Broken window theory.

I stumbled upon an article that referenced the broken window theory a few days ago. Two things are really cool about this ~ first, I really liked the theory and found it a profound statement on human nature. Second, I had recently had a personal awareness that was very similar to the broken window theory, an aha moment of sorts.
But first the broken window theory. It's been around for quite awhile. In 1969, Stanford psychologist (school of the infamous Stanford prison experiment) Philip Zimbardo abandoned a car on a street in the Bronx and a street in Palo Alto CA. The car had no plates and the hood was left up. After less than ten minutes the looting began and within 24 it was completely stripped. In Palo Alto, the car was left untouched for a week, but when Zimbardo smashed it with a sledgehammer, the stripping began. Within a few hours, the car was destroyed and upside down. In both cases, the looters were primarily white males. Zimbardo stated that communal barriers like the "the sense of mutual regard and the obligations of civility" can be lowered significantly by a single action that indicates no one cares about it, like the car.

Currently on disability due to bi-polar, I have fallen into the habit of not really getting dressed unless I was going somewhere or someone was coming over. Sweats, leggings, boxers ~ whatever was appropriate to the weather. Same for tops ~ tee's, sweats...... hair not done just shoved out of my face if grown out or sticking up all over ~ or smushed down if short. But I realized recently that this what does it matter attitude was having a really negative effect. It has gone past my clothes and now influences a great many things. My self image has deteriorated and my self esteem plummetted. And why not? For the past few years, 90-95% of my time has been in the ubercasual slump of sweats and bobby pins. Virtually every time I looked in the mirror, I was not pleased and the feeling snowballed.

And then last week I had to go out. So I did my usual get really dressed thing ~ and I clean up quite nicely ~ and went out to the mall. I spent the afternoon there and came home in a really good mood. It wasn't the shopping ~ I'd hardly bought anything and I malls exhaust me. And then I realized what the difference was ~ I was feeling good about myself because I had taken the time to get really dressed. I spent the afternoon at the mall, constantly seeing myself in store mirrors, and every time I did, I liked what I saw. I realized my good mood came from the positive reinforcement the mirror images of myself had given me.

Now don't misunderstand. I am not a beauty queen, don't wear make up and am actually quite self-concious about a front tooth that has become dangerously loose and protrudes very badly. One bite into an apple will pull it right out of my head I'm sure and I'm terrified about that happening. Dental coverage I wish. But, my hair looked nice, I had my current favorite top on and wearing a bra had me standing taller. A marked improvement over the slouched sweat clad figure at the computer.

I'm not about to start getting up at 5am and doing full make up and all that crap. But I'm taking the extra, oh, no time at all to pull on jeans and my bra. And it's working.