Comparison of Visual Responses of Female Observers to Clothing over Time

Abstract

Two groups of females ( n = 35, n = 36) completed a semantic differential instrument in response to 10 slides of fashionable dress. The response sessions were separated by 12 wk. to determine the effect of change in fashion on group response to identical stimuli. Responses were analyzed for similarity in use of word pairs via principal component analysis. The first component explained the largest proportion of variance and was interpreted as evaluative while subsequent components were informational. Profiles of word-pairs identified through a multivariate analysis of variance indicated a consistent difference between responses of groups which was keyed to word-pairs reflecting recent changes in fashion.