Research Project

Jenifer Flinton

December 16, 2010

Eng 4070.01

Final Research Report

Introduction

       Walk around Kean University’s campus, and you are sure to find men and women milling about in suits, business casual attire, jeans, sweatpants, and occasionally pajamas. What you may or may not realize is clothes can say a lot about a person’s behavior and personality, level of academia and major, and how stressed the individual is. The same can be seen in Kean’s Writing Center. Someone’s appearance can say much about how each writing center session will go.

Dress, Behavior, and Personality

       Oftentimes, a person’s personality is reflected in how they are dress. For example, if a man dresses in all black, has multiple piercings up and down both ears and sprinkled across his face, has tattoos depicting war, and wears the same leather jacket to class every day, he is most likely not the type of guy who turns into a pile of mush when he sees kittens. Not saying that you can judge a person entirely off of their appearance, but generally the clothes me choose to wear reflect what we want to say about ourselves.

       One of the sessions I observed, the student (A) was wearing Uggs with sweatpants and a hoodie. The way she (student A) responded to the coach was in a very relaxed manner. She (student A) did not seem rushed nor did she seem overly tense. Her (student A) clothes reflected her demeanor.

Major and Level: What To Wear When You Are ‘All Grown Up’

       As you get older, your style of clothing changes. You begin to dress more professional. Again, if you take a look around Kean’s campus, you can begin to decipher the ages and potentially the majors of individuals (with the exception of during finals when everyone is so stressed out, they do not even bother to look pretty). You might see a senior woman in low heels lugging a tote bag with crayons, flashcards with the alphabet on them, and an over-stuffed planner. Most likely, she is doing her senior fieldwork to teach at a kindergarten level. You may see a man with a briefcase, wearing a lab coat and mumbling about forgetting to feed the hatchet fish. Most likely, he is an upper-level biology student.

       In another of the sessions I observed, there was a coach (C) and a student (C) who were dressed very casually. They made jokes often and neither seemed very concerned with the actual work. It turns out both were freshmen and went off on tangents often about adjustments to college life and critiquing shared (and not shared) teachers.

Stress and Dress

       Stress is very often reflected in one’s appearance (Philippot 2003). One session I observed (Coach A and Student D) was a prime example of stress being visible. The student (D) had written an article for the Cougar Bite that was due the next day.

       The student (D) came in looking rather frumpy and never even removed his heavy jacket. He (D) cracked his knuckles often when he was trying to plow through reading his paper and when the coach (A) was talking her time reading parts of the paper aloud. Also, as soon as the actual paper correcting was completed, his (D) demeanor immediately calmed.

Does Clothing Distract?

       One of the coaches (A) I observed was Muslim wore a Hijab. She was the reason I decided to write my paper on clothing. I wondered if she would have any problems or prejudices against her in any of her sessions because as far as I had seen, she was the only coach in the center who dressed in religious clothing. I observed her for two separate sessions and neither times did it seem as if her appearance affected the effectiveness of the session. It actually gave me a higher opinion of the students at Kean. I know we are diverse, but I also have found many seemingly diverse communities outcast people that are “too different” (Geller).

Closing

       Clothes can say a lot about a person’s behavior, personality, level of academia and major, and how stressed the individual is. Around Kean’s campus you can find different examples of each, as can be seen in Kean’s Writing Center. And, as you have seen, this has the potential to affect how each writing center session will go.

References

Amigone, Grace Ritz. “Writing Lab Tutors: Hidden Messages that 

Matter.” 2.2 (1982): 24-30.

Geller, Anne Ellen, Michele Eodice, Frankie Condon, Ebook Corportation. "Everyday

Writing Center: A Community Of Practice". Logan: Utah State University Press. 2006.

Philippot, Pierre, Ebooks Corporation. "Nonverbal Behavior in Clinical Studies". New

York: Oxford University Press. 2003.