Effect of nurses' mode of dress on behavior of psychiatric patients differing in information-processing complexity.

An attempt was made to assess the impact of nurses' mode of dress (uniform vs. street clothes) on the perception and behavior of patients differing in the degree of their dependence on stereotypic information in the decision-making process. It was found that a nurse in uniform was perceived more stereotypically, that is, as more of a benevolent autocrat, than the same nurse in street clothes behaving the same way. This was most dramatically demonstrated in patients characterized by their extreme dependence on stereotypic information. Additionally, it was also found that patients who were very dependent on stereotypic information behaved less adaptively in the experimental social interaction with a nurse in street clothes due to their tendency to withdraw from the interaction. The therapeutic implications of these findings are discussed and suggestions for future research are considered.