Credits: Social Media
There’s a reason why we look better in the mirror than in phone selfies
Do you feel differently when you stare at yourself in the mirror and look at a selfie? Even though both images feature you, you tend to like one more than the other.
Some people naturally don’t photograph well. However, even the pictures taken with the most precise camera settings wouldn’t look similar to your reflection in the mirror.
Psychology behind liking your mirror reflection
YouTuber Austin Dunham has explained in detail the reasons that make people look different in the mirror compared to photographs.
Called the “Mere Exposure Effect”, the theory studied by psychologist� Robert Zajonc in the 1960s and echoed by other researchers decades later, states familiarity is the factor driving this liking and disliking of your image.
The theory believes that humans tend to develop a preference for something when it is exposed more frequently to them – which holds true for mirrors.
We are attracted to our reflections from the beginning of our lives. The familiarity grows, and so does the belief that it’s an actual image of ourselves. But we don’t look like reflections because what we see in the morror is the flip side.
Why we look different in the mirror vs photos
The reflection in the mirror is also not how we appear to others. To see how you look from someone else’s point of view, take a selfie and flip it.
As for photographs, regardless of the quality of the cameras, don’t create a precise image of you because they are in 2D.
“You’re viewing a 2D image of a 3D person,” he says. No matter how good the picture looks, it still can’t capture your shapes in 3D.
This is why most people don’t look like their pictures and they are not to blame. You can still look good in your pictures by practicing your expressions before a mirror and learning to pose better, along with some camera hacks the YouTuber shares in his video. .
Austin Dunham is a “Male Self Improvement, Dating, and Lifestyle vlogger” with over 494,000 subscribers on YouTube. His videos touch upon different aspects of life, backed by science and his experience as an entrepreneur and social media influencer.
