Question: Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? People behave differently when they wear different clothes. Do you agree that different clothes influence the way people behave? Use specific examples to support your

Our appearance is an important part of our lives. Although this may not be ideal, our appearance often determines what people think about us and how they treat us. Some people believe that the clothes that we wear also influence our behavior. Others disagree. In my view, they do influence our behavior for two important reasons.

First, we choose different clothes for different occasions to tell us how to behave. When you want to be fun and active you wear clothes that supports that behavior, and when you want to be serious and formal you wear different clothes. For example, when I got ready to go to work this morning, I chose to wear formal clothing; it wasn’t an accident. I wanted to wear a shirt and tie to match the kind of work I was going to do. While working, I would often find that I would be a little more serious than normal because of the way I was dressed. A tie doesn’t give you a chance to move around very easily so you are stiffer. I stood up straighter and talked with more force because of this. When I saw my reflection in the bathroom mirror, my clothes clearly indicated to me that its time to work, be serious, and focused. As you can see, the clothes that you wear do strongly impact your behavior.

Second, your clothes influence the way people treat you and the way that people treat you affects your behavior. If you wear strange clothes, people may stare or look at you as if you’re crazy. Regardless of how you feel, you will probably be a little upset or bothered by this and behave accordingly. For instance, I had a friend in high school who always wore all black clothing. I thought he was a dark, serious, depressed person. Whenever we had to work together, we would always work independently and finish quickly. I didn’t try to make conversation with him and so he became very serious with me. One day, we had to do a big project together. It lasted several days; so, everyday we had to work together. After a while, we got pretty close because I realized I was wrong about him. After that we’d always talk. I know that if I had been more open to him he would have felt more comfortable talking to me sooner. This experience taught me that the way you dress really does influence how people treat you, which affects how you behave with them.

In sum, whether your clothing’s influence is intentional because you chose it for a specific occasion or its influence is unintentional because you react to how someone else treats you, what you wear has a strong influence on how you behave. That’s why we should all choose what we wear very carefully.