1. LORAS.EDU Abstract Introduction We were interested in exploring general stereotypes undergraduates might have about students who choose to major in artistic disciplines. There is existing research on college students and personality stereotyping. Newman, Keough, & Lee (2009), for example, studied the effect of negative stereotypes in general on new college students. Other research has examined stereotyping within a major or field of interest. Cundiff, Vescio, Loken, & Lo (2013) studied how gender-specific stereotypes about science careers had different effects on male versus female science majors. This was exploratory research to set a foundation for potential future research. We did not have specific hypotheses, other than our expectation that there will be some agreement on characteristics related to different majors, specifically art and music majors. Method We surveyed 69 undergraduates about physical, social, and personality characteristics they associated with business, sports science, psychology, music and art majors. Participants responded to open-ended items asking them to list descriptive words or phrases that would likely apply to a student in each of these majors To evaluate the responses gathered we used the five factor theory of openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism. Each descriptive word listed by participants was categorized as relating to one big five characteristic and total number of words in each factor was counted for each major scenario. Each major scenario thus received a numeric score for each of the five factors. A series of one-way ANOVAs was used to compare personality scores by major. Results A series of one-way ANOVAs was used to compare personality scores by major. These tests showed significant differences in ratings regarding openness (F (4, 340) = 7.65, p <.001), conscientiousness (F (4, 340) = 8.47, p <.001), extraversion (F (4, 340) = 12.94, p <.001), and agreeableness (F (4, 340) = 7.9, p <.001). We used Tukey HSD post hoc comparisons to specifically determine whether music and art students were perceived differently. These tests showed that art majors were perceived as significantly higher in than other majors (business marginally significant), M = 1.26, SD = 0.88. There was a significantly higher perception of openness in regards to music and art students compared to sports science students, which can be seen in the first chart to the left. On the conscientiousness scale, art and music students were perceived to be somewhat less conscientious than psychology, and even more so less conscientious that business and sports science majors. Music and art majors were not perceived any differently in the characteristics of extraversion or agreeability in regards to the other majors. There were so few terms used to describe neuroticism that we did not have sufficient data to analyze this characteristic. There does seem to be some initial indication of stereotypes regarding students who major in the arts. However, limitations of this study include the fact that the sample size was relatively small and consisted mainly of first-year undergraduates who may not have fully developed stereotypes about college academic majors. Other limitations have to do with forcing descriptive terms into the five-factor model and some difficulties rating open-ended responses. This research could be conducted using a standard version of a five-factor measure to reduce the variability of answers. Another option is to analyze open-ended data without preconceived themes to see what other types of personality differences might be indicated. Discussion Cundiff, J. L., Vescio, T. K., Loken, E., & Lo, L. (2013). Do gender–science stereotypes predict science identification and science career aspirations among undergraduate science majors?. Social Psychology Of Education, doi:10.1007/s11218-013-9232-8 Newman, M. L., Keough, K. A., & Lee, R. M. (2009). Group identification and college adjustment: The experience of encountering a novel stereotype. The Journal Of Social Psychology, 149(6), 694-708. doi:10.1080/00224540903348261 References This study was designed to examine personality assumptions, or stereotypes, related to art and music majors. Undergraduate participants were asked to list words descriptive of majors in several different areas of study, including music and art. Descriptors were classified according to category of the five-factor personality model and different majors compared. Art majors were perceived as higher in openness; both art and music majors were perceived as lower in conscientiousness than other majors. Personality Stereotypes Related to Music and Art Students Claira Sieverding, Jenna Adams & Isabella Irurita Faculty Sponsor: Julia Omarzu Both art (M =.41, SD =.69) and music majors (M =.51, SD =.75) were perceived as significantly lower in conscientiousness than other majors (psychology only marginally different from music).