What the human eye sees objectively and how the brain interprets that image are not necessarily the same. Dr Nicholas Epley described experiments in which people were asked to pick out pictures of themselves from among pictures of other human faces. Participants identified their personal photographs significantly quicker when their faces had been computer-enhanced to be more appealing and they were likely to call this retouched image their genuine face. This self-delusion is not simply the result of a widespread preference for prettiness: when asked to match photographs of strangers, participants were, in fact, best at spotting unenhanced faces, that is, those not made to look prettier.
How can we be so self-delusional when the truth stares back at us? Dr Epley explains that, although we do indeed see ourselves in the mirror every day, we don’t look exactly the same every time. There is the just-out-of-bed morning you, the ready-for-work you, the dressed-for-an-elegant-dinner you. Which image is you? People on average resolve the question of these multiple images of themselves in their favour. That is, they piece together a mental representation formed of themselves when they are looking their best.
In a series of other studies, psychologists interviewed people about what they think a mirror shows them. They asked questions like, ‘Imagine you are standing in front of a bathroom mirror; how big do you think the image of your face is on the surface? And what would happen to the size of that image if you step steadily backward, away from the glass?’ To the first question, people overwhelmingly say: ‘The outline of my face on the mirror would be pretty much the size of my face.’ As for the second question, that’s obvious: ‘If I move away from the mirror, the size of my image will shrink with each step.’ Both answers, it turns out, are wrong. Outline your face on a mirror, and you will find it to be exactly half the size of your real face. Step back as much as you please, and the size of that outlined oval will not change: it remains half the size of your face, even as the background scene reflected in the mirror steadily changes.
Questions
1. Dr Epley found that when identifying images of themselves, people
2. When trying to identify images of unfamiliar individuals, Dr Epley found that people most frequently
3. Dr Epley says that a single objective reflection is impossible because people
4. Dr Epley says that when forming an opinion of how they think they look, people
5. When guessing the size of their mirrored face from close up, people
6. As they imagine stepping backwards from a mirror, people