Abstract
Based upon status ratings by 154 adults, three types of attire (clothing typical of a student, a priest, and a businessman) were selected for use in a field study investigating control of interaction territory. Two male confederates, one neatly but casually dessed, the other dressed as a student, priest, or businessman, were situated in a department store doorway either 42 or 54 in. apart. During half of the 600 observations, the confederates were conversing. At the close distance, people tended to detour around all dyads; neither attire nor conversation affected the number of territorial invasions. At the far distance, shoppers frequently invaded the space between the nonconversing confederates; when conversing, however, dyads with a member dressed as a priest or businessman (higher status ratings) detoured significantly more shoppers than the dyad with a member dressed as a student (lower status rating). The results indicate that cues to the status of one’s social role provided by attire are important determinants of the sanctity of one’s interaction territory.
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This research is based on a thesis by Marvin Bouska submitted in partial fulftllment of the requirements for the MS degree at North Dakota State University. The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Gerard P. Meier and Kermit A. Harr, who were the confederates for the behavioral observations, and Jeffrey M. Gerth and Linda G. Marsh for their assistance in reliability checks on subject defmition. The authors also thank Donald F. Schwartz for his helpful comments on an earlier draft of the paper.
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Bouska, M.L., Beatty, P.A. Clothing as a symbol of status: Its effect on control of interaction territory. Bull. Psychon. Soc. 11, 235–238 (1978). https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03336817
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03336817