Free Essay Highlighting Pros and Cons of Having a Beard

Facial Hair Effects

It is common for people to make inferences about an individual’s character and personality when they meet them for the first time. Mainly, people make these inferences based on facial impressions. One of the major facial features that people use to make a judgment is the facial hair. The major impressions that people make based on facial hair include masculinity, attractiveness, parenting abilities, sociability, and healthiness. Other people make inferences about a person’s trustworthiness based on the facial appearance, which is determined by facial hair. A study by Reed and Blunk (1990) assessed whether companies form opinions about new individuals based on their facial attributes. The study used faces with three facial dimensions; mustached, bearded, and clean shaven. Reed and Blunk (1990) found that faces with a mustache or beard were ranked high on attractiveness and competency than clean-shaven faces. Therefore, the present study aims at investigating if male and female college students would consider a male portrait in a photograph with a beard or no beard as trustworthy.

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Hypotheses

1. Gender would have significant influence such that the female participants would judge the applicant more positively than male participants.

2. Applicant with beard would be ranked higher o trustworthiness than applicant with no beard.

3. There would be an interaction such that the female participants would rank the applicant with beards higher than the applicant with no facial hair. However, both the female and male participants would rank the applicant no facial hair the same.

4. Independent Variable

· Facial hair

· No facial hair

Dependent Variable

· Trustworthiness

Type of Study

The present study would be a qualitative study because it would be based on assessment of opinions and inferences of the participants about individuals with beards and the clean shaven. No numerical data would be assessed, therefore, the present study would be a qualitative study.

References

Reed, J., & Blunk, E. M. (1990). The influence of facial hair on impression formation. Social Behavior and Personality, 18(1), 169-175. doi:10.2224/sbp.1990.18.1.169