Be aware of the clothes you wear - it can change your life

When a university lecturer asks students to wear Superman shirts, there is a scientific reason behind that request. Instructor Karen Pine wanted to know, whether the hero's clothes could have an unconscious impact on the students' thought processes. Her suspicion has been verified.

She found that it increased their impression of themselves and made them believe that they were stronger (physically) than those in the control group. How this discovery and other discoveries about clothing can change our minds, are the subject of the new book of Mind What You Wear: The Psychology of Fashion.

When wearing a Superman t-shirt, Pine's students rated themselves as more adorable and better than other students. When asked to judge how much weight they could lift, the Superheroes thought they were stronger than other students wearing similar T-shirts but did not have the Superman logo. Pine's book reveals how human psychological and cognitive processes can be guided by clothing, as they embrace the symbolic meaning of their suits.

Clothes change the way we think and feel

I once had an article about how small differences in clothing can affect other people's impressions of a person. But clothing awareness studies show that clothing can affect people wearing them, affecting their thinking processes and moods . If you've ever been in a hospital, you have to wear a pale suit, no style like a baby's long dress, you can remember it makes you feel good, docile and not self-reliant like how.

Research has now verified that clothing really guides the brain to work differently. In the 1990s, Barbara Fredrickson found that the women assigned to do a math test did worse when wearing a swimsuit than wearing a long-sleeved shirt, although men's scores were not affected. by their clothes. Researchers believe that when the female body is exposed, she is worried about other people assessing her, and the men in this study are less affected by this and can practice centered on the problem.

In Mind What You Wear, Pine describes the study of Adam Galinski, who first coined the term "dressing awareness" (enclothed cognition) and discovered a person's mental flexibility improved when they wearing a white gown. The cloak instructs their brains to take on the sharp mental abilities they associate with a doctor. Interestingly, the achievements of the participants did not change significantly when they were told that the cloak was from a painter, indicating that the logo itself was associated with clothing rather than the material of clothing that indicated lead mechanism to change awareness.

We become what we wear

Pine brings many interesting insights into the cognitive, social and emotional consequences of clothing in Mind What You Wear. She describes the link between women's moods and their choice of clothes. She found that women are more likely to wear jeans when they feel depressed or depressed, Pine explores how clothing can reinforce negative moods.

She also revealed a recent study of the connection between mood and clothing, indicating that when women are stressed, their world is narrowed and as a result they wear a few items in their wardrobe. , ignore about 90% of clothing. The book also has many tips on how to feel happier and more confident with the right clothes, reminding us that we are not only what we wear, but we also become ours. wear.