And most of us would agree. Whether it’s a pair of Jimmy Choos or a Channel jacket, when we adorn clothes that make us feel good, magic can happen.
Emotions play an enormous role in our clothing choices because often it is not the actual clothes that we wear that determine our feelings but the associations we connect with them. Just like the songs we heard as teenagers, we carry those good and sometimes not so good memories along with every Spandau Ballet tune.
But the association between clothes and perception runs even deeper than that. What we wear directly influences our thoughts and behaviours. It also impacts how others perceive us.
Even the most, I’m-not-interested-in-clothing-person we know, cannot deny that the image we create with our clothes, influences what we do and how we feel.
That’s why the famous 2016 Lab Coat Study is so interesting. Two groups of people took part and each were each given a white lab coat to wear. The first group were told it was a doctor’s coat and the second group, that it was a painter’s.
The first group performed their tasks efficiently and with strong attention levels, as they unconsciously adopted the qualities of a stereotypical doctor. The second group performed in quite the opposite manner. And this phenomenon even has a name, ‘enclothed cognition’. The idea that we behave differently according to the clothes we wear. Fascinating stuff!
Love to hear your thoughts on how this theory transposes to the golf course?
Happy golfing
Liz & Harriet