Master's Theses

Department

Psychology

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Abstract

The life of every human organism is affected greatly by his interpersonal relationships with others. From the moment we are born until the time we die, each of us is compelled by the very nature of human existence to interact with other people. In so doing, we are each engaged in a continuous and unique learning process which directly shapes our social repertoire. As man interacts socially the behaviors which he elicits from others may act as reinforcing stimuli. His acquisition of social behaviors, then is operant in nature. While this occurs, however, the presence or absence of reinforcement may respondently elicit emotional behavior, which becomes associated with the giver of the reinforcer. In this way, the person who reinforces our behavior may become a secondary reinforcer; that is, he may come to elicit emotional responses which are similar to those elicited by the actual reinforcer. It is in this manner that man becomes attracted to other human beings. The purpose of this study was to determine whether inferred personality and behavioral characteristics differ as a function of the hair length of the person being judged, and the sex of the judge. Eighty-three males and eighty-three females each completed The Personality and Behavioral Rating Scale. This scale is a randomized and counterbalanced booklet containing thirteen bi-polar scales, each repeated once, yielding twenty-six ratings. For each rating dimension, a different photograph was evaluated. Thirteen long haired and thirteen short haired ratees were judged by each of the one hundered and sisty-sis Ss. Significant main effects were found for ten of the thirteen dimensions as a function of hair length. No significant interaction between hair length and sex.

Keywords

Students, Fort Hays State University, Ellis County (Kan.), Mental states, Discrimination, Prejudice, Testing

Advisor

Dr. James P. James

Date of Award

Spring 1972

Document Type

Thesis - campus only access

Rights

© The Author(s)

Comments

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