The Strategist

Scientists: The Better We Dress, the Better Our Brain Works



05/04/2015 - 15:15



Employees of many of modern offices, especially the people of creative professions, rarely faced with the need to comply with the so-called dress code. Managers are well aware that it is much more convenient for employees to work wearing clothing that allow to move freely - for example, jeans and a T-shirt instead of the three-piece suit. Meanwhile, a recent study shows that the smart business attire has positive effect on the staff’s performance.



In many modern companies, management is already moving away from the usual element of office life - dress code. Now it is considered acceptable that an employee comes to work dressed as he sees fit. However, the results of research conducted by scientists at Columbia University and the State University of California in the United States, saying that the official uniform has a positive effect on performance, writes The Huffington Post.

As researchers have found, clothing has a strong influence on cognitive abilities. Simply put, the more formal the person is dressed, the better he thinks. The study, published in the journal Social Psychological & Personality Science, suggests that a suit, tie and pants help its owner cover a larger scope of work.

- Wearing a formal dress leads to the fact that a person begins to think more globally, rather than focus on the details, - says one of the authors of the study, a research fellow at Columbia Business School's Michael Slepian.

In the study, researchers asked a group of volunteers at the age of 20 years, of both genders, to take the test, which determines the level of their cognitive abilities. Before the test, subjects were asked to evaluate the level of formality of different clothes they were going to wear. Before the other tests, volunteers put on the classic costume or casual clothes - jeans and T-shirts.

Experiments have shown that those who at the time of the test was dressed more formally, showed the best results, and a broader and holistic thinking.

- Formal clothing allows a person to feel more powerful, what in turn leads to the fact that its effectiveness increases mental abilities, a person begins to think more abstractly, - said Slepian, adding that a suit is a "symbol of power". In addition, according to the scientist, "formal clothing can improve your mood, if you feel good in it and believe that you look good in it."

source: huffingtonpost.com