Research 10/28-11/4: Inverted Faces, Ego, Social Media and Self Presentation
Updated: Dec 8, 2020
Goodrich, R. I., & Yonelinas, A. P. (2020). The effects of face inversion on perceiving- and sensing-based change detection. Journal of Experimental Psychology. General, 149(1), 79–93. https://doi-org.ezproxy.montclair.edu/10.1037/xge0000618
Have you ever played around with filters on your phone and tried out an inverted image of yourself? You probably thought you looked completely unfamiliar from what you were used to seeing. According to psychologists Robin I. Goodwich and Andrew P. Yonelinas, the face inversion effect is the result of disrupted perceiving (Goodrich & Yonelinas). When the normal orientation of a face is changed in an unfamiliar way it disrupts how our minds process the face as a whole. For instance, when asked to compare minor changes between two images of the same face, participants found it more difficult to identity what specific feature changed when the faces were inverted. However, they still sensed that there was a difference between the two images.
When we look in the mirror, everything is being flipped back at us because light is being reflected off of it in the same from which it came. We constantly see an inverted image of ourselves when we look in the mirror yet not in a typical photograph. However, with smartphones and computers having front facing cameras, we are constantly seeing our inverted image. What's interesting about this conversation is our inverted face has become the most familiar version of ourselves that we see. If we invert our mirror image, we see the face that others see which is strange to us. This concept factors into why our viewpoint of our face is so distorted. In order to fully understand our visual identity, switching lenses is an essential step.
Solomon, M. (2016). Social media and self-evaluation: The examination of social media use on identity, social comparison, and self-esteem in young female adults (Order No. 10188962). Available from ProQuest Central. (1855123331). Retrieved from http://ezproxy.montclair.edu:2048/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.ezproxy.montclair.edu/docview/1855123331?accountid=12536
The popularity of social media allows us to curate an online identity that can be viewed as an ideal version of ourselves. It often represents a false sense of self because the majority of the content is strategically chosen to be posted. This identity is different from reality because it allows users to carefully craft their feed to emphasize only the desired attributes of an individual. Instagram in particular places the majority of its value on visual content, meaning physical appearance dominates one's online identity.
Social comparisons have resulted from the use of social media. Instead of dealing with comparisons from traditional media, users also face comparisons from their friends, family, people they knew from grade school but haven't talked to in years, as well as influencers that they do not personally know. Their is a pressure to share the best version of oneself. After all, the social media has become one of the first ways people who just meet learn about who you are. Social media has extended the complexity of self image because the line between real and fake is very slim. Most content is altered in slight ways that prevent it from being completely true, yet we still tend to treat all information on their like it is. Since our online identity is a good indicator of who we believe our ideal self is, it can be useful in comparing it to how we curate our ideal self in real-time.
Sommerer, C., & Mignonneau, L. (2018). From the ego to the alter ego – interacting with the self image through Neuro Mirror. Technoetic Arts: A Journal of Speculative Research, 16(1), 85–97. https://doi-org.ezproxy.montclair.edu/10.1386/tear.16.1.85_1
Designers Christa Sommerer and Laurent Mignonneau developed an interactive exhibition based on their studies on the ego and self image. Within this exhibition, a participant interacts with three real time image displays each distorted with a water blur filter. The middle image is their reflection in real time. The left image is their reflection delayed representing a their past selves. The right image is a completely different figure that mimics the actions of the participant. Eventually, the participant learns it's their ego and through software programming, the ego even begins to predict the actions of the participant. Through studies of Freud and Lacan, Sommerer and Mignonneau developed an the installation Neuro Mirror, in an attempt induces us to question ourselves, our image of ourselves, and the way we mirror ourselves onto others by creating alter egos.
When we stare into a mirror, we create mental images of ourselves that affect our egos and ego ideals. Our ego can be described as involving processes or reactions concerned with I, me, or mine. The ego ideal is generalized as the idealized conception of oneself. In many cases, we shape our ideal self by observing others. Neuropsychologist Giacomo Rizzolatti discovered mirror neurons in our temporal love that allow for an immediate and intuitive understanding of others. They process what a person looks like, how they speak, and how they behave. They are also activated when we imitate the actions of others. When we imitate or mirror others, we become an extension of them. This research is particularly interesting because when we discuss self image, who we believe we ought to be is not only shaped by media influences, but the people in our everyday environment.
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