The
selfie has arguably become the greatest photographic trend of our time. Why are
we so interested in taking and sharing selfies and how does observing an image
of yourself differ from observing a picture of someone else, asks University
College London neuroscientist James Kilner.
In
everyday social situations we spend a lot of our time looking at and
interpreting other people's faces and facial expressions. Indeed, reading and
responding correctly to other people's facial expressions is essential for
successful social interactions.
Through
our lifetimes we become experts at recognising and interpreting other people's
faces and facial expressions. In contrast, we have very little experience of
looking at our own faces. Our perception of our own facial expression comes
from our sense of feeling our faces move. This lack of visual knowledge about
our own faces means we have a very inaccurate representation of what our own
faces look like at any given time. For example, it has been demonstrated that
when people are shown an image of themselves and asked to match it, they are
unable to accurately produce the same facial expression without being able to
see themselves.
This
lack of knowledge about what we look like has a profound effect on what we
think we look like. When people are asked to pick a photograph which they think
looks most like them, people are very bad at selecting the original photograph.
Given
that we have a poor representation of what we look like, this is perhaps
unsurprising. What is surprising is that people systematically choose images
that have been digitally altered to make the person appear more attractive.
In
other words, we have an image of ourselves that tends to be younger and more
attractive than we actually are. This might in part explain our obsession with
selfies. For the first time we are able to take and retake pictures of
ourselves until we can produce an image that come closer to matching our
perception of what we think we look like.
Question 1 (2 points) Indicate whether the following statements are true
or false and write down which part of the text justifies your answer.
a. In our
relationships, it’s very important to interpret people’s faces.
b. We always
know for sure what our own faces look like.
c. We can’t
reproduce a facial expression without looking at our faces.
d. People
usually recognize their own real image.
Question 2 (2 points) Answer the following questions in your own words.
a. Why have
selfies become so frequent nowadays?
b. Why do
people take so many pictures of themselves?
Question 3 (1.5 points) Find words or phrases in the text that
correspond in meaning to the words and definitions given.
a. fashion (par.1) b.
fundamental (par.2) c. inexact (par.3)
d. choose (par.4) e.
modify (par.5)
Question 4 (1.5 points) Complete the following sentences without
changing the meaning.
a.
“Why are we so interested in taking
selfies and how does observing yourself differs from observing someone else?” James Kilner said.
James Kilner asked …………………………
b. We
become experts at recognizing other people’s faces. In contrast, we have very
Little experience of looking at our own face.
Despite
…………………………………………
c. People
have a poor representation of what they look like, so they choose digitally
altered images.
If people ……………………………………….
Question 5 (3 points) Write a short essay (120-150 words) on the
following topic:
