Q: How does wearing formal clothing change the way I think?
A: Yep. There’s plenty of evidence that formal clothing can change basic cognitive processes in ways that can be observed in a laboratory.
INTRODUCTION
There has been quite a bit of research that suggests that the way we dress not only reflects how we think but changes how we think.
A group of researchers from Columbia University and California State University published an article in 2015 in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science examining the question of how formal clothing changes thinking.
Their predictions were based on previous theories and research, but the interesting thing about this article was the fact that there were 5 separate studies, all testing various cognitive processes (ways of thinking) and how they were influenced by formal clothing.
All of the studies focused on abstract vs. concrete processing.
- Abstract processing is defined as superordinate, holistic, and broad mental representations.
- What does that mean? It means viewing the forest instead of the trees – big picture stuff.
- The opposite of abstract processing is concrete processing.
- Concrete processing is focus on narrow, practical, defined things.
- If you’re good at “looking at the big picture,” then you’re an abstract thinker.
- If you’re more focused on short-term gains that are immediately available (a bird in hand) than long-term ones (two in the bush), you’re thinking more concretely.
STUDY 1
This study examined the relationship between clothing and abstract processing.
60 undergraduates were recruited for an online survey.
The students were asked to rate the formality of the clothing they were currently wearing against clothing typically worn by their peers.
They were also asked about their socio-economic status (wealth). This is important because the researchers removed the influence of their social class out of the statistics.
- This way, they were measuring only the effect of their clothing and not the effect of how their wealth influenced their clothing.
- Participants were asked about how much financial aid they received for school.
Then, all participants did a Behavioral Identification Form to test for abstract vs. concrete thinking.
- This form allows participants to select their preferred definitions of words, and the options range from more abstract to concrete.
- For example, one item is: “Choose your preferred description for ‘voting’ – 1. Influencing an election, or 2. Marking a ballot.”
- “Influencing an election” is considered more abstract because you’re looking at how the action of voting influences the big picture.
- “Marking a ballot” is considered more concrete because the focus is on the individual act itself and now how it fits into the big picture.
RESULTS:
As predicted, the more formal the student’s attire, the more abstract their thinking.
The student’s social class (wealth) did not influence the results and the effect of wealth was removed from the statistical analysis.
STUDY 2
Having gotten those results, the researchers moved on to continue to test their hypothesis.
- They conducted a study similar to the first one, only they measured concrete vs. abstract thinking differently.
- They also considered the effect of mood.
This time, 60 more students were recruited for the survey.
Once again, they rated the formality of their own currently-worn clothing compared to those of their peers.
Then, participants did a measure of mood called the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule.
Then, students did a different measure of abstract vs. concrete thinking:
- This time, the researchers measured category inclusiveness.
- Category inclusiveness is a measurement of creative ways of fitting things into categories.
- People who are thinking more abstractly are more willing to creatively put something into a category.
- For instance, a camel might be categorized as a vehicle.
- An abstract thinker might say: “Hmm, yes, in a manner of speaking, camels can be vehicles!”
- A concrete thinker might say: “No, camels are primarily four-legged animals and that’s it.”
RESULTS:
Once again, the researchers made a connection between formality of clothing and abstract thinking.
People wearing formal clothing were more likely to creatively fit things into categories by thinking of unusual uses for them.
After examining the effect of mood, the researchers found that mood didn’t influence abstract or concrete thinking and this was removed from the analysis.
Socio-economic status was also removed from the analysis, the same way it was for the first study.
STUDY 3
All the previous studies examined connections between what a person was already wearing and the way they think.
In order to really see if there’s an effect, the researchers had to experimentally change people’s clothing and see if that changes their thinking.
In this study, 50 undergrads were told to bring two sets of clothing into the laboratory:
- A formal outfit: “The clothes you would wear to a job interview.”
- A casual outfit: “The clothes you would wear to class.”
Students were randomly told to either change into their formal clothes or their casual clothes.
Once again, students did a measurement of abstract vs. concrete thinking: in this case, the category inclusiveness task.
RESULTS:
Once again, a relationship between formal clothing and abstract thinking was found.
Students who were randomly chosen to wear formal clothing were able to think of more creative categorization than those who wore casual clothing.
STUDY 4
The researchers now sought to replicate study 3 in a different way.
54 students were asked to bring both a formal and a casual outfit to the laboratory (same as study 3).
Once again, students were randomly assigned to wear either the formal or the casual outfit.
This time, students did a basic perception task.
- In this task, a figure was presented on a screen in front of each student.
- The figure was a large letter composed of many smaller letters (for instance, a large letter “L” composed of many smaller “H”s).
- The students were shown the figure and then asked to identify either the larger letter or the smaller letters that compose it.
- The student’s accuracy and reaction time is measured.
- In this way, the researchers can determine whether students are focusing better on the big picture (the larger letter) or the particulars (the smaller letters).
RESULTS:
As predicted, and consistent with all the previous studies, students wearing formal clothing were better focused on the big picture (the large letter).
Thus, formal clothing has been linked to more abstract, big-picture thinking in 4 separate studies that measure abstract thinking in different ways.
STUDY 5
Now, the researchers were interested in the biggest question of all – why?
- Why does formal clothing enhance abstract, big-picture thinking?
The researchers came up with two hypotheses:
- Maybe formal clothing enhances feelings of social distance, resulting in abstract thinking.
Evidence: formal clothing is associated with proper, more rigid, and less comfortable settings.
- Casual clothing is associated with intimate, socially close, and familiar settings.
Alternatively, maybe formal clothing is associated with power, resulting in abstract thinking.
People with power (Presidents, CEOs, Judges, etc.) are concerned with big picture stuff and abstract things.
- People with less power are generally more concerned with particular tasks and less involved with how tasks contribute to the whole.
In this study, 150 students were recruited for an internet survey.
In the survey, students rated the formality of the attire they were currently wearing, compared to their peers.
Then, students did a bunch of measures of social distance. For instance:
- How much they had in common with their peers.
- How close they felt to their close friends, family, and classmates.
- How likely they’d be to sit next to a classmate if they saw them at the movie theater.
- How likely they’d be to hug a classmate at the end of a party.
- How likely they’d be to sip from a classmate’s drink if they wanted to try it.
Then, students did a measure of how powerful they felt.
- They simply indicated how powerful they were feeling at the time of the survey.
Then, students did another abstract vs. concrete thinking task, followed by a measurement of wealth.
RESULTS:
Once again, formal clothing was related to abstract processing.
So, did formal clothing affect thinking because it enhanced social distance, or because it enhanced power?
- The statistics suggested that formal clothing affects thinking because it enhances feelings of power.
DISCUSSION
So what does all this tell us about wearing formal clothing?
Formal clothing enhances “big picture” thinking.
- It causes us to think outside the box, see how the parts contribute to the whole, and see the forest for the trees.
- It’s associated with seeing how everything is part of a big system.
- Powerful people who have to manage large systems (like companies and countries) tend toward formal clothing.
In fact, the effect of formal clothing happens due to changing how powerful a person feels.
- Formal clothing leads to feeling more powerful which leads to more abstract thinking.
How can you make this effect work for you?
- Depends on the task.
Do you need to manage a large system or think outside the box? Try literally putting on formal clothing.
- Do you need to focus on the particulars of a certain task and you’re less concerned with managing the whole system? Casual clothing will enhance that type of thinking.
Reference
Slepian, M. L., Ferber, S. N., Gold, J. M., & Rutchick, A. M. (2015). The cognitive consequences of formal clothing. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 6(6), 661-668. Link: https://www.columbia.edu/