An Analysis of the Effects of Facial Hair on Keeping a Good First Impression

Effect of Facial Hair on Retaining Professional Services

First impressions are lasting impressions, so when an individual seeks out a professional, i.e. an attorney, they have expectations of a higher standard from that individual. Every human being, has different ideas of what those "expectations" should be in a professional, so things like facial hair or baldness can have either a negative or a positive effect on someone. Much attention has been given to the importance of the image communicated to others based on personal appearance. Cognitive theorists suggest that clothing and appearance assist individuals in making inferences about others (Reed & Blunk, 1990).

Many studies have been conducted on the way a bearded man is viewed in society and the studies have shown a positive attitude. Bearded men were perceived as more educated, intelligent, inquisitive, enthusiastic, sincere, generous, open minded, masculine, outgoing, extroverted and as having more status (Freedman, 1969; Kenny& Fletcher, 1973). Research (Reed, et al., 1990) shows that facial hair positively contributes to perception of social physical attractiveness. It is also revealed that men with facialhair are viewer more favorabiv than clean-shaven men Unlike facial hair on professional, baldness (in most cases) is uncontrollable. However, this to plays an important role in the attitudes and impressions humans have about one another. Like wine, wisdom is better with age and for some reason, we associate baldness with wisdom.

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Although male faces with less cranial hair appeared older, they also appeared more intelligent (Cash, 1990). Research repeatedly shows that facial hair is a positive factor in an individual's appearance Pellegrini (1973) performed an experiment in social perception in which women and men evaluated stimulus pictures of college men that varied systematically in level of facial hair, (full beard, goatee, mustache, mustache only, clean shaven). The more hair the more favorable they were perceived (Barber, 2001). However, in one study (Feinman & Gill, 1977) the results did not follow the pattern of Tacial hair approval. The 482 Caucasian female respondents selected the presented choices as preferences 445 times. Since more than one choice was often indicated, choices, rather than respondents were considered to be the units of data analysis. Of 445 choices, only 12.8% were for full beard and 4.5% were for small beard. In contrast 40.7% and 42% of the choices were for no facial In only one study that was examined in this research, did we uncover a significant negative effect of bearded men. However, there has been plenty of supporting evidence that shows bearded men and bald men as being favorable. Recruitment personal appear to be greatly influenced by first impressions and tend to make their decisions very quickly (Cash & Kilcullen, 1985).

With this type of information at hand, a professional gentleman heading out into the workforce, may want to consider growing a beard or shaving his head. With appearance being one of the only sources of information to drive these first impressions, it is not surprising that perceived attractiveness affects recruitment decisions (Dipboye, Arvey & Terpstra, 1977). However important it is for us to feel comfortable with a professional's appearance, it would not be in our best judgment to hire an individual solely on appearance. Presumably, perceiver are used to inferring that the presence of information, rather than its absence, contributes to sound inferences (Yzerbyt, Leyenes, Corneille, 1998). with previous research showing facial hair and baldness in a positive way, we showed participants pictures of individuals with hair or without and with beard or without beads. We hypothesized that with positive results from past research, we to would find that bearded and bald men were viewed as more favorable in a first impression setting. Method Participants Fifty-three females and fifty-nine males, totaling 112 participants, were randomly selected from the Corpus Christi, Texas area. These were all volunteers. The age range of the participants ranged from, 17 to 58, with a mean age of 35 Apparatus & Materials Each participant viewed one four folders containing a photograph of a man, generated from the "Faces" program at Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi, Texas.

All four pictures were of the same man, the only variations were the man's facial hair. One photo showed the man with short hair and clean-shaven, another showed the man with hair and a beard, another showed the man bald with a beard, while the last depicted the man bald with no beard. Each folder also contained an identical corresponding professional resume, to enhance the impression formation process. The instruction sheet that was created, informed the participants to view the photo, read the resume and form an impression based on the two. Then the instructions asked the participants to complete the attached questionnaire, which asked the participants the likelihood of them hiring the individual. Using a six point likert scale, the choices were as follows, (absolutely not, moderately unlikely, somewhat unlikely, somewhat likely, moderately likely, definitely would). The questionnaire also asked the participants to reveal their gender and age group. Procedure Each group member agreed to administer the 2X2 between s factorial design experiments in the same manner. Each group member randomly assigned one of four folders to a participant and asked them to please complete what the instruction sheet asked.

After each randomly assigned participant was given a randomly assigned folder, they were left alone to complete the task. Each group member repeated this random assignment of folders, until all seven members of the group had successfully tested 16 participants each, for a total of 112 participants. This random assignment of folders, allowed each participant an equal chance at any of the four folders containing photographs of either a bald man, with a beard; a bald man, without a beard; a short haired man, with a beard; or a short haired man, without a beard. Along with the Picture in the folder, each folder contained the same professional resume, for the participant to read. Participants completed a questionnaire that was in the folder, which asked the participant the likely hood of hiring this individual as their attorney, in a financial contract case. Then the questionnaire asked the gender and the age category that the participant belonged to. Results Analysis of Variance on Beard vs. No Beard Analysis of variance showed that the shorthaired clean-shaven man was more favorable (p<.099). than the shorthaired bearded man (p<.452).

However hese results do nor show a signiticant citerence on either side or the data Discussion The purpose of this study, was to find out if bearded or bald headed men were more favorable in a situation, where participants were to form an impression on whether the would hire an attorney fitting the aforementioned appearance. Unlike earlier research, this study did not find that bearded or bald headed men gained a more favorable edge. These results may have come at the cost of having a large group, independently conducting their individual portion of the study. In future research, the experimenter size may need to be reduced. In addition to that, the study may need to be confined to a stricter environment. We found no significant main effects or interactions within the large participant size. I believe that this study needs to be replicated to test for the "Zeitgeist" phenomenon. If further studies show the same trend, it may very well mean that people view beards and baldness differently than they have in the past.

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