Hat Psychology

[Lorne]

Back when I was a street cop, I noticed that gang members had the annoying habit of wearing the exact same clothing. As time went by the reasons for the uniformity of uniform became obvious.

A gang member runs down the street into a crowd of similarly dressed cretins, how are you going to identify your suspect? Or, someone says they were robbed by a guy in a blue track suit, and its blue track suits as far as the eye can see, what are you going to do?

This lead me to a subject I studied in graduate school, crowds and the social contract.

When we stand in a crowd we are less likely to act because, as a member of a crowd, no one bears any specific responsibility to act. We also know that mobs are more violent than the individuals within them because the anonymity that comes with being a member of a crowd allows the members to act anonymously.

That brings me to the subject of Fedoras (wondering when I was going to get here?).

Since I’ve started wearing a hat, I’ve noticed that people ask me for directions more frequently. And I interact with people (in positive way) more often then I did.

I believe, and I don’t know how to turn this into a testable hypothesis, it’s because of the hat.

Wearing my hat, I know I am not a member of the crowd and I can not blend in. I imagine I feel a responsibility that comes with that knowledge so I give directions. I also believe that since people can identify me, “that guy with the hat”, and I am not an anonymous member of the crowd, they feel more comfortable talking to me.

Just a Thought.

 

[babygirl...]

Great thought, Lorne! I would go to the guy in the hat also.
I like wearing my hats/caps to match not only my attire for the day and my shoes but also for whatever mood I happen to wake up in... so I'm always getting the look from my children and friends of "ummm, why is she wearing that one today"? LOL!

 

[hatsRme]

I know there are other threads along this line of discussion, but the topic is worth re-hashing for the newer readers.

Lorne, having been a fedora wearer off and on since 1970, I can say with a fair degree of certainty that if a hat is worn in a friendly rake, people absolutely respond positively to the wearer. We seem more approachable. Likewise, if the hat is worn in a front down over the face, menacing manner, you won't get waited on in the Apple store. This technique can be helpful looking at new cars.

 

[Brian Niebuhr]

Someone in need of assisance might feel like an outsider, one apart from the rest. Someone who feels this way (feels like they're different) is more likely to seek out the one who also stands out from the rest. They're different too so therefore they might have more sympathy and understanding. Even if they don't need assistance, they might just feel more comfortable approaching a person who seems to not care about what is "normal" and therfore less likely to judge others. Just my thoughts.

 

[The Wiser Hatter]

At the last FedoraFest all the guys would walk down Beale Street and people would ask us. "You guys in a band". Where a fedora today will make you stand out in both good and bad ways. You just have to get use to it.

 

[Lotsahats]

I think it's too easy, as it has been said here before, to overthink hat-wearing.

A

 

[hatsRme]

I think it's too easy, as it has been said here before, to overthink hat-wearing.

A

I think I just pulled a muscle in my head...

 

[Lorne]

Yeah, going to Grad School kind of messed with my melon and sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

That being said, how we choose to appear in public says a lot about who we are and what message we are sending about ourselves. Sometimes, it even says GOOD THINGS about us.

Something to think about, or not...

 

[deanglen]

Great post, Lorne! A fedora has its own attendant social effect! (Not to mention a campaign hat! )






dean

 

[HudsonHawk]

Yeah, going to Grad School kind of messed with my melon and sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

That being said, how we choose to appear in public says a lot about who we are and what message we are sending about ourselves. Sometimes, it even says GOOD THINGS about us.

Something to think about, or not...

I think this is true. Our outward appearence conveys a certain level of intelligence, trust, kindness, what have you, or even distrust or fear, depending on the case. I think a well-worn fedora gives a certain vibe of "socialness", polite and engaging, sort of like how people view those wearing glasses as more intelligent or thoughtful. I wear both, so...

 

[gtdean48]

Wearing a lid outwardly shows a higher level of intelligence so others are more likely to seek advice/directions/etc.... JMHO

 

[hatophile]

Wearing a lid outwardly shows a higher level of intelligence so others are more likely to seek advice/directions/etc.... JMHO

I agree whole-hattedly Tom!

 

[Lorne]

Campaign hats have a significant social effect, they make me break out into a flop-sweat.

Thank you SFC Gates.

 

[Lorne]

Maybe not intelligence, but certainly that we have nothing to fear in being unique and identifiable.

 

[jhe888]

I think there may be something to your theory. Another factor may be that the hat simply draws attention to you (us), and therefore, others may approach you simply because they notice you more.

Now we just need four or five graduate students to run an experiment!

 

[TheDane]

It's a quite intriguing and flattering thought, that a fedora should make us look more intelligent and/or polite. But in movies the fedora has often been used as a mean of portraying a person in a very unflattering light. Long after everybody else had dropped the fedora, movies still portrayed unpleasant (and rarely intelligent) gangsters, wearing a fedora. I watched Dr. Strangelove the other night, and here the only felt hat worn is that of the double crossing Russian ambassador. Fedoras has certainly also been used to portray people as dumb, unreliable, unpolite and what have you.

Wearing both fedora and glasses it sure would be an intriguing theory, but if people that meet me should get a pre-perception of me as intelligent and polite, it would probably not be due to my fedora or glasses. They may make me look even older and probably weak and harmless too. A walking stick and a little unsecure, hunched walk would probably do the very same thing for me - and most likely by the very same reasons. Not all that glitters is gold - and when we don't scare other people in the street, it's not necessarily because we look polite and/or intelligent

 

[Lorne]

My theory is different than simply fedoras and glasses (both of which I wear) make you look intelligent and polite (though I am certainly both, good looking too).

My theory is that when individuals are indistinguishable from one another it’s hard to form trust because of the anonymity of the "other." With no trust there can be no social contract, i.e., reciprocity of civility.

When an individual marks himself and makes him self identifiable, even benignly by wearing a hat, he/she makes it possible for another to specifically identify them (the guy/gal in the hat) and implies that the guy/gal has nothing to hide (why would someone make them selves readily distinguishable if they had ulterior motives?).

You also have to take into account the mental processes of the person wearing the hat, knowing they are readily identifiable and therefore unable to be anonymous.

Wearing a hat might have stunning social implications!

 

[TheDane]

My theory is different

I respect that, but I don't (totally) agree. Should your theory hold up, any distinct outfit would work ... and I don't believe that is true. Many other "exotic" pieces of accessory would make you stand out as well, but in a non-trustworthy way. They would work in the diametrically opposite way. A police uniform makes most feel secure in your and my country. In a lot of other countries, a police uniform will scare the H*ll out of most people. There's a lot more to it than just identifiability.

So why does the fedora work in the way you portray? Well, most people of today associate fedoras with old, harmless men - like they do with a walking cane and a fox-terrier - and nobody would fear contacting a friendly, harmless old man. Not as flattering - but a lot more realistic in my opinion

 

[HudsonHawk]

My theory is different than simply fedoras and glasses (both of which I wear) make you look intelligent and polite (though I am certainly both, good looking too).

My theory is that when individuals are indistinguishable from one another it’s hard to form trust because of the anonymity of the "other." With no trust there can be no social contract, i.e., reciprocity of civility.

I get what you're suggesting, but the former doesn't exist without the latter. In other words, the reason those of us who wear glasses/fedoras/leather jackets/purple hair/whatever are viewed a certain way is precisely *because* it's unique. I think they go hand in hand.

 

[Lorne]

So, we both both your points part of the experiment, thus controling for them.

Show an average man in a hat, a man with purple hair, a man with facial tattos, and a regular man (the control) and ask the subjects who'd they ask directions of...