Columbia Science Review
  • Home
  • About
    • Executive Board
    • Editorial Board
  • Blog
  • Events
    • 2022-2023
    • 2021-2022
    • 2020-2021
    • 2019-2020
    • 2018-2019
    • 2017-2018
    • 2016-2017
  • Publications
  • COVID-19 Public Hub
    • Interviews >
      • Biology of COVID-19
      • Public Health
      • Technology & Data
    • Frontline Stories >
      • Healthcare Workers
      • Global Health
      • Volunteer Efforts
    • Resources & Links >
      • FAQ's
      • Resource Hubs
      • Student Opportunities
      • Podcasts & Graphics
      • Mental Health Resources
      • Twitter Feeds
      • BLM Resources
    • Columbia Events >
      • Campus Events
      • CUMC COVID-19 Symposium
      • CSR Events
    • Our Team
  • Contact

When will my reflection show… what I think I look like?

1/17/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
By Joshua Yu
​

A couple of days ago, I was perusing through my Zoom account settings in search for a way to eliminate my awkwardly long middle name from my profile when I stumbled upon a setting that had been automatically selected for me: mirror my video. I thought it was strange that none of the remaining settings had been enabled, so I unchecked the box and logged out, not thinking much about it. 

When I joined the Zoom call for my chemistry class a few hours later, I was appalled by what I saw. I spent the entire 75-minute lecture staring at what I was expecting to be my reflection—but it did not look like me. The realization that this was how everyone saw me was jarring, to say the least. 

My preference for a mirrored version of my own face and my disgust for its doppelganger reflection is explained by the “mere-exposure” hypothesis. The term was coined in 1876 by Gustav Fetchner and describes how we tend to like things simply because they are familiar. Since we rarely ever see ourselves in the third person, our minds instinctively characterize our “true” image as bizarre. 

Part of the reason for which we differentiate between our unmirrored and mirrored appearances is that our faces are more asymmetrical than we would like to believe. Photographer Alex John Beck explored this idea in his project Both Sides Of. Beck published pairs of photographs in which one image is the left side of a model’s face mirrored and the second image is the right side mirrored. The astonishing results highlight the inconsistencies in how we see the world. In various interviews, Beck underscores that the intent of the project was to upend our association of beauty with a perfectly symmetrical face.  

The phenomenon of the mere-exposure hypothesis has been studied by psychologists in an effort to better understand the human mind. A study conducted in the 1970s presented both true and mirrored pictures of subjects to their families and friends, as well as to the participants themselves. Unsurprisingly, the family and friends preferred the unmirrored images while the participant preferred the mirrored picture. But when asked to justify their preferences, those surveyed claimed that there were lighting or angle differences between the images, when in fact, they were the same picture. The researchers emphasized that the lack of “cogent reasons” for preferring one image over the next indicates that the mirror and true images are nearly indistinguishable. The overwhelming dislike of the unfamiliar image cements the validity of the mere-exposure hypothesis as a natural mechanism for deciding what we “like.”   

Many front-facing cameras also unmirror your image when you snap a photo. In fact, with selfies specifically, the short distance between our smartphone’s camera and your face can exaggerate your features. A paper published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Facial Plastic Surgery found that selfies taken 12 inches from a subject’s  face increased the size of subjects’ nose by nearly 30 percent. Since we usually see ourselves in the mirror from a greater distance, our familiarity with our appearance is reliant on that perception remaining constant. Though currently unproven, this reasoning could also be a contributing factor to the rising acclaim of the selfie-stick. 

Thankfully, the mere-exposure hypothesis also provides a relatively quick fix to this dilemma: exposure. By simply taking more selfies and keeping your video unmirrored on Zoom, your brain will begin to familiarize itself with the face the rest of the world sees. This hypothesis also extends to everything from food to music tastes to job interviews. So the next time you quickly dismiss something based on an initial impression, remember that your tastes can change over time.

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Categories

    All
    Artificial Intelligence
    Halloween 2022

    Archives

    November 2022
    October 2022
    June 2022
    January 2022
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010
    December 2009
    November 2009
    July 2009
    May 2009

Columbia Science Review
© COPYRIGHT 2022. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Photos used under Creative Commons from driver Photographer, BrevisPhotography, digitalbob8, Rennett Stowe, Kristine Paulus
  • Home
  • About
    • Executive Board
    • Editorial Board
  • Blog
  • Events
    • 2022-2023
    • 2021-2022
    • 2020-2021
    • 2019-2020
    • 2018-2019
    • 2017-2018
    • 2016-2017
  • Publications
  • COVID-19 Public Hub
    • Interviews >
      • Biology of COVID-19
      • Public Health
      • Technology & Data
    • Frontline Stories >
      • Healthcare Workers
      • Global Health
      • Volunteer Efforts
    • Resources & Links >
      • FAQ's
      • Resource Hubs
      • Student Opportunities
      • Podcasts & Graphics
      • Mental Health Resources
      • Twitter Feeds
      • BLM Resources
    • Columbia Events >
      • Campus Events
      • CUMC COVID-19 Symposium
      • CSR Events
    • Our Team
  • Contact