. Once the informed consent form was signed, the participant was handed the questionnaire that displayed the devised scenario and five questions rated with Likert scaling (see appendix) and a photograph of the counsellor (either black or light condition) The participant was required to answer the questions whilst studying the photograph.

Design

This study employed an Independent groups design. This design was adopted to ensure that each participant only performed under one experimental condition. Repeating the experiment under both conditions would have provided confounding variables such as fatigue and rehearsal effects. Within tutor groups the data of fifty participants was gathered. Twenty-five participants were assigned to each condition. Counterbalancing was applied to eliminate any counter effects. The Independent Variable for this study was the black and light clothing condition. The Dependent Variable was the score given on the Likert Scale. On all the questions the direction of the scoring remained similar except for the final question where the question and scaling of the answer was reversed to detect any response bias.

Results

It is evident from the initial raw data (see appendix) that a clear difference between the two conditions has not been displayed. The total mean Likert Score for the black clothed condition was calculated at 4.26, whilst the total mean for the light clothed condition was calculated at 4.14. The general hypothesis ‘that the black clothed counsellor will be regarded more negatively than the light clothed counsellor’ can presumably be rejected. Figure 1 displays the mean scores of the black and light clothed conditions.

Figure 1

When addressing the 5 hypotheses that related to each question, an un-related t~test was applied to each question to compare the differences in scores between the two conditions. Each hypothesis was one tailed because the direction of the results was predicted.

Question 1- ‘ How far would you be able to trust this person with your problems?’ Hypothesis 1 - ‘the counsellor in the black clothing will be trusted less than the counsellor in the light clothing’. The results for this question were calculated on SPSS (see appendix). The mean scores for this question were both calculated at 3.44, displaying no significant difference between the two conditions. The standard deviations, which represent the variance within the conditions, were 1.19 for the black condition and 1.56 for the light condition, displaying little variance within groups. Therefore the hypothesis relating to Question 1 was rejected and a bar chart displaying mean scores is unnecessary. Therefore, for a one tailed test with 48 df, the calculated t value (0.00) is less than the critical value (1.684) at a significance level of p>0.005 so is not significant.

Question 2- ‘How understanding do you think this person would be?’

Hypothesis 2- ‘ the counsellor in black clothing will be less understanding than the counsellor in light clothing’. The mean scores for the two conditions were black clothing 3.52 and light clothing 3.6; displaying a nominal difference. However the direction of the difference was contrary to what had been predicted. The standard deviation for each mean were black condition 1.42 and light condition 1.35, displaying slight difference in variance. For a one tailed test with 48 df , the calculated t value (0.306) is less than the critical value (1.684) at a significance level of p>0.005, therefore it is not significant. Figure 2 shows the mean scores in the conditions of question 2.

Figure 2

Question 3 – How open would you be in sharing deeply personal feelings with this person?

Hypothesis 3 - ‘the client will be less open with the counsellor in the black clothing than the counsellor in light clothing’. The mean scores for the two conditions were black 2.68 and light 2.64, a difference of 0.04. The sd for each condition were black 1.46 and light 1.58, again very similar. For a one tailed test with 48 df the calculated t value (0.093) is less than the critical value (1.684) at a significance level of p>0.005, therefore the results for this question are not significant. Figure 3 shows the mean scores for the black and light clothing conditions.

Figure 3

Question 4 – How confident would you be regarding his ability as a counsellor?

Hypothesis 4 - The black clothed counsellor will be regarded with less confidence than the counsellor in the light clothing. The mean scores for the two conditions were black 3.64 and light 3.52. Again the direction of the scores was contrary to what was predicted. The sd for the two conditions was 1.7 for the black condition and 1.8 for the light clothed condition, showing little variance. For a one tailed test with 48 df the calculated t value (0.242) is less than the critical value (1.684) at a significance level of p>0.005, therefore the results from this question do not support the hypothesis. Figure 4 shows the mean scores of the black and light clothing conditions, relating to question 4.

Figure 4.

Question 5 – How emotionally distant will this person be?

Hypothesis 5 - The black clothed counsellor will be more emotionally distant than the light clothed counsellor. The mean scores for the two conditions were 3.32 for the black condition and 3.80 for the light condition, a difference of 0.48. The sd were 1.52 for the black condition and 1.73 for the light condition, displaying a slightly larger variations within conditions. For a one tailed test with 48 df the calculated t value (1.042) is less than the critical value (1.684) at a significance level of p>0.005 therefore the results from this question are not significant.

It can be concluded from all the data collected and the t~tests calculated that this study proved to be not significant. Therefore each hypothesis is to be rejected.

Discussion

This study attempted to investigate whether the black clothing stereotype can be generalised to areas other than aggression. The study included subtler issues such as trust, emotions and empathy. The black clothing stereotype was applied to these issues within a counselling scenario and the impact was assessed. The results did not support any of the hypotheses; each result was proved non-significant. This would support Frank and Gilovich’s claims (1988, as cited in Psychology, Crime & Law) that the black clothing stereotype is only exhibited in circumstances where competition, confrontation and physical aggression are present. As well as supporting Vrij (1997) in the idea that the black clothing stereotype is demonstrated only within sport, criminal settings, abuse, within the playground and disciplinary circumstances.

The issues addressed in this study proved too subtle to exhibit the black clothing stereotype. The results were inconclusive, ambiguous and were frequently directed in the opposite direction to what was predicted. Although the results were disappointing, they uncovered a variety of areas open for discussion.

There are a number of explanations as to why this study did not produce significant results they included the scenario devised, the photograph used, the likert scale. The scenario applied may have been too ambiguous and failed to include any of the issues highlighted by Frank & Gilovich and Vrij. The topics addressed within the questionnaire may have appeared too similar and it was noted by participants that the fifth question was confusing. The scaling of this question was reversed which may have attributed to this confusion. For future studies half of the questions should be directed one way and the remaining half the opposite direction (Clark-Carter, 2004).

The photograph applied for this study was a male (see appendix). The majority of participants saw this male as very aggressive looking. Therefore it can be assumed that the photograph alone produced a negative impression. The similarity between the results of the two conditions, demonstrated that the aggressive photograph overrode the colour of clothing. Therefore, replacing the photograph with a less aggressive person may have produced significant results.

This study employed the method of Likert scaling to score the results. This method is an effective way of distinguishing between people’s attitudes. However, when two participants respond with the same score on the Likert scale this method fails to acknowledge participants differing response patterns (Clark-Carter, 2004). Considerations for future studies may include adopting a more qualitative approach eg short answer questions, since the majority of participants felt it necessary to discuss issues surrounding their chosen answer.

Vrij highlighted a further explanation that may have affected the results; the motivation of the observer. According to Fiske and Taylor (1991, as cited in Applied Cognitive Psychology’) stereotyped thinking is only apparent when the observer is not motivated. Therefore within the counselling scenario the participant (observer) could be viewed as being highly motivated and dependent on the counsellor. Thus diminishing any stereotyped thinking and producing very similar results.

In hindsight it would have been beneficial to conduct a pilot study so that the above problems could have been recognized and amended accordingly.

The implications for these findings prove that the black clothing stereotype has limited generality. Vrij (1997) noted how this stereotype is not applicable to priests and vicars. It can be assumed that the black stereotype is also not applicable within this counselling scenario. Therefore discovering which areas are affected by such a phenomenon would be extremely beneficial for all concerned.

References

Clarke-Carter, D. (2004) ‘Quantitative Psychological Research’, Psychology Press, New York.

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. Vol 54, No. 1, 74-85

Franzoi, F. L. (2003) ‘Social Psychology’ 3rd Edition, McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. North America.

Vrij, A. (1997. Wearing Black Clothes: The Impact of Offenders and Suspects Clothing on Impression Formation. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 11, 47-53.

Vrij, A. & Akehurst, L. (1997. The Existence of a Black Clothing Stereotype: The Impact of a Victim’s Black Clothing on Impression Formation. Psychology, Crime & Law, Vol 3, pp.227-237