As a college student it is not hard to learn to love the “just rolled out of bed” look. On the way to class you see every color of sweatpants, sweatshirt and the just the basic “casual” wear. Who wants to take the time to look nice for an 8am and frankly, even a 2pm class?
But does this effect what goes on in the classroom? Does what a student wears effect their grade or participation?
Lets first talk about dress in general. How dress can change the way you perceive yourself or how others perceive you. In a research done, it stated that self-construction was through appearance. How someone dressed showed their intentions and who they were as characters. It even went on to say how people dressed, prevailed from their morals, believes and customs. The article showed the concept of Identity Talk. Identity talk proves that ones true identity is shown through the way people dress and present themselves.
So how does this relate to us, the students? Dress to impress!
A study was done that introduced the term “enclothed cognition. This showed that wearing a particular king of clothing could affect the wearer’s psychological behavior. In one of the experiments they had the participants wear a lab coat. Their attention rose simply from wearing the lab coat and because it was associated with a doctor. This proved that “the influence of clothes thus depends on wearing them and their symbolic meaning.
So yes, wearing certain clothes does effect how our mind works and we pay attention. A student wearing nice clothes and looking their best is more likely to want to raise their hand in class and have the attention on them. Looking your best gives a certain amount of confidence that exudes through participation and work. Dressing well also shows how others perceive you. Who are you going to hire first the person with a coffee stained shirt or the put together pantsuit?
Don’t worry; teachers are not off the hook! In this article it states the teachers who are not professionally dressed lose more respect than teachers who are. The teachers are models in the classroom and it includes in how they dress.
In conclusion I believe everyone has the right to wear what he or she wants. Although from personal experience and from the studies that are shown I think dressing to impress really does exude a certain amount of confidence that can show positively on my participation in class and grades.
I think you are absolutely right! When I go to class in sweatpants I feel very sluggish. My motivation is at a zero and I just want to go to bed! When I look cute for class, I causes me to want to pay attention and answer questions because I feel like I have my life put together. Confidence is definitely the key to success so I support every point you made!
I completely agree with this! I think it is very hard to start the day in clothes that you go to bed in because you associate those clothes with sleep. I also agree that it could give the wrong impression to your professor and those around you and possibly say that you don’t care about your grades or the class in general. This article explains the ideas of first impression and how dressing effects that. Dressing nice is a good idea to help first impressions and since in a class like ours where there are 350 people you could potentially meet a new person everyday. I definitely agree that teachers should dress appropriately for each class situation. There is no way I could take a professor seriously if he/she showed up in sweatpants and a t-shirt. And it makes me wonder if because of this research, casual Friday’s in work places should still be allowed.