10 Ways to Look Smarter Than You Are

7) Refine Your Appearance

Yes it’s unfair, and generally sexist, but those who wear formal clothes are generally perceived as being more intelligent than those who wear casual or unusual attire. A number of studies have found that the clothes we wear have a direct effect upon shaping others’ perceptions of our intelligence. Unsurprisingly, women who dress in a more masculine manner are generally more successful in job interviews but of course this will depend on who is doing the interviewing. For those working in sales or customer service focused roles, appearance is incredibly important and those who are well-dressed are thought to perform better in the workplace and score more sales than more sloppily dressed colleagues. Those who wear a professional uniform, such as policemen or doctors, are automatically perceived as being in control and better able to perform the duties of their job. Interestingly, a number of studies have shown that people dressed in formal clothes or uniforms do actually perform better. In one, people wearing white lab coats were tested against people wearing their own clothes and the group in lab coats actually scored higher on tests requiring concentration.