Some aspects of this broader post (mostly model #5) might also be a commentary on some recent posts on “dressing well.” Those seem to apply when you go leafleting in some very diverse locale or hold a presentation where you hardly know the audience, but usually you know where you leaflet and you know some things about your audience, and then specific forms of global weirdness may actually make you fit in with that specific group, build rapport, signal high status, etc.
At a company where I worked software developer I once, on a whim, wore a single-breasted suit jacket over my turtleneck, all black. It was totally weird and drew confused looks. My colleagues thought I was going somewhere after work where that apparel would’ve been appropriate. In another locale, all the high-status people wore too-large, faded, and holey pullovers (and other such pieces) probably to signal that what they value in their apparel are its thermal properties and not the social ones (ironically).
My take-away from that was that if I engage in in-person outreach efforts, I’d have to dress in various very different ways according to the audience—and that seems to be in line with the usual leafleting tips.
However I don’t often engage in such outreach. It’s more common that I’m among friends and would like to influence them. Among my friends, unconscious processes will likely already have influenced my own preferences in such a way that they fit the social dynamics of the group.
Then there’s also the aspect that my friends value some degree of anti-inductivity, contrarianism, and meta-contrarianism of various levels, so weirdness itself can be high-status even group-locally when it seems sensible or at least not less sensible than the social default.
Some aspects of this broader post (mostly model #5) might also be a commentary on some recent posts on “dressing well.” Those seem to apply when you go leafleting in some very diverse locale or hold a presentation where you hardly know the audience, but usually you know where you leaflet and you know some things about your audience, and then specific forms of global weirdness may actually make you fit in with that specific group, build rapport, signal high status, etc.
At a company where I worked software developer I once, on a whim, wore a single-breasted suit jacket over my turtleneck, all black. It was totally weird and drew confused looks. My colleagues thought I was going somewhere after work where that apparel would’ve been appropriate. In another locale, all the high-status people wore too-large, faded, and holey pullovers (and other such pieces) probably to signal that what they value in their apparel are its thermal properties and not the social ones (ironically).
My take-away from that was that if I engage in in-person outreach efforts, I’d have to dress in various very different ways according to the audience—and that seems to be in line with the usual leafleting tips.
However I don’t often engage in such outreach. It’s more common that I’m among friends and would like to influence them. Among my friends, unconscious processes will likely already have influenced my own preferences in such a way that they fit the social dynamics of the group.
Then there’s also the aspect that my friends value some degree of anti-inductivity, contrarianism, and meta-contrarianism of various levels, so weirdness itself can be high-status even group-locally when it seems sensible or at least not less sensible than the social default.