A new research suggests a surprising advantage to dressing up for the workday.
Although in recent times, most modern companies,
especially in creative fields, allow casual looks to the office, but you
wouldn't try that at a bank of course.
Anyway, a new research suggests a surprising advantage to dressing up for the workday.
Wearing
more formal clothing changes the way that people think, helping them to
focus on the big picture, according to a study recently published in
the journal Social Psychological & Personality Science.
The study, which was conducted by researchers at Columbia University and California State University, Northridge, found that clothing had a significant impact on cognitive processing style.
More formal clothing resulted in more abstract cognitive processing.
"Wearing
formal clothing leads to more big-picture thinking, rather than
concrete thinking that focuses on the details," study co-author Michael Slepian, a postdoctoral research scholar at Columbia Business School, explained to The Huffington Post.
The
researchers asked a group of college-age volunteers of both genders to
complete tests designed to determine their cognitive processing style at
that moment.
Before some of the tests, the volunteers ranked the formality of what they had opted to wear.
With
other tests, the volunteers were specifically directed to put on
"clothing you would wear to class" or "clothing you would wear for a job
interview."
Across a series of experiments, those wearing the more formal outfits exhibited broader, more holistic thinking.
"Formal clothing made people feel more powerful, which in turn made them more likely to adopt high-level, abstract thinking," Slepian said, pointing out that "the suit is a symbol of power."
He also noted that "formal clothing might improve your mood if you feel good in the clothing and think it looks good."
Even if you wear a suit to the office five days a week, the study suggests you're likely to reap these benefits.
Guess there's an advantage to every disadvantage.
So why not rock your favourite formal outfit to work tomorrow and find out for yourself?
Sense of Dressing
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