The post here was specifically talking about status-indicating signals. What a business suit actually signals is more like acceptance of certain social norms about what “serious business” entails. Most clothing is more about ingroup identity than status, per se. To the extent that a suit is expensive, and other people notice this, it will also signal status via wealth, of course, but that’s somewhat orthogonal.
Also, smiles are probably hard-wired and are actually difficult to fake.
Good point. I should have made the distinction between status signals and “conformity” signals clearer. But I do think that there are very distinct mechanisms at work there, even though the ultimate end [higher status] is probably the same. [That is, we signal conformity to an employer to get a job that will give us higher status.]
My concern was mostly that “higher status is the end goal” has very little explanatory power in itself. Understanding more specifically what certain things signal is far more helpful.
Could you expound the evidence exposed by the donning of a suit? I’m having trouble fitting myself into these systems. It’d mean a lot to me to get an explanation from someone who knows what a valid argument looks like.
The post here was specifically talking about status-indicating signals. What a business suit actually signals is more like acceptance of certain social norms about what “serious business” entails. Most clothing is more about ingroup identity than status, per se. To the extent that a suit is expensive, and other people notice this, it will also signal status via wealth, of course, but that’s somewhat orthogonal.
Also, smiles are probably hard-wired and are actually difficult to fake.
Good point. I should have made the distinction between status signals and “conformity” signals clearer. But I do think that there are very distinct mechanisms at work there, even though the ultimate end [higher status] is probably the same. [That is, we signal conformity to an employer to get a job that will give us higher status.]
My concern was mostly that “higher status is the end goal” has very little explanatory power in itself. Understanding more specifically what certain things signal is far more helpful.
Could you expound the evidence exposed by the donning of a suit? I’m having trouble fitting myself into these systems. It’d mean a lot to me to get an explanation from someone who knows what a valid argument looks like.