I Wear Confidence

I got up late today. I knew I’d have to be rushing with all my morning routines just to leave the house in time for class. Well, what really takes up most of my time is not the bath or even breakfast, it’s the hours spent picking the right outfit for the day, never knowing that I’ve been unconsciously rummaging through all my clothes just to pick out my confidence.

"Boy-next-door"

 Yes, well all want to look great, if not, we all just want to be socially accepted. But as we walk on sidewalks on the way to work, or as we make our way through the halls to our classrooms, we can’t really be yelling at ever passerby that we are in fact that person. We don’t really have the time to stop and say “hey, yeah I’m this boy-next-door type,” ”court me I’m single,” or “I’m the geek who’d love you.” One thing is that people would think you’re a douchebag or some crazy random person, second it’s just not our nature to be approaching people we don’t know. They only way we can show people of whom we are without any introductions is to wear what’s in our mind.

"court me I'm single"

An article “Enclothed Cognition: Put On Your Power!,” by Emily vanSonnenberg explains it all. Emily writes that 2 scientists, Hajo Adam and Adam Galinksy, conducted 3 studies wherein in participants were asked to wear white coats which doctor’s usually wear. Participants who wore the doctor’s coats had answers with less incongruity (1^st study), had heightened attention (2^nd study), and had the highest sustained attention (3^rd study).

"I'm the geek who'd love you"

Emily explains that though these people were not really doctors or had no degree of which, the idea of a person on the stature of a doctor would affect one’s way of thinking since he/she is clothed with the white doctor’s coat. Easily said, the participants took up the role of a doctor being scientific, precise and intelligent. As Emily has stated, in her article, their clothing invoked their psychological schema. Their finding in Enclothed Cognition not only works for the smart feel of doctors but for other looks as well. And we, as readers can find it out by trying on a look to guide us, and eventually a look to make us.

“What we wear can be an implicit non-verbal way to express our unique personalities.” –Emily.

            True, our clothes have given our bodies visual expressions of personalities. The clothes that we pick manipulate us to think as how the wearer embodies the clothing. Through this study we can clearly see how this phenomenon has happened. Vogue has actually used this study in their designs and articles “Confidence Dressing: How Clothing Affects the Mind,” by Katherine Bernard, and thus have introduced to its designers with the influence of clothing through Enclothed Cognition.