Effects of Applicant's Adverse Medical History on College Students' Ratings of Job Applications1

Abstract

The purpose of this experiment was to determine if the existence of high blood pressure or allergies would decrease the likelihood of a person obtaining a job. Forty‐eight college students rated hypothetical job applicants with allergies, high blood pressure, or no adverse physical condition for either a high‐stress manager trainee position or a low‐stress bookkeeper position. For the manager trainee position, applicants with either high blood pressure or allergies were rated significantly lower than the applicants with no adverse physical condition. For the bookkeeper position there were no significant differences between the ratings of the individuals with the different physical conditions. These results suggest that any adverse physical condition may have a negative prototype associated with it; however, a job applicant's physical condition may have different consequences depending upon the type of job for which he/she is applying. The effect of the stress level of the different jobs on the ratings was discussed.