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The Camera Always Lies: Why Some People Look More Attractive In Real Life
Are selfies changing the way we view ourselves?
I recently went out with a girlfriend and snapped a quick picture at the night's end. The following day, I sent her the picture.
She replied, "Thanks, I will FaceTune it."
I immediately thought…awwwwww, how sweet. She is going to put a soundtrack to our special moment. An hour later, she sent the photo back to me.
I eagerly clicked on it, expecting Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" or some fierce version of Beyoncé's "Flawless" to come blasting through my speakers. But that is not what she sent.
Instead, she had turned us into cyborgian twins. My cheekbones jutted out of my heart-shaped face. My poreless skin was smoothed into unattainable perfection. My eyes were catlike but empty. My lips (that I had always felt were too big) looked like they had been vacuum sucked.
"Oh, wow. There must have been some formaldehyde in our Cosmopolitans last night," I replied.
I tend to deflect with snark, but the picture really disturbed me. Was this how I was supposed to look? Like Jessica Rabbit on valium?
Unfortunately, when it comes to our likeness, most people think they are more attractive than they actually are. In a 2008 study, researchers combined participants' real faces with more conventionally attractive faces by using facial morphing technology. When asked to pick out their face in a line-up, participants identified the enhanced version of themselves quicker than the correct version. (The participants were unaware that their photos had been doctored.)
These findings point to one conclusion. When it comes to self-perception, we are consummate optimists.
Today, choosing an enhanced version of ourselves is easy with photo filters. Anyone can smooth over wrinkles or slim down their waistline with a button click.
So how does this distorted reality affect our self-esteem? Recently, researchers sought to answer that question.
In a series of studies, researchers had participants complete a self-assessment survey to measure self-esteem. They then…
