When you look in the mirror, what do you see? Well, this may depend on a couple of things. First, are you standing next to your very attractive friend? If so, you may want to ask her to move out of the way. Researchers have found that after seeing an attractive same-sex person, we tend to perceive ourselves as less attractive. Second, are you comparing how you look to what you think the media or other people say you ought to look like? Or, are you comparing yourself to your own vision of how you could look? Both of these types of comparisons may lessen your perceived attractiveness, particularly if you have set some lofty points of comparison (Angelina Joli, Victoria Secret models, etc.).

If you are looking in a mirror and don’t like what you see, you might need a better comparison point. Researchers at Cardiff University wanted to see if we think we are getting better looking each day. Female college students were asked how physically attractive they were today and how attractive they were at the beginning of the academic year. The study found that people felt significantly more attractive today as compared to a month ago. This is an interesting finding as most research has focused on how we feel in comparison to other people or an ideal version of the self, and not as much at comparisons with our past selves.

Look in the mirror again, what do you see? Well now compare it to what you thought yesterday…are you looking pretty darn good?

Further Reading:

Brown, J.D., Novick, N.J., Lord, K.A., & Richards, J.M. (1992). When Gulliver travels: Social context, psychological closeness, and self-appraisals. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 62, 717-727.

Haddock, G. (2006). Do I get better looking each day? Changes in self-perceptions of attractiveness as a function of temporal perspective. European Journal of Social Psychology, 36, 761-771.

Straumen, T.J., Vookles, J., Berenstein, V., Chaiken, S., & Higgins, E.T. (1991). Self-discrepancies and vulnerability to body dissatisfaction and disordered eating. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 61, 946-956.