The digital world increasingly enhances the importance of the image: selfies, photographs of vacations, the gym and gala dinners, etc. Maybe that’s why some people give so much importance to the question: “What is my good profile?” The one about the face, of course, not the psychological aspect.
It may not be important to some, but the asymmetries that naturally appear in all human faces give rise to a certain interest in knowing how to best pose for those portraits that once posted on the Internet. will go on to shape the public image of oneself However, when it comes to estimating which half looks better in the eyes of others, we are quite clumsy, according to a study.
The research, carried out by Face Research Lab for the Nikon brand, reveals that we are pretty bad at 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.
Furthermore, the results found could be applied to marketing techniques, enhancing the most flattering side of the face of the models associated with the product or service.
How was the study done?
The Face Research Lab team took 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 this data in hand, photographs were taken of each profile of the participants’ faces and these were passed to the others so that they could choose which one they believed was the best from the others’ point of view.
Of course, in 50% of the cases the inverted image (rotated horizontally) of each half was offered so that personal preferences about which side is the best did not influence the results.
The results were very curious: in general we tend to make so many mistakes when thinking about the side of our face that is more beautiful to others that we are right about half the time or even less, as if it were a simple matter of chance.
In fact, women were significantly worse than men in this regard 36% of the time, they showed a preference for the profile that others perceived as less attractive. The men were correct 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 either there is 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.
We prefer the left side
Another of the curious conclusions reached by the research is that the majority of people he thinks his left profile is prettier, even taking into account the cases in which the image had been inverted. In fact, he turned out to be voted the best 61% of the time.
A possible explanation for 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 research on the subject, but with a nuance; Previously, it was believed that the fact that the left half was more expressive increased its chances of being positively appreciated.
However, in this research it has been seen that the preference remains the same regardless of whether the photo appears smiling or not It is that side of the face, and not the way the smile is expressed on it, that attracts. Although other research reveals that we find faces more attractive when they smile, comparing two profiles that maintain the same expression, the left one continues to win.
