How Your Clothes Alter Your Emotions
You may already know clothes can alter your emotions and mood. Here’s how they can affect you:
Making you a better thinker and more powerful
There is a study that’s published in Personality Science and Social Psychology wherein researchers had test subjects wear formal attires. They then were asked to finish a number of experiments which challenged their abilities in terms of cognitive processing. Those that wore formal attires were found to have better results than those that were under-dressed. The ones in business attire felt they were more in control and significantly more powerful.
Apart from feeling more powerful, subjects that were in formal clothes were able to think on their feet faster as well. They had more ideas, too. The scientists speculated on the fact that your clothes change your perception to people, events, and objects around you.
Making exercising easier
Athletes that wore red uniforms wore more events on the Olympic games of 2004 as opposed to opponents that were in blue. This has inspired researchers in seeing if there was a coincidence to this or if there’s really something special in the color.
The study found that those that wore red were able to lift heaver weights. They also had heart rates that were higher than the average. This indicates that those who wore red were working harder compared to those that wore blue. Yes, even when both groups have reported that they have similar exertion rates.
Before you toss your blue athleisure clothes, take note that researchers didn’t find as to whether wearing blue or red makes you win more often.
Making you smarter
Dressing in clothes that are associated with intelligence e.g. the uniform of a pilot or coat of a doctor, won’t just make you appear smarter. It can help you in acting smarter as well, as reported by a study that was published in Experimental Social Psychology Journal. The researchers gave lab coats of doctors to the test subjects and none were doctors themselves. They were then asked in performing a couple of complicated assignments.
Those that were wearing white coats had fewer mistakes compared to those that had street clothes on. The scientists then made the same experiment but gave lab coats to every single one of the participants and not just a select group.
This time, they told half of the test subjects that they were wearing paint smocks rather than coats of doctors. Again, those that were wearing “coats of doctors” were able to perform better compared to those that wore “smocks.” this just shows that it is not only what you wear – it also matters what you think you are wearing.
Making you focus
Being able to completely focus on tasks even when they are boring is only half the battle with most jobs we take on. The same study we mentioned earlier found that those that wear the doctor’s lab coats that were “smarter” were able to put more focus on tasks and sustain the focus in comparison to those that were just wearing the smocks of painters.
The researchers explained that it’s because physicians are more rigorous, careful, and excellent at focusing. The subjects that had the coats thought they had to be the same way and acted like doctors, embodying their great qualities as if they were trying to keep up with the outfits’ expectations. This is one that you need to remember, most especially if you wish to excel in your work place.
Making you become more honest
There may be sneaky side effects to wearing knock-offs, as reported by a Harvard study that was published in the Psychological Science. The researchers gave the test subjects new sunglasses that were fancy, telling half of the group that they were designer items. The other half of the group was gold that the glasses were counterfeit.
Those that were given the knock-offs cheated during subsequent games and expressed a lot more suspicion compared to the other players. As it turns out, if you wear fake clothing, you will feel fake as well and you would assume others to be fake, too.
Making you more happy
Do you wear clothes that reflect your mood? Perhaps it is the other way around. Perhaps it is the clothes that you wear that change your mood. University of Queensland had researchers that interviewed people, overseeing their clothing choices as well.
What they found out is that we dress how we would like to feel. We also dress how we would like others think we are feeling. This means, we put on happy sweaters during days that we want to smile and be happy even when we were actually feeling a bit down.
If you want to make changes as to how you feel with your clothes, then shop for new ones now!