Sukhmann+Aneja+RP+Post+5


 * Most** people **claim** to not put too much thought into the clothes that they wear, **but** it is a fact that our clothing choices affect not only the way in which we see ourselves, but also the way in which others see us. Clothing can help to inform others of one's "status, ambitions, emotions, and spending habits." Americans rely on clothing as a socioeconomic indicator in a country where one does not actually exist. Clothes help to place ourselves where we want to be. A study at Northwestern University explored the idea of "enclothed cognition," or “the systematic influence that clothes have on the wearer’s psychological processes.” Multiple studies like this have shown that people, whether they realize it or not, tend to make "snap judgments" of other people based solely on the clothes that they are wearing. It is often assumed that people who judge people based on their clothes are shallow people who care more about appearance than personality. There are people who even claim that the people being judged are "asking for it" with their clothing choices. Most of these judgments, **however**, are based on very subtle factors , such as whether the person has the top button of their shirt undone or if their skirt is an inch above or below the knee. The 300 adults who participated in one of these exams claimed to not be judgmental in nature, **but** it was this same set of people that believed that a man wearing a tailored suit was more "confident, successful, flexible, and a higher earner" than a man wearing a suit "off the peg." Even teacher make "snap judgments" about their students; one study showed a teacher making assumptions about a child's academic ability based on their clothing. The teacher may think that smarter kids dress in "smarter," more formal clothes, **though** the study failed to take into account the fact that parents often dress their kids when their kids are too young to dress themselves. Thus, the child's clothes are reflective of the parents' personalities, and not the kid's.