We may not like it, and it may seem superficial, but our image and self-presentation are important.
How your “package” yourself affects how people see you.
But your image can influence your attitude about your self and your confidence.
This is more important than you realize. I used to think that looking the part didn’t make a difference in how well you can do you job. New research has debunked that.
Feeling confident that you are dressed well and look good can even it make a big difference in how you perform your job.
Why is that?
The way something looks, its visual identity, have what social scientist call a halo affect. When something is attractive – be it a product or person – we assign many other positive attributes to it that have nothing to do with looks. For example, tests show that products with nice packaging are perceived to be bigger and have more volume than products in the same size container but with packaging that is deemed “unattractive.”
If you don’t think the power of packaging is important for people, look at the power of a first impression. Research shows that we are pegged in the first couple of seconds. Social scientists call it “thin slicing” and Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Blink, demonstrates how quick and often accurate these blink-of-the-eye impressions are.
The good news is that all of us can package ourselves attractively and we don’t have to have a perfect figure to do it. Studies indicate a variety of factors in attractiveness: