Can colour psychology determine personality traits or make you smarter?

It’s often been said that you are what you wear. The style, colour, shape, and texture of clothes are said to determine personality traits. But do they? Does your mood determine what you wear or do the clothes determine the mood – and therefore affect your personality? Can wearing a particular colour make you look smarter or even make you smarter? Can colour psychology determine personality traits or make you smarter – i.e. more intelligent?

Psychologists believe that people sum up your character and personality in a matter of seconds just by looking at your clothes. This is called ‘thin slicing.’ It’s called thin slicing because it’s a small window of time – from seconds up to five minutes – where everything from your age, gender, intelligence, status, sexual orientation, political affiliation, occupation, mood, creativity, and more are determined and judged.

A Canadian study found that 90% of consumers’ first impressions are based on colour. For example, lighter tones suggest friendliness and darker tones suggest authority. Red evokes strong emotions, passion, and intensity, or even aggression. A study in Biology Letters documented that male athletes who wear red can inspire aggression and competition, and a study from the University of Rochester in America found waitresses who wore red lipstick received greater tips than waitresses who wore no lipstick. Blue suggests knowledge, power, integrity, and seriousness, as well as calmness and creativity.

Business Insider reviewed several studies on first impressions. The quality and cut of your clothes can communicate your status and level of intelligence. For example, people wearing brand clothes of well-known fashion designers or companies are perceived as higher status than people wearing conventional or generic brands. People who have their clothes custom tailored are considered to be more successful than those who wear clothes that aren’t as tailored to their shape and size.

A study in the Journal of Social Psychology & Personality Science found that people in formal cothes think more abstractly and experience more feelings of power – thus the ‘power suit’ was born. Abstract thinkers are better able to solve problems, analyze and evaluate complex subjects and theories, and understand relationships between verbal and non-verbal ideas. Abstract thinkers make challenging tasks seem easier, generate insight, gain emotional control and boost creativity.

Does this mean that putting on a suit can change the way you think? Harvard University psychologists think formal is not always best – jeans and T-shirt worn at formal occasions can often be perceived as a sign of non-conformity, wealth, and celebrity.

Some psychologists think that we become what we wear. Psychology Today reported research from Adam Galinski – who coined the phrase ‘enclothed cognition’ – where a person wearing a white coat can improve their mental agility. This is also mentioned in Karen Pine’s book, Mind What You Wear: The Psychology of Fashion. For example, the white coat that doctors and scientists wear primes the wearers’ brains ‘to take on the sharper mental capacities they associated with being a doctor.’ So if you want to feel more mentally alert and smarter, wear a white doctor’s coat!

http://www.medicaldaily.com/how-thin-slicing-clothes-and-color-psychology-can-effectively-determine-certain-344680

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