What is your good profile for the photos?
The digital world increasingly enhances the importance of the image: selfies, photographs of vacations, gym and gala dinners, etc. Maybe that's why some people give such importance to the question: "What is my good profile? " The one of the face, it is understood, not the psychological facet.
It may be unimportant for some, but the asymmetries that naturally appear in all human faces make it appear that there is some interest in knowing how to pose better for those portraits that once hung on the Internet will go on to shape the public image of oneself . However, when estimating which is the half that looks better in the eyes of others, we are quite clumsy, according to a study.
Choosing the wrong half of the face
The research, carried out by Face Research Lab for the Nikon brand, reveals that we are pretty bad when it comes to choosing the best side of the face that we prefer to show in a portrait, at least if we compare our criteria with the opinion of others.
In addition, the results found could be applied to marketing techniques, enhancing the more flattering side of the models associated with the product or service.
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How was the study done?
The Face Research Lab team had a group of 100 men and women of various age ranges and ethnicities and asked them what they thought was their most flattering side of the face. With these data in hand, Photographs of each profile were taken from the face of the participants and these were passed on to the others so that they could choose which one they thought was the best from the point of view of the others.
Of course, in 50% of the cases the inverted image (rotated horizontally) of each half was offered so that the personal preferences on which side is the best did not influence the results.
The results were very curious: in general we tend to make a mistake thinking about the side of our face that is more beautiful for others that we hit more or less half of the time or even less, as if it were a simple matter of chance.
In fact, women were significantly worse than men in this respect . 36% of the time, they showed preference for the profile that others perceived as less attractive. Men guessed right in 57% of the time, a percentage that is still relatively low if we assume that it is not a simple random choice.
This means that there is either a curious discrepancy between our self-image and the way others value our appearance, or many people pose showing the wrong side believing that this way they will impress others more.
- Related article: "What is the good profile for the photos?"
We prefer the left side
Another of the curious conclusions reached by the research is that most people he thinks his left profile is nicer , even taking into account the cases in which the image had been inverted. In fact, it turned out to be chosen as the best 61% of the time.
One possible explanation about this is that statistically the left profile it is usually more marked , that is, it shows more distinctive and characteristic features that make it more memorable. This result had already been suggested by other investigations on the subject, but with a nuance; previously it was believed that the fact that the left half was more expressive increased their chances of being positively appreciated.
However, in this investigation it has been seen that the preference remains the same regardless of whether the picture appears smiling or not . It is that side of the face, and not the way in which the smile is embodied in it, what attracts. Although other investigations reveal that we find faces more attractive when they smile, comparing two profiles that maintain the same expression, the left one continues to win.
