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Self-Esteem
This Is How We See Our Face and Body in Our Mind
Research shows mental self-portraits are affected by feelings and beliefs.
Posted January 3, 2022 Reviewed by Ekua Hagan
Key points
- The actual shape of a person’s face or body may differ significantly from their mental image of it.
- New research suggests people’s facial self-portraits resemble their real faces but also include “clues” to their personality.
- Research findings also indicate that individuals with higher self-esteem are more likely to have accurate mental self-portraits.
Close your eyes and take a minute to describe, in detail, the mental image of your face and body. Now open your eyes and look in the mirror. Does the image in your mind differ from the one in the mirror?
Looking in the mirror, viewing selfies, or asking friends “How do I look?” are all ways of trying to understand how we appear to others. This knowledge is helpful because how we look on the outside can differ significantly from our mental image or “mental selfie.”
No mental selfie will be completely accurate, though some are more accurate than others; for instance, people who have a mental illness such as body dysmorphic disorder or eating disorders (e.g., anorexia nervosa) are more likely to have body image distortions.
It is not clear what causes body image distortions in body dysmorphic disorder or eating disorders—whether the cause is genetics, personality traits, societal pressures, negative experiences (e.g., trauma), or other factors. Or which treatment is most effective (e.g., mirror exposure therapy). But one thing is clear: In order to help individuals with these conditions, it would be useful to know what the mental image of their face/body really looks like. A study by Maister and collaborators, published in the December 2021 issue of Psychological Science, brings us closer to the answer.
Investigating how we truly see our face and body
Study 1
Sample: 77 Caucasian university students; 34 males; average age of 24 years old.
Measures:
- Reverse-correlation task: Random noise superimposed over an average composite face (a “base face”) of the same gender as the participant was used to create 1000 faces. These consisted of 500 pictures using the random pattern and 500 corresponding photos using an inverted pattern. One pair was presented during each trial and participants were instructed to select the picture that looked more like their face. The selected images were then averaged to produce a final visual representation of the person’s “self.” To see a video of the process, visit this link and click on the videos.
- Questionnaires: Used to measure facial characteristics, personality traits (the Big Five), and self-esteem.
- Photos: Participants had a picture of their face taken in the neutral style of passport photos.
- Secondary data collection: To rate the participants’ real faces and self-portraits from another perspective, 112 individuals (35 males; 35 years of age, on average) were recruited. The pictures were rated by an average of 28 people. The secondary raters also completed the same personality measure for each picture that the primary participants had.
Study 2
Sample: 40 female college students; average age of 24 years old.
Measures:
- Two reverse-correlation tasks: The “self task” was similar to the first experiment, except that body silhouettes were used in the place of facial pictures. For the “typical task,” participants selected an image similar to a “typical or average person” of the same gender and age. There were 400 trials for each task.
- Body self-esteem: The body self-esteem scale was used to measure feelings about appearance, satisfaction with weight, and evaluations attributed to others (e.g., assuming others like/dislike one’s looks).
- Real body measurements: weight, height, waist width, and hip width were calculated.
How we truly see our face and body
Analysis of data found self-portraits and self-beliefs were correlated:
In Experiment 1, an individual’s personality-related beliefs impacted the representations of their facial appearance. For instance, those who believed they were extroverted “held an internal representation of their face that had exaggerated stereotypically extraverted facial features.”
And in the second experiment, the same was true of body shape. Specifically, those with “negative attitudes toward their bodies also held visual representations of their body’s physical appearance as wider and typical peers as slimmer, compared with participants who had more positive attitudes.”
Analysis of data also showed the accuracy of the facial self-portraits was higher in those with greater self-esteem and self-confidence.
Why?
One explanation is that people with higher self-esteem and self-confidence have a greater tendency to engage in close social interactions; and social interactions provide, through comparisons and feedback, more information about their physical appearance.
Another possibility is that people who already have a more accurate perception of themselves have a greater likelihood of experiencing predictable and reciprocal relationships, leading to increased self-esteem and self-confidence. For instance, people who have an accurate perception of their own attractiveness are more likely to approach and date someone who is a good match and are thus less likely to be rejected.
A few differences between the findings concerning mental images of the face versus the body should be mentioned: There was a strong relationship between individuals’ mental representations of their facial appearance and real face; however, this was not true for perceptual representations of the body. These were less related to the true body size and more affected by emotions and self-related attitudes.
Takeaway
The research reviewed found people’s mental self-portraits resemble their real faces but are also associated with their personality traits. And individuals with higher social self-esteem have more accurate self-portraits. Mental representations of the body, in comparison with the face, appear to have a weaker association with one’s real appearance. Nevertheless, both types of representations are affected by feelings and thoughts.
What are some applications of the findings to clinical practice?
As noted earlier, body image distortions and disturbances are common in mental health conditions such as body dysmorphic disorder or eating disorders. The authors suggest the methodology used in this research might help “assess distortions in visual memory in these patients, allowing us to reveal whether they stem from higher-level self-beliefs and attitudes or even a disorder in the link between these attitudes and the physical self-representation.”
Furthermore, it may be possible to “compare the effects of different treatments (e.g., those targeting perceptual distortions and those targeting emotional or cognitive aspects of the disorder) as well as assess the effects of treatment across time.”
