Abstract

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Brase & Richmond (2004, Journal of Applied Social Psychology)
Although previous studies have evaluated effects of attire on doctor-patient interaction, the common assumption of a trade-off between perceptions of medical authority/status versus trustworthiness/openness has not been established. 38 male and 40 female participants rated their perceptions of same and opposite-sex models who were all identified as doctors but wearing different attires. The results indicate that the above factors are not opposing factors, and that a white coat and formal attire are clearly superior to casual attire. Additionally, perceptions of attractiveness of same- and opposite-sex doctors were rated, finding sex differences in perceptions that are different from, but theoretically similar to, prior findings. For females rating male models, perceptions of authority and attractiveness appear to be related.