We are what we…wear?
Posted on: Wednesday, September 7, 2016 Category: Uncategorized (58)2 min read
Ever worried about what to wear? Looked through your wardrobe and declared it empty of anything right?
As it turns out – you are right to give it some thought. Science says so. What we wear impacts our attitudes and confidence.
A superhero t-shirt makes you more confident. A great suit makes you powerful.
Mind What You Wear: The Psychology looks at how clothing has a 2-way effect on people. We know we judge people by what they wear, but the clothing we wear also impacts our impressions of ourselves. But we know this, right? We know how we feel when we wear our knock-out, go-to outfit. Our job interview jacket. Our best-ever party dress. We can feel strong, capable, powerful, fun. The good news – is that there is science to prove it.
Pine had students in her class wear Superman t-shirts, and compared their impressions of themselves to those of students wearing plain clothes or their own clothing. Superman wearing students deemed themselves as more likeable, superior, and physically stronger than the other students.
Researchers examined the effects of clothing on the performance of students during a maths test, where students wore either a swimsuit or sweater. Sweater wearers performed better. Mental agility was also found to be greatly improved with the donning of a white lab coat – we actually perform better when we wear clothes that we believe to be “clever” (Hajo & Galinsky, 2012).
Why? What we wear has cognitive, social and emotional consequences. There is a link between women’s moods and their clothing choices. Women wear jeans when low or depressed. When stressed, women tend to ignore 90% of their wardrobe due to feelings of their world narrowing down on them.
Not only are we what we wear, we become what we wear, and can change whatever mood we are in with a favourite dress or a brand new suit. So, is it time to go shopping for that impact outfit? Go on.
