Abstract
This study was conducted to investigate contemporary effects of instructor attire (specifically, graduate teaching assistant attire) on students' perceptions of college teachers in a live lecture context. Effects of three dress conditions, formal professional, casual professional, and casual, were tested under tightly controlled experimental conditions. Results indicated that more formal dress (business suits, dress shoes) was associated with increased ratings of instructor competence, particularly for female students rating female instructors. However, contrary to common assumptions, the most positive influences of instructor dress were found in the highly casual condition (faded jeans, T‐shirt, flannel shirt). Perceptions of homophily accounted for a small amount of variance in instructor ratings, but there was no significant effect of dress condition on ratings of homophily. Overall findings suggest that caution be used in drawing conclusions regarding potential payoffs of professional classroom dress based upon literature not specifically concerned with the classroom context.
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