New Shade-Throwing Study Says Selfie Takers Might Be Vain AF
A good selfie can be pretty useful, if you ask us. From pumping up your Snapchat story to serving as your MasterCard password (seriously), it’s no wonder most of us clamor over getting the latest selfie stick alternative and search out the perfect soft lighting to take the best selfie. But a new study published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science is shining some pretty harsh light on the biases and perceptions of power selfie takers. If you take selfies on the regular, you may want to stop reading here.
Researchers from the University of Toronto asked college students who were regular selfie-takers AND students who didn’t take selfies often to rate their own beauty and likeability. Then researchers had an independent group rate all participants for attractiveness and likeability. While both the selfie and non-selfie group rated themselves higher in attractiveness than the independent group (researchers called the groups equally narcissistic — burn), the study found that people who took the most selfies vastly overestimated their beauty. Ouch.
But it seems selfie-takers are SOLD on their selfie-skills. The study found that selfie-takers insisted they looked more attractive in their selfies than in the photos taken by other people. On the flip side, non-selfie-takers thought the two photos didn’t look all that different. Researchers note that taking really flattering photos might be one of the reasons selfie-takers think they’re so attractive, and will only think themselves more beautiful in the future, one selfie at a time. But, we say “whatever” to this finding — you should feel gorgeous!
It was also shown that outsiders looking at the photos rated selfie-takers as less attractive, less likable and more narcissistic in their selfies than in third-party photos. Sounds like you should recruit your BFF to take some pics of you, and swap out those selfies on your dating profile, stat.
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(Photo via Getty)