Flesh impressions

The way that you dress says a lot about you. Nothing makes a statement like a purple lycra jumpsuit worn to an office get-together. Sometimes, it is also the clothes that you don’t wear that say something about you to others. A revealing outfit is full of signals to those around you but they may not be the messages that you would first assume.

The popular, and psychological, belief in the past has been that when a man sees a woman wearing a revealing outfit then he will focus on her body and not her mind. New findings however, challenge this simplistic notion.

Traditional theories on objectification suggest that we see the mind of others on a continuum between the full mind of a normal human and the mindlessness of an inanimate object. The idea of objectification is that looking at someone in a sexual context leads people to focus on physical characteristics, turning them into an object without a mind or moral status.

However, the latest understanding is that rather than looking at others on a continuum from object to human, we see others as having two aspects of mind: agency and experience. Agency is the capacity to act, plan and exert self-control, whereas experience is the capacity to feel pain, pleasure and emotions. Various factors including the amount of skin shown can shift which type of mind you see in another person.

In a series of experiments these researchers found that when men and women focus on someone’s body, perceptions of agency (self-control and action) were reduced, and perceptions of experience (emotion and sensation) were increased. This might be because we unconsciously think of minds and bodies as distinct, with the capacity to act and plan tied to the mind and the ability to experience or feel tied to the body.

Additionally, those wearing revealing clothing were seen to be less morally responsible but they also were seen to be more sensitive to harm and hence deserving of more protection. In one experiment, for example, people viewing male subjects with their shirts off were less inclined to give those subjects uncomfortable electric shocks than when the men had their shirts on.

The negative of seeing someone as a body is that it strips him or her of competence and leadership. People seen as their body may also be regarded as more reactive and emotional which might work against them in the workplace. Even the positive aspects of a body focus, such as an increased desire to protect from harm can be ultimately harmful in itself acoording to the researchers. They point to the “benevolent sexism” common in the 1950s, in which men oppressed women under the guise of protecting them.

The really interesting thing about this research is that it applies to both sexes and it shows that people wearing revealing clothing are not seen as “mindless” but as having a different kind of mind.

It’s OK then to show a bit if flesh on a date or social situation when you want to appear empathetic and emotionally sensitive. You might however, want to avoid wearing a bikini to your next job interview for a position as marketing manager; especially if you’re a dude.