What is the reason why I look better than the photo?

Psychologists at the University of California and Harvard University have found that people think people in videos look better than screenshots of the same video. In other words, even if you feel uncomfortable in the photo, don't worry, others will think that your real person looks much better.

When someone in a video is paused while talking, the static image of this person is usually not as good as the dynamic image when the video is playing.

Robert Post of the University of California, Davis and his team call this phenomenon that static faces are not as attractive as dynamic faces "frozen face effect".

People will average the same face in different positions and different sides.

This is consistent with the previous study that "the average face is more attractive". Another possibility is that "they (dynamic faces) have better activated our facial recognition neural mechanism". After all, the camera was invented not long ago, and our brain's face recognition system was originally evolved to deal with dynamic faces, not static faces.

With evolution, we are more accustomed to looking at dynamic faces than static ones. Because the brain can recognize dynamic faces more easily, it doesn't need much effort. This result may mean that dynamic faces may be considered more attractive.

The researchers' findings can explain why portrait photography is so challenging. The "frozen face effect" can explain why facial photography is so difficult to master and why people often think that real people are more beautiful than cameras.

2. Characteristics of perception

Our evaluation of a person's appearance is also related to the perceptual characteristics in psychological effects. Because perception is selective and holistic, in the eyes of others, you are not as good-looking as you really are.

When we see a person in real life, we will first input the external stimulus information into our minds through our senses, forming a reflection of a person's appearance, which is the process of perception formation.

When people judge whether a person is good-looking, they will first treat the person as a whole. The perceived object consists of many parts, and each part has different characteristics. However, people do not regard these objects as many isolated parts, but as a unified whole.

Perception will be integrated on the basis of people's appearance characteristics, not simply added up, and then it will have an overall impact on whether it looks good or not.

3. Our emotions will affect our perception.

Psychologists' research shows that people in life are dynamic and have various emotions. In real life, we will have colorful emotions and more kinds of expressions.

Between gestures and smiles, our personality and living conditions are more richly displayed.

Photos only show a single expression without vivid feeling, but a person with more dynamic performance is attractive. In the face of a single photo, the brain receives less external stimuli, so the emotional ups and downs are small.

Facial asymmetry

Studies have shown that, strictly speaking, people's faces are asymmetrical, but through the processing of the brain, we will feel that faces are symmetrical and more beautiful.

Because photos are mirror images, very fixed and inflexible, and have not been subjectively processed by the brain, people think photos are even uglier.

Our perception process will also be influenced by personal subjective experience and emotions. If you have more love and appreciation for a person's character and personality, then you will feel that he is better.

Get along with a person for a long time, and you will gradually find him more pleasing to the eye; Love is blind. Facing our partners, because of their attraction to us, we will think that they have a better-looking face.