We’re all attracted to people all the time. What is it that attracts us to others? And
what do others find attractive about you? [music]
These are some of the questions our team is going to try and answer in this series of
videos. With millions of people to choose from, finding that perfect someone shouldn’t
be that difficult. But the media, social pressures and human nature itself have turned it into
a mystery. We’re surrounded by manipulated images, celebrity and glossy perfection. We’re
given rules about dating through books, websites and the press. They all pressure us to conform
to an ideal of what is attractive. But what’s the truth? It’s time for science to tackle
the subject. Through a series of experiments, our team are going to piece together some
of the clues to this enormously complex phenomenon and in these videos they will explore the
science of attraction.
The Media has always influenced what we consider to be attractive and affects how many people
perceive themselves. Why are we so critical of our own image? Is it just social pressure,
an exposure effect due to the images we see, or is there something else at work - and can
it be manipulated?
[music] In this video the team take a group of young couples and put to the test, whether
what we see is really what we get?
>>I don't want that to be how I look
>>But you definitely look better in that one
And a member of the team goes through an extreme transformation as we expose the tricks of
manipulating images. But first, here's Kat.
We see ourselves in the mirror every day, when we clean our teeth and wash our faces.
However this mirrored or reversed image, isn't how our friends and family see us but it is
the one we become accustomed to. There is a concept which states that a persons
repeated exposure to something will enhance its perceived value and it's known as the
mere exposure hypothesis. In other words, the more we see or experience
something, the more normal it becomes, and the more we like it.
So today, we're taking 5 couples and running a little experiment to see how the mere exposure
hypothesis effects our perception of ourselves and other people.
Hosting the experiment is Charlie, he's going to explain to our couples what they are here
for.
>>Hello everyone, I'm Charlie. Thank you for coming along today. Paul our photographer
is just going to be taking some quick pictures of you and then out of those pictures we're
going to ask you to pick your favourites just have a bit of fun really, nothing to stressful,
just enjoy yourselves.
[music] We'll be showing each person two photos of themselves and two of their partner.
>>Hi there.
>>Hi, pleased to meet you.
>>I'm your photographer. Look straight into the camera lens, fantastic and smile.
>>Then we'll be asking them to choose their favourite from each pair. What they don't
know is that both photographs are identical, apart from one has been flipped to create
a mirrored image. If the mirrored exposure hypothesis is correct each person should choose
the mirrored photo of themselves as that is the image that they are most used to seeing.
Okay, so now that the photos are ready it's time for the moment of truth. Lets find out
which ones they prefer. By the way image A is the mirrored photo and
image B is the normal one.
>>I'd say I like this one better. I like my smile better in this one. It seems like I
got a nicer side to me.
>>That one. My smile is less wonky and it's a better angle.
>>I prefer that one because it looks less wonky and it feels more right.
>>I'm going to go with this one, yeah, I really can't pinpoint it but that seems more appealing.
>>This one, I just think the light looks a little bit better.
>>This one. I think its more what I feel I look like.
>>Its definitely that one, because I look different in that one, it just looks more
like me.
>>This one. There's something in the face, it's the way the face is angled.
>>I think I prefer this one. Do you know what, actually, I'm going to change my mind, I prefer
this one, probably just the angle of the smile I guess.
>>Actually I quite like this one, I like this one, I look less chubby in this one.
Our results seemed to follow the theories quite closely. In 60% of cases, people chose
the mirrored image of themselves as the one they preferred.
When choosing a partners photo the choice should be the opposite way round. The individuals
should choose the non mirrored image because that's how they see their partner on a daily
basis.
>>Don't forget image A is the mirrored photo and image B is the normal one.
>>I prefer this one of Shell.
>>That one, it just, its just so much more him, so much more natural.
>>I prefer this one because he looks more relaxed and it seems more casual than the
other one
>>I prefer this one, again its really hard to say but yeah I think this one
>>That one, because the other one, his head looks more crooked and he doesn't crook his
head like that.
>>This one again
>>This one definitely this one
>>I definitely prefer this one. I like the smile better on this one.
>>He's got sort of a crooked smile on this one it looks like, so I prefer this one
>>This one doesn't really look like Alex but this one does, that's quite clear.
When selecting photos of their partners there was a 90% accuracy rate in selecting the non-mirrored
image. The theories seem to be accurate. In our experiment, 15 times out of 20, 75%, the
subjects followed the science, picking mirrored images of themselves and normal images of
their partner as their preferred photographs.
>>I picked the mirrored one, the one that I see all the time.
>>But that is how you look.
>>I don't want that to be how I look
>>but you definitely look better in that one because that one you look really serious.
>>Your telling me that that ones out of balance, but its still me.
>>It is still you, but it just doesn't look like you.
>>So that ones more natural to you?
>>Yes exactly.
>>I think that this one looks more like me, this is what I see when I look in the mirror
but I obviously don't because this is me.
>>I think its because probably because you got quite a symmetrical face that its harder
to tell which one is which.
>>I'm used to looking like that.
>>but you do look better in that one, but that's a good thing because that's how you
actually look
>>OK
>>One of the reasons those who chose the normal photos of themselves weren't swayed towards
their mirrored images may be because they have slightly more symmetrical faces and so
it's more difficult to see a difference
In the media, symmetrical faces are also highly sought after, as they are considered to be
more attractive. So much so in fact that some images in adverts and magazines are altered
to make facial features such as eyes and ears identical on both sides.
>>Nowadays pretty much any image that you'll find in a magazine will have been edited in
someway, so we're going to take a look at just how much a picture can be manipulated,
using me as the example. Yay.
>>Hello Charlie. Good to meet you meet, lets get that top off.
>>Yes OK.
>>Before Paul our photographer can work his magic, he needs some raw material to work
with so its time for my male model debut.
>>Lets have a little bit more arny pose, great down into the camera, excellent. Give it some
nice attitude Charlie. Thank you Charlie
>>Having worked my best poses, its time for Tom, my body double to get in front of the
camera.
>>Straight down the camera lens, perfect.
>>Paul is going to be replacing my body with toms and working some other digital miracles.
>>Lovely, that's great mate, fantastic.
>>We all know that images get manipulated to make people look thinner or have clearer
skin. But they are also changed to make the person's face appear more symmetrical by duplicating
eyes and other features across the face.
A perfectly proportioned face is an indication that the body it sits on is well prepared
to fight off infection. The common cold, asthma and flew, are all more likely to be combated
affectively by those whose left side matches their right. All of these qualities mean that
symmetrical faces are perceived as being more attractive.
Here I am in all of my digitally manipulated glory, with clear skin, symmetrical features
and a buff new body. To me it looks really weird, but even if I liked it, the changes
are so extreme that I could never look like this.
Many young people feel under pressure to look the same as the celebrities they see in photographs
online and in magazines.
UK residents are set to splash out 659 million pounds on cosmetic procedures and many of
those will be trying to emulate this false image of perfection.
By trying to live up to the misleading images in magazines we are trying to live up to the
impossible. Even the most attractive celebrities in the world have their photos improved digitally
or even turn to surgery and many of the alterations made to models in photographs are biologically
impossible.
We measure ourselves against those people in the lime light and celebrities. We don't
really measure ourselves against an everyday person. So when you do look at yourself, you
kind of compare yourself to somebody who probably isn't a real reflection of what someone in
everyday will look like.
>>You look at somebody and think oh they are beautiful, all this make up and so slim but
how do you know if its fake or not, its been touched up so your pressurised to look oh
that's beautiful but no one can look like that in real life.
>>But I think that people over analyse their own photos anyway. So where as Dan will think
oh she looks perfect she looks beautiful, I would notice all those little things because
you over analyse yourself. You could look as good as someone in the media but its just
you look at yourself and pick at stuff where as that person will just think oh they look
beautiful.
>>In the photos we all said like oh are faces look crooked so people might get plastic surgery
thinking oh I got a crooked nose, but then they actually don't its just the way they
look at themselves in the mirror.
>>After what we have done today I think if somebody does go and have plastic surgery
on their face to correct their nose, your partner who knows you best they probably just
see you as totally different and say well that's not you that's not how I found I was
attracted you, its just totally different.
So familiarity does play a part in attraction which makes perfect sense. It's important
though that we keep a good perspective about what's considered 'beautiful' or 'handsome'.
With so many manipulated images around it'd be easy to feel pressured and unhappy with
ourselves. All of our test subjects found their partners attractive which goes to show
that reality is beauty even if it's not airbrushed 'perfection'.
>>To find out more and test out our chat up line generator go to scienceofattraction.co.uk