Enclothed Cognition

Physical appearance has a vigorous effect on how people are perceived by others. Subsequently, the perception that is created through physical and social appearance correlates to a human being’s psychological state, as well as their performance level. The notion that clothing can have an impact on how a person thinks, feels and performs, arises the need to further inquire whether or not clothing articles have an effect on a human being’s cognition process, particularly that of a university student. Motivation, self-perception and academic competence are the real world problems that this research will be addressing. Thus, the research question measured and observed during this experimentation, will be based on the concept of physical appearance and it’s effect on academic performance in undergraduate university students. Research by Adam and Galinsky (2012) found that clothes have a systematic influence on the wearer’s psychological process, and have even coined the term “enclothed cognition” to describe this systematic influence (Adam & Galinsky, 2012, p. 918). In addition, Adam and Galinsky (2012) also propose that, “enclothed cognition involves

918). When reviewing each research and experimentation, it was found that participants wearing a lab coat had increased selective attention as opposed to those not wearing a lab coat. Furthermore, a second and third experiment also concluded that sustained attention was increased when the wearer of the coat was informed about wearing a doctor’s coat versus a painters coat (Adam & Galinsky, 2012). This study correlated with the overall concept that perception is based from appearance, and in turn, effects the considerable power and mentality that the wearer holds. Nonetheless, when wearing particular clothing articles and viewing it as assuming a peculiar identity, Adam and Galinsky (2012) were able to theorize the symbolic meaning that a piece of clothing had on the participants psychological