In case you missed it, Dove's latest viral schtick has been for a woman to describe her looks to a forensic artist, and then have a stranger who briefly associated with the woman describe her appearance to the artist. The artist's renditions would be compared, with the image based on the stranger's description being more favorable. The takeaway is that strangers (supposedly) see you as being more attractive than you think you are.
Except, of course, that this is wrong.
From Scientific American (link: http://www.scientificamerican.com/articl...-you-think)
Except, of course, that this is wrong.
From Scientific American (link: http://www.scientificamerican.com/articl...-you-think)
Quote:Quote:
However, what Dove is suggesting is not actually true. The evidence from psychological research suggests instead that we tend to think of our appearance in ways that are more flattering than are warranted. This seems to be part of a broader human tendency to see ourselves through rose colored glasses. Most of us think that we are better than we actually are — not just physically, but in every way.
The most direct evidence that the Dove commercial is misleading comes from the work of Nicholas Epley of the University of Chicago and Erin Whitchurch of the University of Virginia. In a series of studies, Epley and Whitchurch showed that we see ourselves as better looking than we actually are. The researchers took pictures of study participants and, using a computerized procedure, produced more attractive and less attractive versions of those pictures. Participants were told that they would be presented with a series of images including their original picture and images modified from that picture. They were then asked to identify the unmodified picture. They tended to select an attractively enhanced one.
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