Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Does the way you dress effect how people will treat you when you ask them a question?

Yes, dress and speaking manners and behavior all affect how people will respond to you. They will be most likely to respond favorably to you if the impression you make leads them to believe you are like them. You will most likely get a negative response if they can't relate to you. (Think about it - if you dress and look like a gang member, would a little old grandmother be likely to friendly to you? What if you look like an upstanding, church going young person who reminds her of her favorite grandson?). First impressions are SO IMPORTANT!

Best regards,


Barrett L. Tomlinson

Hello damaris.demidoo!

Barretttomlinson answers very well. Most certainly, dress does make an impression and will influence how an individual will react. An additional question to ask is "how does dress affect how people perceive others?". This part of psychology called Social Psychology can be looked at either by sociologists or psychologists and focuses on on the thoughts, feelings and behaviors of an indivdiual person can influence or are influenced by other people. There are many experiments that can be done in this field that can be measured and assessed in a scientific manner. Also, there is a good amount of research on the topic of perception and social psychology on how people dress and the influence of dress.

Good luck on your project and if you have any further questions, don't hesitate to post them to the forums