Title

Communication through Content: Student Perceptions of Faculty Offices

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

The messages that are communicated nonverbally by the objects present in and general status of a professor's office space were investigated. Students viewed photographs of male and female faculty owned offices with varying degrees of clutter, and rated office attractiveness and professor personality. In addition, these same faculty rated their own personality and comparisons between student perceptions of faculty personality and faculty self-ratings were made. Cluttered offices were rated as less attractive than clean offices. Professors rated themselves high on extroversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness, whereas students rated professors significantly low on these traits; students were able to accurately rate openness traits. Male raters were more accurate at guessing the sex of the office owner than female raters.