Dress Nicer = Know More? Young Children’s Knowledge Attribution and Selective Learning Based on How Others Dress

This research explored whether children judge the knowledge state of others and selectively learn novel information from them based on how they dress. 

The results indicated that 4- and 6-year-olds identified a formally dressed individual as more knowledgeable about new things in general than a casually dressed one (Study 1). 

Moreover, children displayed an overall preference to seek help from a formally dressed individual rather than a casually dressed one when learning about novel objects and animals (Study 2). 

These findings are discussed in relation to the halo effect, and may have important implications for child educators regarding how instructor dress might influence young students’ knowledge attribution and learning preferences.

Below:  Mean Proportion of Trials Choosing the Formally Dressed Individual Across Studies

Full article at:  http://goo.gl/uOEWz2

By:  Kyla P. McDonald, Lili Ma

Department of Psychology, Ryerson University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

More at:  https://twitter.com/hiv_insight

And:        http://twitter.com/Prison_Health