Affluence cues and first impressions: The moderating impact of the Protestant work ethic

This experiment examined how a target person's affluence cues and the perceiver's endorsement of the Protestant work ethic (PWE) influence interpersonal perceptions about others. Participants (N = 136) read scenarios that described a man or woman in either an affluent or less affluent home setting. They then evaluated the target person on 20 personal qualities and indicated their desire to have the target's lifestyle. A positive relationship was found between affluence level and perceptions of personal abilities, sophistication, and the desire to have the target's lifestyle. A negative relationship was found between affluence level and perceptions of considerateness. The perceiver's endorsement of the PWE moderated two of these four relationships. High PWEs ascribed greater considerateness to an affluent target person than low PWEs. Low PWEs did not differ in their evaluation of a less affluent target person's considerateness. Further, low PWEs, unlike high PWEs, displayed clear preference for the affluent over the less affluent target's lifestyle. Results are discussed with respect to the information processing tendencies associated with PWE endorsement. Future research directions are also discussed. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.