Self-Perceived Personality Traits of Authoritative Uniformed Employees While in Uniform and in Street Clothes

Bem's self-perception theory suggests that individuals discover their attitudes and emotions partially by observing their behaviors, such as clothing choice. Peluchette and Karl (2007) examined professional clothing, suggesting that subjects feel more competent in business attire than street clothes. The present study investigated if self-perceived personality traits of uniformed personnel change when in uniform vs. street clothes. Of 100 members of police and military groups in Virginia, 87 completed the Big Five Personality Test, 60 in uniform, 27 in street clothes. Comparing groups, four of five personality scores differed as predicted: (1) uniform wearers perceived themselves as more extraverted than those in street clothes, consistent with their need to engage strangers to assess environment; (2) uniform wearers perceived themselves as more conscientious than those in street clothes, consistent with requirements to be responsible; (3) street clothes wearers perceived themselves as more agreeable than those in uniform, consistent with their casual style; (4) street clothes wearers perceived themselves as more open to new experience than those in uniform, consistent with the freedom of personal roles. Agreeableness and conscientiousness reached statistical significance. One score did not differ: uniform wearers did not perceive themselves as less neurotic. Nevertheless, general population neuroticism scores (Guenole & Chernyshenko, 2005) are higher than among the present subjects. Thus, uniformed personnel may perceive themselves as consistently less neurotic, leaving less variability within which to reduce this self-perception when in uniform. Future research should focus on personality measures with greater granularity to better detect the impact of uniforms.