Formal Clothing and Abstract Processing

What it is

The finding that wearing more formal clothing goes with more abstract cognitive processing. Michael Slepian and colleagues reported five studies in 2015 and found that felt power mediated the association.

It sits close to Brand Prominence and Black Uniforms and Perceived Aggression in the wider body of research, and is best taken as one idea among several rather than a stand-alone rule.

In effect

In the 2015 studies, more formal clothing was associated with higher action identification level and greater category inclusiveness, and putting on formal clothing induced greater category inclusiveness and a stronger global processing advantage. Black was not isolated as a variable, so the work speaks to formality rather than to a hue.

What it does not say

The finding comes from the studies named on this page and describes a pattern in those samples. It does not show that the pattern holds for every person, product or market, and it does not tell a brand what to do on its own. It is one input to a decision, to be weighed with other evidence.

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