거울 대 카메라: 지각된 얼굴 매력과 정확성

미러링되지 않은 고품질의 얼굴 사진은 실제 모습을 정확하게 표현합니다.

so you probably realize that you look different in pictures than you do in the mirror, and I'm sure a situation like this has probably happened to you before. You're going out on a Saturday night, and before leaving, you look at yourself in the mirror, and you find yourself looking very attractive. A few hours later, you're at the party, and someone takes a picture of you. They send you the picture the next day, and you seemingly don't recognize yourself. You find yourself unattractive and start to wonder if that's what you really look like in real life. So is the camera or the mirror more accurate? Which one should you trust more, and which one accurately represents what you look like in real life? To understand which one is more accurate, we have to take a look at a few components and delve into the subject from a scientific perspective. There are six main factors that impact what you look like in a picture compared to the mirror or in reality. The first factor to take into account is the fact that you've seen

your face in the mirror since your youngest years. Your brain is so used to seeing the mirrored version of your face that seeing an unmirrored version of your face, which is what you essentially see in a picture, might look odd or uncomfortable to you. One test you can do to see how this impacts your self-perception is to choose a picture of yourself that was taken by someone else, in which you find yourself unattractive, and then use an app to mirror that picture and see if it actually makes a difference. You will now have a mirrored picture of your face, which is what you're actually used to seeing, and when you look at yourself in the mirror, you'll probably notice that this new version of the picture suddenly looks more attractive to you. Why? Well, because this is what you're familiar with, and this relates back to a concept called a mere exposure Theory. This is what makes you realize that you are not unattractive in the picture, but you're simply not used to seeing the unmirrored version of your face. That might make you

look distorted, weird, or asymmetrical. So now you might ask yourself, But does this mean that people see me like I see myself in the mirror, or do they see the version I can see in the unmirrored picture? Essentially, do they see the attractive or the unattractive version of myself? Well, the answer is that they obviously see your unmirrored version, but because they are used to seeing this version of you, they will not have that same feeling of asymmetry or distortion that you have when you're looking at the opposite flipped version of yourself that you see in the camera. And in fact, you can even try this interesting exercise that comes from a 2016 research paper by Orange and colleagues. Go in front of a mirror with a friend of yours and look at their face in the mirror, and you'll probably start to notice that your friend does look strangely asymmetrical or distorted, and probably unattractive to you. That's because you're used to seeing the normal version of them and seeing the mirrored version.

of their face look strange to you. If I take this picture of Zena, which we can all agree is a beautiful woman, you can see that if we reverse the image, the face does now look different. But this is the exact same version of the face with the same level of attractiveness. We're simply not used to seeing it from this angle. The same faced by Orangan colleagues compared selfie takers and non-selfie takers' perception of selfies versus photographs taken by others. Although Oranger shared that both groups reported equal levels of narcissism, the selfie takers perceived themselves as more attractive and more likable in their own selfies than in other photographs. Non-selfie takers viewed both photographs similarly, revealing notable biases in self-perception by taking their moral face on. This further confirms the mere exposure hypothesis as individuals that take a lot of selfies, they care mirrored pictures of their face, start to find those mirrored pictures more attractive as they become more familiar with them. And this is why, for example, when you take a selfie on

Instagram will give you the mirrored version of yourself, and not the real version, because they know that people might dislike the real mirrored version. The second reason why people might look different in the mirror than in pictures is because people, in general, tend to perceive themselves as more attractive than what they actually are. Nicholas Epley and colleagues found in their study that this inclination to see your own face as more attractive is linked to how you subconsciously value yourself, suggesting it's a reflexive and unconscious mental process rather than a deliberate one. They conducted a very interesting experiment for their study where they took 27 participants, 18 women and nine men, and made them pose for a photograph. At the end of an unrelated experiment, participants had to remove their glasses and keep a neutral facial expression. These pictures were then cropped and edited to make the face more or less attractive, and the facial images were morphed in 10% increments up to 50% to the more attractive side and to the

more unattractive side of the spectrum participants returned 2 to 4 Weeks Later sat at a computer recalled their previous photograph and were informed that modified versions of their pictures would be presented. They were shown a lineup of 11 of their edited faces and asked to pick out their actual image. And as you can see from the results, many people thought that their real picture was the 10% more attractive one. On average, the picture that people thought was the real one was substantially more attractive than the actual real picture. Other interesting Studies have also found that this bias also extends to people's close friends and families but does not extend to strangers, which means that a person's close friends or family and even romantic partners are more likely to find them more attractive than what they actually are, and that complete strangers seem to be the only unbiased Raiders of someone's attractiveness. The third reason why you might see yourself differently in the mirror than you do in the picture is because you might actually be used to the edited version.

of your face. Many research papers, such as a 2021 study by Rebecca Frog, found that if you tend to use apps like FaceApp, Facetune, or even filters from TikTok or Instagram, you might actually be perceiving the edited-looking version of your face as what you look like. In other words, face filters in editing apps are actually altering how individuals see themselves and their perceived attractiveness. So when a picture of you is taken, you might have a certain expectation of what you're going to look like because that picture is a raw, unedited version of yourself, and that might start to look unattractive. Kim B. Perry found that this effect is also more pronounced and seems to impact women more so than men. Ranala and colleagues found that edited images can take a toll on one's self-esteem, making one feel inadequate for not looking a certain way in the real world, and may even be the trigger leading to body dysmorphic disorder. These filters and edits have become the norm now, altering

people's perceptions of beauty worldwide. They also show that tools like Snapchat or FaceTune allow individuals to achieve the same level of facial perfection previously reserved for celebrities or particularly attractive examples. We also regularly hear from plastic surgeons mentioning that more and more patients are seeking cosmetic surgery to match the filtered versions of themselves. They also found that people that are more active and post more on social media, and especially those with a higher level of engagement on their posts, may have a higher level of body dissatisfaction, especially if they're actively trying to present a specific image of themselves or are analyzing and commenting on others' photos. This can create a vicious loop where someone is used to their filtered image. They might get an unedited picture of their face taken, which will obviously look less attractive and stranger to them because they're used to the edited version. But also considering the mirrored effects that we spoke about earlier, then they're going to edit this new version as well, reinforcing the altered self-perception of the face.

essentially erasing what they really look like. The fourth re why you might look different in pictures than in real life is because of the camera itself. Many technical factors can make you look more unattractive in pictures than what you do look like in real life or in the mirror. When you see a face in real life, you see a 3D version of that person with an extremely high quality and precision. You can see every detail of the face, such as skin quality, thickness, irregularities, eye color, shadows, and many more important factors that do play a role in facial perception of attractiveness. When you take a picture of a face, you're seeing a 2D version of their face, which is incomparable to what you saw in real life, especially as depth is lost in the 2D version when it comes to picking up details of the face, unless you have an extremely high quality camera. The mirror will be more accurate at seeing what you truly look like rather than the picture. Secondly, a camera's focal length can drastically

impact facial shape and perception, and how attractive a face looks. If you take a look at all of these images, you can see that this is the same person in all of the pictures, but the face can drastically change depending on the focal length. Generally, a shorter focal length, like that of wide-angled lenses found in many iPhones today, do distort facial features, making them appear larger or stretched, especially when the subject is close to the camera. Think of selfies. This is something that mobile phones correct in software because it's such a problem. This distortion makes the face appear wider or rounder and might make your nose appear way bigger than it actually is in real life. For example, the iPhone 15's focal length is 24 mm. If you want to take a picture, make sure that the phone is at least one arm's length away from your face to make sure that your features don't look distorted. Various other factors, such as white balance, can impact how your skin tone might look. Accurate white balance ensures that skin tones look natural rather than too

warm or too cool, which do affect attractiveness ratings, as research has shown. The type of lighting condition significantly affects perceived attractiveness, where harsh lighting coming from above the face will naturally make your features look more wrinkled. So, if you do want to take a picture, aim for having a source of lighting, basically the face, such as sunlight or direct light. A fifth factor that can impact why you might perceive yourself differently in pictures than what you look like in real life is psychological state. Your self-perception changes depending on your mood and confidence levels, which do affect how attractive you find yourself. If you look at a specific picture of yourself on a day when you're feeling insecure, you might be overly self-critical and might see yourself as more unattractive than what you truly are. In fact, if you talk to any photographer that works with models on a regular basis, they will tell you that many attractive models find themselves unattractive in pictures. This is only a natural part of human

self-perception. Thornton and Moore (1993) documented that not only does this happen with female judgments, but also male judgments of their own attractiveness are lower after exposure to attractive people. You can do the test yourself if you go look at attractive celebrities on Instagram, for example, and then look at pictures of yourself. You might notice how it impacts how attractive you see yourself and how you might be more inclined to pick out your features. Now, the contrary, though, is also true. If you're exposed to unattractive or below-average looking people, then looking at pictures of yourself, you will see yourself as more attractive as a confidence boost. Additionally, your self-esteem and confidence will massively impact how you see yourself in pictures. A 2023 study by Charles Hill and colleagues found that self-ratings of attractiveness are inflated by self-esteem and confidence in a self-halo effect. Positive responses from others influence attractiveness-enhancing cycles, while negative responses influence attractiveness-deprecating cycles, with an overall impact on well-being, which means that the

more people you hear saying you're attractive, or people showing you that they find you attractive, the more likely you are to see yourself as attractive, which does seem quite straightforward, but it's quite true. Now, there are some situations where someone might still see themselves as unattractive despite many people telling them otherwise. Zubic and colleagues found in their study that humans have a need for self-evaluation that they satisfy by comparing themselves with people who share similar characteristics as themselves, and that celebrities or media images form a part of the foundation for comparison and idealized self-benchmarking, which means that if you're a blonde girl with blue eyes, you're most likely going to compare yourself to someone that looks like Jezelle Bunin, and if you're an African-American male in your 20s with short hair, you might compare yourself to somebody that looks like Keith Powers. Lastly, Jones et al. found that temporary mood changes itself doesn't explain changes in self-perceived

attractiveness and show that deeper factors, such as how someone perceives their self-worth, self-esteem, or even social cultural norms, impact how attractive they do see themselves. The sixth factor that might impact how you see yourself in pictures could be that you have a certain facial expression that might make you look awkward when you take the picture. When there is facial movement, such as when a person is speaking, it does create an appearance of greater or lesser facial symmetry, which in turn affects how attractive your face looks in the picture. However, it seems that most of the changes in facial attractiveness in a picture versus in a video seem to be in one's own mind. Gillian Rhods and colleagues conducted a study exactly on this subject, exploring the validity of attractiveness ratings made to static images compared to dynamic video clips of male faces. The researchers conducted experiments using a sample of 60 male faces, employing both static still images and 10-second video clips displaying multiple viewpoints, expressions, and movements. They found that attractiveness ratings from static

images and dynamic videos were similar, despite the latter containing more information about facial appearance and expression. Lastly, they found that attractive males, as rated from both static images and videos, were found to be more successful in obtaining sexual partners, particularly short-term partners. In simpler terms, the study suggests that using pictures to rate how attractive someone is is generally a good method. Still, even though pictures don't show every detail like videos do, they do give us enough ecologically relevant information for judging one's attractiveness. So in the end, it begs the question: which one is more accurate and represents what you look like in real life? Is it the mirror or is it the picture? If we assume a neutral emotional state, it seems that a very high-quality picture with great lighting, neutral facial expressions, accurately represents what you look like in real life. A high-quality unmirrored picture of your face is how people see you in real life, and a high-quality mirrored picture of your face is what you should look at if you want to see what you look like.

real life. And with that being said, if you want to get your face analyzed by our team of doctors and dentists, head over to the K's website for a facial aesthetic report. And as always, I'll catch you all in the next one.

Here's Why You Look Different In Pictures

Taking a look into the age old question of what makes a face beautiful through anthropology and cognitive psychology.

QOVES Studio

외모를 반영하는 거울과 카메라의 정확도 비교

거울에 비친 자신의 모습을 보면 거울에 비친 이미지에 익숙한 뇌의 특성 때문에 사진보다 더 매력적으로 느껴질 수 있습니다.

단순 노출 이론에 따르면 사진에서 거울에 비친 자신의 얼굴은 익숙하지 않기 때문에 왜곡되거나 매력적이지 않다고 인식할 수 있습니다.

그러나 다른 사람들은 거울에 비친 자신의 모습을 보는 데 익숙하기 때문에 거울에 비친 자신의 모습과 다르게 인식합니다.

거울과 사진의 지각된 매력의 차이

거울에 비친 자신의 모습을 보면 단순한 노출 효과로 인해 자신의 얼굴을 다르게 인식하게 됩니다.

셀카를 찍는 사람은 자신의 사진에서 자신을 더 매력적으로 보는 경향이 있는 반면, 셀카를 찍지 않는 사람은 더 중립적으로 인식하는 경향이 있습니다.

연구에 따르면 사람들은 일반적으로 자신을 실제보다 더 매력적으로 생각하며, 친구와 가족도 이러한 편견을 공유하는 것으로 나타났습니다.

얼굴 편집 앱이 자기 인식에 미치는 영향

FaceApp, Facetune과 같은 얼굴 편집 앱은 개인의 매력에 대한 인식을 바꾸고 있으며, 특히 여성에게 영향을 미치고 신체 불만족으로 이어지고 있습니다.

이러한 앱이 일반화되면서 사람들은 이전에는 유명인의 전유물이었던 얼굴의 완벽함을 달성할 수 있게 되었습니다.

이러한 필터와 편집 기능을 사용하면 자기 인식이 변질되어 필터링된 자신의 모습과 일치하도록 성형 수술을 받고 싶어지는 악순환이 발생할 수 있습니다.

또한 2D 이미지와 3D 현실 인식의 차이, 카메라의 초점 거리와 같은 기술적 요인도 사진 속 인물이 실제와 다르게 보이는 이유에 영향을 미칠 수 있습니다.

초점 거리가 얼굴 인식에 미치는 영향

초점 거리, 조명, 심리 상태는 모두 사진에서 얼굴이 얼마나 매력적으로 보이는지에 큰 영향을 미칠 수 있습니다.

iPhone의 광각 렌즈와 같이 초점 거리가 짧으면 얼굴 특징이 왜곡될 수 있으며, 정확한 화이트 밸런스와 조명 조건은 자연스러운 피부 톤과 인지된 매력을 위해 매우 중요합니다.

또한 개인의 심리 상태와 자신감 수준도 사진에서 자신의 매력을 인식하는 방식에 영향을 미칩니다.

외부 요인이 자기 인식 매력에 미치는 영향

자신의 매력에 대한 인식은 다른 사람들로부터 받은 피드백의 영향을 받기도 하지만, 비슷한 개인 및 사회적 규범에 따른 자기 평가의 영향을 받을 수도 있습니다.

일시적인 기분 변화는 스스로 인지하는 매력에 제한적인 영향을 미치며, 자존감이나 문화적 규범과 같은 보다 심층적인 요인이 더 중요한 역할을 합니다.

얼굴 표정과 움직임은 사진과 동영상에서 인지된 매력에 변화를 일으킬 수 있지만, 이러한 변화는 주관적인 경우가 많습니다.

길리안 로드와 동료들의 연구에 따르면 남성 얼굴의 정적인 이미지와 동적인 동영상 클립에 따라 매력도 평가가 달라질 수 있으며, 이는 스스로 인지하는 매력의 복잡성을 강조합니다.

이미지와 동영상이 지각된 매력에 미치는 영향

한 연구에 따르면 이미지와 동영상 모두 매력도를 평가하는 데 있어 비슷하며, 매력적인 남성이 파트너를 얻는 데 더 성공적이라는 사실이 밝혀졌습니다.

고품질 사진은 사람의 실제 모습을 정확하게 표현할 수 있어 매력을 판단하는 데 신뢰할 수 있는 방법입니다.

이 연구는 이미지와 거울 중 어느 것이 외모를 더 정확하게 묘사하는지에 대한 의문을 제기하며, 궁극적으로 거울을 사용하지 않은 고품질 사진이 실제 생활에서 다른 사람들이 나를 보는 방식을 반영한다는 것을 시사합니다.