Influence of uniform and religious status on interviewees

Assessed the effects of uniform and religious status of interviewers on male and female Catholic and non-Catholic interviewees. 128 16-21 yr old Ss had interviews with a nun dressed either in lay clothing or a habit or with a non-nun dressed either in lay clothing or a habit. The design was a ^h 4 × 2 × 2 ^H factorial. The main effects were the 4 interviewer combinations (Religious ^h Status × Dress), ^H sex of interviewee, and religious preference of interviewee. The dependent variables were length of interview and scores on an attitude measure, an experience scale, and an interviewer rating scale. ANOVAs revealed significant main effect differences in (a) length of interview (interviewees spent more time speaking to nuns dressed in a habit) and (b) interviewee attitude (female interviewees responded more conservatively than males, Catholics responded more conservatively than non-Catholics, and all Ss responded more conservatively to nuns than non-nuns). (4 ref)