Abstract
Young women posting their edited face photographs on social networking sites have become a popular phenomenon, but an excessively retouched face image sometimes gives a strange impression to its viewers. This study investigates what personal characteristics facilitate a bias toward an excessively edited face image. Thirty young Asian women evaluated the attractiveness and naturalness of their face images, which were edited in eight different levels—from mild to excessive—by expanding their eyes and thinning their chin. The mildly retouched face was evaluated as more attractive than the original face, but the excessively retouched face was evaluated as unattractive and unnatural in comparison with the original face. The preferred face edit level was higher for one's own face than for others. Moreover, participants with higher autism-spectrum quotient (AQ) scores were found to regard excessively edited face images as more attractive. The attention to detail subscale of the AQ showed a significant positive correlation with the preferred face edit level. The imagination subscale, on the contrary, showed a significant negative correlation with the preferred face edit level. The pupil response for self-face images was significantly larger than those for others' face images, but this difference decreased with higher AQ scores. This study suggests that an increased attractiveness in their mildly retouched face promotes this behavior of retouching one's own face, but autistic traits, which are insensitive to the creepiness of the excessively retouched face, might pose a potential risk to inducing retouch dependence.
Highlights
Since ancient times, women have been applying makeup to their faces to make themselves look more attractive—they do this by emphasizing their eyes or coloring their lips red, among other methods
This study suggests that an increased attractiveness in their mildly retouched face promotes this behavior of retouching one’s own face, but autistic traits, which are insensitive to the creepiness of the excessively retouched face, might pose a potential risk to inducing retouch dependence
This study hypothesized that young women prefer stronger facial retouching on their own face compared with their friends or unknown peers (Hypothesis 3). To test these three hypotheses, this study examined whether lower self-esteem and/or higher autistic tendency acts as a bias for preferring stronger facial retouch, especially on one’s own face
Summary
Women have been applying makeup to their faces to make themselves look more attractive—they do this by emphasizing their eyes or coloring their lips red, among other methods. This study was conducted only in young women because retouching behavior is popular in young women, and women have been shown to be more vulnerable to body image-related influences than men.[17] To identify each individual’s most preferred degree of the edited face, we first photographed young Asian women recruited from four social groups in Osaka University and edited their face images—that is, the photographs of their face—to make their eyes look bigger and chin thinner (which is the most popularly used retouch in Asia) at eight different levels (Fig. 1A). This was utilized because pupil diameter changes unconsciously under the control of the autonomic nervous system and becomes larger when interest or attention to an object is high.[18,19] we examined whether there was a difference in pupil response depending on the face edit level
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
