Matthews 1

Abeni Matthews
Prof John Lynxwiler
SYP3630
4 March 2016
Assignment #3
Our clothing, believe it or not, can play a role in determining our identity and who we are
as people. We make decisions on what to wear every day because we want to give off a good
impression to others, and it does not matter whether we are influenced by our subconscious or
our conscious minds because the result is always the same. What we choose to wear has an effect
on how we (wish to) see ourselves and how (we wish for) others see us. This paper will analyze
some observations that I have made within the college community as well as my own
conversations with my roommates and friends to discuss the different kinds of identities within
the community.
I will first discuss an observation made on a smaller scale between my roommate and me.
Last week, she had to make a run to the front office of our apartment complex because she
locked herself out of her room the previous night. She was initially worried about how she would
look, just walking in there in her pajamas, a hoodie, and a headscarf. After she came back she
told me that there was a family there taking a tour of the complex but she did not really care
because she was irritated at the fact that maintenance would not cooperate with her last night. In
that moment, compared to the family at the front office, it can be said that her situated identity
was that of the resident in her eyes and the familys own situated identity was the guests.
The next observation that I have made in the library deals with how one person wishes to
appear to others in a group setting. The person was making a phone call to a friend or relative

Matthews 2
about how they accidentally messed up one of his good dress shirts by spilling some juice on it,
and how he did not have anything else he could find to wear. This relates to the persons social
identity: the person wishes to feel like he belongs within the group of people that he wants to
make a connection with. Self-image also comes into play with this observation because it is
assumed that this person wanted to appear as an intelligent and determined young man not just to
himself, but also to others at this event. He wanted to create and maintain a positive self-image
rather than a negative one, and this correlates directly with the social identity that he wished to
build.
A third observation that I made also took place on campus. Two girls were having a
conversation inside of Starbucks when one of them brought up the topic of the others shirt that
they were wearing: a T-shirt that said Dont ask me about college or drivers licenses or jobs or
romantic interests. Actually just dont talk to me okay. The girl commented on the shirt saying
that it was funny and it was pretty much how she felt every single day of the week, even on
Fridays. The girl wearing the shirt responded that she had just picked the first shirt she found in
her drawer and did not care what anyone thought because she wanted to get today out of the way.
This relates to the idea of morality statements of T-shirts discussed in the article written by
Young. According to Young, morality is programmed out of the clasp of the individual. . . . The
location of morality is so remote from the worker, the guard, the soldier, the student, or the
professor that each is reduced to the tee shirt as a feeble cry for a just and decent world (1990,
p. 152). This type of statement seems to be one of the most popular elements of the tee shirt with
people of all ages because of the impact that the message on the shirt can make. In a humorous
way, the wearer of the tee shirt may be wishing for a just and decent world with her shirt
whenever relatives or family friends are around to ask her questions about adulthood.

Matthews 3
In a club meeting that I attended recently, the club members and I were talking about
making new friends at UCF, as we are all transfer students. The president of the club brought up
an amusing tip that we could all follow where we could wear a hoodie to let people know if they
can come approach us and talk to us or not; an open hoodie would indicate openness and
friendliness and a closed hoodie would indicate that you were closing yourself off and nobody
should approach you. Body language comes into play in this situation as well as the cultivation
of a persons self-image. Based on the idea of the self-image presented in the module discussion,
there is a link between the person and society because society influences us to adapt to a set of
standards. If one wants to be, or at least appear, friendlier to others, they can first start with their
clothing. Basing this next idea on the previous statement, it can be assumed that if the person
wears a hoodie that is closed, they are appearing as antisocial, introverted, unfriendly, or shy. If
the same person had his or her hoodie opened, it can be assumed that this person wishes to
appear as friendly, open, extroverted, and willing to talk to people.
One final observation that I have made during this week is of two girls in the student
union. I could not tell, but these girls appeared to be casually dating or very close best friends, as
they were holding hands in between and rubbing their noses against each other. One of the girls
was worried that she looked ugly in her yellow skater dress and brown sandals because she
wanted to impress her crush later in the day. The other girl assured her that she looked fine and
that she had nothing to worry about, but this girl was still very doubting of herself and was
worried about whether she looked ugly, even though she really was not. In that regard, this girl
appeared to be suffering from a low self-esteem and possibly had a negative self-image.
According to the discussion of the module, we have affective responses to our experiences with
others and they can greatly affect the way that we see ourselves; whether it is in a positive light

Matthews 4
or a negative one. In this case, the girl for whatever reasons saw herself in a negative light;
possibly due to some negative experiences that she has had with others.
We, as humans, have these several elements: our different identities plus our self-image
and self-esteem, that make up who we are as people in our society. It is a fairly interesting
concept that our clothing immediately adds to our identification process; whether it is with our
pajamas we wear at night (or to our classes sometimes, especially during finals week!) or a fancy
dress or suit that we wear to a semi-formal or prestigious event. Either way, just by what we
wear, we and other people can make conclusions about who we are as individuals and who we
are as members of a society.

Matthews 5
References
Young, T. R. (1990). The drama of social life: Essays in post-modern social psychology. New
Brunswick, U.S.A.: Transaction.