As a man it seems quite obvious, and indeed an MRI scan experiment back in 2010 showed that sexualised images of a woman triggered different parts of the brain to a regular image of said woman.

A new paper goes one step further and asks how our actions towards another human being change if that person is naked rather than clothed.

"Do people’s mental capacities fundamentally change when they remove a sweater? This seems absurd: How could removing a piece of clothing change one’s capacity for acting or feeling?" the research team ask.

Over six studies they revealed that the simple act of showing a bit of flesh significantly affects the way we perceive that person.

When we look at an individual we tend to think of them both in terms of their ability to think and their ability to feel.  Psychologists suggest that we often trade off ones ability to think vs ones ability to feel.  In other words if we perceive someone as having strong thinking ability we perceive them to have weak feeling ability, and vice versa.

Now, back to the experiment.  What they basically showed was that when someone takes their clothes off our perceptions of them shift from seeing them as thinking human beings to seeing them as feeling human beings.

For instance, in one experiment people were shown two photos of a woman.  One of just her head, the other of her in a bikini.  They were then asked to rate the mental capabilities of that person in comparison to another person who was instilled with strong thinking capabilities.  When they were comparing the headshot with the brainbox, they compared favourably.  When it was the bikini picture however we suddenly perceived that person to be full of emotion rather than thought.

The rationale behind this is that when we see a sexualised photo of something our bodies take over and we subsequently see that person as a means of fulfilling our sexual desires that can be discarded once we've had our fill, rather than a living, thinking human being.

Whilst this experiment doesn't go to such extremes, it is nevertheless an interesting insight into how we're perceived based upon what we show people.  It should have very real implications for the online world where our profile photos is often the first thing people see about us.

What not to wear

So if you want to be seen as someone chock full of emotions showing a bit of flesh is the way to go.  If you want to be seen as an intellectual chock full of ideas however your best bet is to cover up.