University of the Philippines Cebu College

Social Sciences Division

In partial fulfillment of

Psychology – 118 (Field Methods)

Physical Appearance and Behavior: The Influence of Gender on the Formation of

Positive First Impressions

Submitted by:

Mia Jane Lora

Submitted to:

Prof. Flora Generalao

 March 2012

Physical Appearance and Behavior: The Influence of Gender on the Formation of

Positive First Impressions

Every relationship starts with a first meeting. The first instance of seeing that

person and getting to know that person. The formation of first impression is inevitable to

anyone. First impression is defined as the primary judgment of a person towards another

person.

First impressions are considered to be important since it’s one of the predictors

for future relationships. A positive first impression would more likely develop future

relationships. Likeability is one of the measurements of a positive first impression. This

means that if you like somebody after the first meeting, you have developed a positive

first impression.

A lot of factors affect the first impressions formed by a person. Some of these

factors are Physical Appearance and Behavior. The likeability of a person is based on

what is a more important factor for the other person who’s making the first impression.

Future relationships whether romantic, professional, or friendly is dependent on

the first impression people make out of one another. However this does not apply all the

time, because given the right circumstances, one could actually change the said first

impression. It creates a mark but still it’s changeable.

Taking all of these into consideration, this study aims to know the effects of

Physical Appearance and Behavior in the formation of positive first impressions among
teenagers. This study aims to know whether the effects of such factors are dependent on

gender.

Review of Related Literature

The topic, Formation of First Impressions is a sought out topic because of the

various effects in different aspects of human relationships and behavior. There had been

several studies on first impression, relating them to different human behaviors like dating

and memory.

Flora (2004) said that our brains are like Polaroids that create a “composite of all

signals” given off by a new experience. A study was conducted by Schiller, Freeman, et.

Al (2009) was entitled, “Neural Mechanisms of First Impressions”. The study was

conducted with the use of a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The

participants of the said study were also asked to evaluate the likeability of the 20 person

profiles with 120 person-descriptive sentence implying different personality traits.

The results of study showed that the difference in evaluation effect reflects

subjective weighting of person-descriptive information by the subjects’ own

interpretations rather than the more general effects such as primacy or negativity of the

stimuli themselves. The results confirmed that there is a neural mechanism happening in

the brain when first impressions are formed. Also that first impression is tightly

connected with the enduring biases subjects bring along.

In some studies the factor Physical Appearance is being taken into consideration.
The study conducted by Tubre (2000) tackled the effects of Personality and

Attractiveness and found that males and females would prefer attractiveness than

Personality. However, the study conducted by Huston and Levinger (1978) found that

men prefer attractiveness to personality. Also Sprecher, Sullivan and Hattfield (1994)

said that women prefer personality rather than physical attractiveness.

Statement of the Problem

This study aims to find out if positive first impressions vary according to the

gender of the rater. Specifically, it aims to measure if values given to Physical

Appearance and Behavior of a newly encountered person differ between males and

females.

Conceptual Framework

In this study, the Positive First Impression is measured through different

combinations of Behavior and Physical Appearance. The hypothesis of this study is that

male and female teenagers have varied ratings on the likability of a person with regard to

Physical Appearance and Behavior.

Physical Appearance. ​The way a person presents himself with regards to hygiene,

clothing and face.

Behavior. It is related to the personality of a person. The way and manner a person

interacts with the society.

Gender.​ It is the Male or Female categorization of people with regards to sex.

METHODOLOGY

Research Design

This study used correlational design to measure the influence of gender on the

formation of positive first impressions. A survey was used for data collection.

Sampling Design

The researcher used a systematic-random sampling design. Slovin’s rule was used

to determine the sample size needed in this study. The total number of households with

teenagers is 149. The computed sample size is 108 (K=1).

Research Participants and Setting

Participants were 108 teenagers (47 males and 61 females) whose ages range from

13-19 years old (M= , SD= ). The study was conducted among teenagers in Sitio Hardin

and Itoc, Busay Cebu City.

Research Instrument

The questionnaires used contain four items which presents four different people

with four different combinations of Physical Appearance and Behavior (Good Looks-
Good Behavior, Good Looks- Bad Behavior, Bad Looks- Bad Behavior and Bad Looks-

Bad Behavior). Each item requires the respondents to think of the presented situation as

first encounters with the characters on it. They were asked to rate these characters

afterwards using a 7 point scale with 1 as least liked and 7 as very liked.

Results and Discussions

 This study aims to find out if there is a difference in the positive first impressions

formed by male and female teenagers in terms of Physical Appearance (Good and Bad

looks) and Behavior (Good and Bad behavior).

Table 1

Gender and First Impressions

r​pb t

Good looks, bad behavior -0.09 -0.93

Good looks, good behavior -0.11 -1.17

Bad looks, bad behavior -0.03 -0.28

Bad looks, good behavior 0.03 0.35

N=108, ​df​=106, p<0.05

Point biserial correlation was used to measure if there was a significant difference

between gender and first impressions. As shown in Table 1, no significant result was

​ 106), Good looks – Good

found in the Good looks – Bad behavior (r​pb ​= -0.09, ​df=

​ 106), Bad looks – Bad Behavior (r​pb ​= -0.03, ​df​= 106) and Bad
behavior (r​pb ​= -0.11, ​df=

​ 106) items.
​ 0.03, ​df=
looks- Bad behavior (r​pb =
 Therefore gender does not influence the formation of positive first impressions of

teenagers. The results of this study support the hypothesis that like men, women prefer

attractiveness to personality (Tubre, 2000).

Conclusion and Recommendations

No significant result was found when the correlation between gender and first

impression was measured. This means that gender does not affect the formation of

positive first impressions among teenagers.

Since the questionnaires in this study was based on gender, where females

answered questionnaires with male characters on it and the males with female characters,

the researcher recommends that in future studies, same gender ratings would also be

included. Also other variables like age and socio-economic status may be explored. The

future researchers could also take into account Primacy Effect in terms of the order of

characteristics describes on the evaluations made by the respondents.

References:

Huston, T.L. & Levinger, G. (1978). Interpersonal atttraction and relationships. Annual

Review of Psychology, 29, 115-156

Freeman, Jonathan B., Jason P. Mitchell, Elizabeth A. Phelps, Daniela Schiller, James S.

Uleman. A neural mechanism of first impressions. Nature of Neuroscience vol.12,

no.4 . April 2009

Flora, Carlin (2004). The First Impression. Psychology Today [Online]. Available:

http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200405/the-first-impression

Spreecher, S., Sullivan, Q., & Hattfield, E. (1994). Journal of Personality and Social

Psychology, 66, 1074-1080

Tubre, Kristin (2000). First impression: The effect of attractiveness and personality on

pursuing dating relationships and friendships.

 APPENDIX

Appendix A: Questionnaire for Males

Good Day! I am Mia Jane Lora, a second year BA Psychology student of the University of the
Philippines Cebu College. I am currently conducting a study on the importance of behavior and
physical appearance in the formation of first impressions among teenagers. I am humbly asking
you to answer my questionnaire and please do answer as honestly as possible. Thank you very
much.

Age: _______ Gender: _______

Given below are different situations which contain physical and behavioral descriptions of
different people. You are to imagine that each given situation is your first meeting with the said
person. Evaluate whether how likeable the person is to you, with 1 as the lowest and 7 as the
highest.

On your first day at work you’ve met a workmate named Rica. Rica has a very feminine physique
similar to that of models. Her face looks smooth and her skin is fair. Her hair is combed properly
and she smells pleasant. After introducing herself, she then starts to talk about her
accomplishments in the said company and all the expensive things she has. While she was
talking to you, the company janitor bumped her by accident and she then shrieked and looked at
the janitor like she was really disgusted with him.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

During your first day in college, you saw a girl wearing glasses and looks really intelligent. She
looks tidy and calm. Her clothes fir her perfectly and you noticed how simple and pretty she looks.
You came across each other in the line leading to the school registrar, she smiled when she saw
you looking at her.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Upon moving to a new house, on your first night you overheard the neighbor talking to her
daughter, “You’re such a lazy child! All you do is sleep and eat you don’t even help inside this
house!” The next day you saw the girl at the store across your house buying drinks, she’s wearing
lose clothes with a messy hair which is tied up.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

You were called for an interview at the company you really liked. Upon reaching the Human
Resource Manager’s office, you immediately noticed that the HR manager looks older than her
real age. You also see that her shirt is stained is not ironed well. When the interview started she
has a very soft voice and waited for you to answer before she starts another question. She often
smiles when you say something amusing and nods when you say your accomplishments. When
you said that you would be very happy to be part of their company, she smiled and said, “We’d
like you to be here also.”

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Appendix B: Questionnaire for Females

Good Day! I am Mia Jane Lora, a second year BA Psychology student of the University of the
Philippines Cebu College. I am currently conducting a study on the importance of behavior and
physical appearance in the formation of first impressions among teenagers. I am humbly asking
you to answer my questionnaire and please do answer as honestly as possible. Thank you very
much.

Age: _______ Gender: _______

Given below are different situations which contain physical and behavioral descriptions of
different people. You are to imagine that each given situation is your first meeting with the said
person. Evaluate whether how likeable the person is to you with 1 as the lowest and 7 as the
highest.

On your first day at work you’ve met a workmate named Rico. Rico has a very masculine
physique. His face is smooth and fair and his nose and eyes looks perfect. His hair is combed
properly and he smells really good. After introducing himself, Rico immediately told you about all
his accomplishments in the said company and all the expensive things he has. While he was
talking to you, the company janitor accidentally bumped him and Rico shouted at him and told
him mean words.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

During your first day in college, you see a guy who’s wearing glasses and looks intelligent. He
looks very tidy and calm. You came across each other in the line leading to the school registrar,
he then smiles at you and introduces him self to you.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Upon moving to a new house, on your first night you overheard the neighbor talking to her son,
“You’re such a lazy child! All you do is sleep and eat you don’t even help inside this house!” The
next day you saw the guy at the store across your house buying drinks, wearing no shirt and with
a messy hair.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

You were called for an interview at the company you really liked. Upon reaching the Human
Resource Manager’s office, you immediately noticed that the HR manager looks older than his
real age. You also see that his shirt is stained is not ironed well. When the interview started he
has a very soft voice and waited for you to answer before he starts another question. He often
smiles when you say something amusing and nods when you say your accomplishments. When
you said that you would be very happy to be part of their company, he smiled and said, “We’d like
you to be here also.”

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Appendix C: Raw Data

Item no. 1
Y Values Entered
For X=0 For X=1

22676325532443221221321 11533331332221163311111
13122147122454511151321 64314355422656611111111
1 141111121112435

Summary Data
X=0 X=1 Total

n 47 61 108

-​Y 130 150 280

-​Y2​ 498 540 1038

SS​Y 138.4255 171.1475 312.0741

mean​Y 2.766 2.459 2.5926

r​pb ​T​ ​df​

-0.09 -0.93 106

​P​ One-tailed 0.177242

 Two-tailed 0.354484

Item no 2
Y Values Entered
For X=0 For X=1

66657567766667665677677 77555557666776673677764
77666755766567476365666 47646677752443664667777
7 576657567656766

Summary Data
X=0 X=1 Total

n 47 61 108

- Y 285 355 640

- Y​2 1763 2153 3916

SS​Y 34.8085 87.0164 123.4074

 mean​Y 6.0638 5.8197 5.9259

r​pb ​t​ ​df​

-0.11 -1.17 106

​P​ One-tailed 0.1223125

Two-tailed 0.244625

Item no 3
Y Values Entered
For X=0 For X=1

24444344434444431331411 22454442444334445544316
11243533324356553344411 33141443434334421111114
1 421334414222444

Summary Data
X=0 X=1 Total

n 47 61 108
 - Y 149 189 338

- Y​2 553 685 1238

SS​Y 80.6383 99.4098 180.1852

mean​Y 3.1702 3.0984 3.1296

r​pb ​t​ ​df​

-0.03 -0.28 106

​P​ One-tailed 0.3900115

Two-tailed 0.780023

Item no 4
Y Values Entered
For X=0 For X=1

56344644457666556545677 55666665666664444566674
64554762455667665547557 36476463564445474777666
4 544763566756554

Summary Data
X=0 X=1 Total

n 47 61 108

- Y 246 324 570

- Y​2 1350 1798 3148

SS​Y 62.4255 77.082 139.6667

mean​Y 5.234 5.3115 5.2778

r​pb ​t​ ​df​

+0.03 +0.35 106

​P​ One-tailed 0.3635165

Two-tailed 0.727033

Positive First Impression

 Physical Appearance

Behavior

Male

Female