EFFECTS OF RELIGIOUS ORIENTATION AND CLOTHING REVEALINGNESS ON WOMENSCHOICE OF CLOTHING

Women college students classified as intrinsic, extrinsic, and indiscr iminate proreligious, on the basis of their responses to Allport's Rel igious Orientation Scale, indicated on a 7-point scale the extent that they would wear either revealing or nonrevealing clothing. A signific ant interaction between clothing style and religious sentiment occurre d. The intrinsic women preferred to wear the nonrevealing clothing sig nificantly more than did the extrinsic and indiscriminate proreligious women. Similarly, the extrinsic and indiscriminate women preferred to wear revealing clothing significantly more than did the intrinsic wom en. Moreover, the women's attitudes toward wearing the clothing were h ighly consistent with their actual clothing choices. These findings su ggest that intrinsic women prefer nonrevealing clothing more than do e xtrinsic women because the internalized beliefs of intrinsics conflict with a revealing mode of dress. It is also suggested that extrinsics may be more likely to be influenced by socially acceptable justificati ons for the wearing of sexually provocative clothing.