ArticleBritish journal of health psychology2026
The impact of how physicians self-present: A study of gender and attire effects on perceived warmth and competence.
Article in British journal of health psychology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- The impact of how physicians self-present: A study of gender and attire effects on perceived warmth and competence.British journal of health psychology · 2026Article
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesWe aimed to replicate the idea that physicians' self-presentation characteristics (i.e. formal vs. informal attire) and gender (i.e. men vs. women) influence perceptions of their warmth and competence. Further, we aimed to extend this line of work by examining how these relationships are moderated by trust in physicians.
designWe conducted a 2 (physician gender: men vs. women) × 2 (self-presentation: formal vs. informal attire) experiment using publicly available physician images.
methodsStudents (N = 734) were randomly assigned to rate five physician images from a pool of 20 stimuli across physician gender and attire conditions. Participants rated physicians on warmth and competence, and then completed a trust in physicians scale. Linear mixed models evaluated main effects and interaction effects for self-presentation, gender and physician trust.
resultsPhysicians in formal attire (white lab coats) were perceived as warmer and more competent than those in informal attire (casual or informal wear). Women physicians were rated as warmer, but not more competent than men physicians. Two-way interaction effects revealed formal attire enhanced perceptions of men physicians more than women on average. Three-way interaction effects indicated trust in physicians moderated these results, with women physicians' ratings being more dependent on participants' general trust levels, particularly for those with lower trust in the medical profession.
conclusionsWe replicated and extended this literature by demonstrating how physician gender and patient trust levels moderate self-presentation effects. For physicians, understanding a patient's relationship with the medical establishment may help to inform their self-presentation choices.
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