為什么你和鏡子里的自己看上去不一樣？

Usually the greatest fear after a wild night of partying isn't what you said that you might regret, but how you'll look in your friends' photos. If you left home looking like a 10, those awkward group selfies make you feel more like a 5, prompting you to wonder, "Why do I look different in pictures?" It's a weird phenomenon that is making people question their own mirrors. Are pictures the "real" you or is it your reflection? Have mirrors been lying to us this whole time?

通常，一夜的狂歡派對過后最令你恐懼的不是你說了什么可能會讓你后悔的事情，而是你在朋友拍的照片中長什么樣子。如果你離開家時的樣子是10分，那么，那些令人尷尬的自拍合照讓你覺得自己只有5分，你不禁思考，“為什么我在照片中看起來不一樣？”這是一個奇怪的現(xiàn)象，它讓人們對自己的鏡子產生了懷疑。照片和鏡像，哪一個才是“真實”的你？鏡子一直在對我們撒謊嗎？

The answer to that is a bit tricky. The good news is that there's a big chance that Quasimodo-looking creature that stares back at you in your selfies isn't an accurate depiction of the real you. But your mirror isn't completely truthful either.

問題的答案可能有點繞。好消息是，在你的自拍中長得像卡西莫多的那個人有很大概率不是你最真實的樣子。然而，你在鏡子里看到的也不完全是真實的自己。

The mirror is a reflection. It's not the real you.

鏡子里的只是你的映像，并不是真實的你

Although we're the most comfortable and familiar with the face staring back at us while we brush our teeth in the morning, the mirror isn't really the real us. It's a reflection, so it shows how we look like in reverse. Because we're so used to seeing the reverse version of ourselves, seeing how we look in pictures can be jarring. And unless you're blessed with a perfectly symmetrical face, the photo version of yourself can be even more wonky.

在我們早上刷牙時，鏡子里的臉是我們最為舒服、熟悉的，但這不是我們真實的樣子。它只是一個映像，呈現(xiàn)的是我們翻轉過來的樣貌。因為我們早已習慣了鏡子中翻轉的自己，所以看到照片難免會覺得令人不快。除非你有幸長了一張完美對稱的臉，否則照片里的形象還要更加靠不住。

“We see ourselves in the mirror all the time—you brush your teeth, you shave, you put on makeup,” Pamela Rutledge, director of the Media Psychology Center, told The Atlantic. “Looking at yourself in the mirror becomes a firm impression. You have that familiarity. Familiarity breeds liking. You’ve established a preference for that look of your face.”

媒體心理中心主任帕梅拉·拉特利奇在接受《大西洋月刊》采訪時說：“我們總是通過鏡子看自己——刷牙、刮胡子和化妝的時候都是。你已經把鏡子里的模樣已銘刻在心，非常熟悉了。熟悉就會帶來喜愛。你已經對這副樣貌產生了偏好。”

Scientists call this the "mere-exposure" effect. Basically, it's a behavior concocted by psychologist Robert Zajonc that says people react favorably to things they're most familiar with. So, when you see a flipped version of yourself, you immediately hate it or even find it grotesque because it's the opposite of what you're used to.

科學家將這種現(xiàn)象稱為“曝光效應”。簡單來說，這是由心理學家羅伯特·扎榮茨提出的一種行為，即人們會對自己最為熟悉的事物產生好感。因此，當你看到翻轉過來的自己時，你會立即產生厭惡心理，甚至覺得它很怪異，因為它與你所習慣的樣子截然相反。

The camera lens also plays a part.

相機的鏡頭也在作祟

So if your reflection isn't the real you, does that mean your ugly selfies are your "true self"? Although mirrors show a flipped version of yourself, the myth that "pictures never lie" isn't completely true either. After all, most people take more than one selfie before they find their most flattering one, and usually it takes a combination of angles and lighting before landing one Instagram-worthy.

那么，如果鏡像并非真實的你，這是否意味著不好看的自拍才展現(xiàn)了“真實的自己”？雖然鏡子呈現(xiàn)的是我們翻轉過來的樣子，但“照片從不說謊”的神話也不完全屬實。畢竟，大多數(shù)人自拍的時候不會只拍一張，然后會結合拍攝角度和燈光挑出一張最動人、最符合 Instagram 審美的再上傳。

But the problem might not be your angles, it could be lens distortion. Because of the proximity of your face to the camera, the lens can distort certain features, making them look larger than they are in real life. Depending on your features, if you have a soft, round face, photos can flatten your features and further distort the "real" you.

但問題可能不在于你的拍攝角度，而在于鏡頭畸變。由于你的臉離相機很近，鏡頭會扭曲某些特征，使它們看起來比現(xiàn)實中的更大。根據你的臉部特征，如果你的臉龐柔和圓潤，照片會弱化你的特點，進一步扭曲“真實”的你。

Your smile could also be the culprit.

你的笑容也是一個原因

Everyone knows what it's like to pose for an awkward photo, like a driver's license or a passport. The photos never turn out looking nice, and they hardly look like our natural smiles. When you're looking at yourself in the mirror, you're relaxed, confident, and more likely to smile and act naturally. If someone shouting "Say cheese!" at you, maybe you're going to tense up and have a photo that looks different and foreign from the version you see in the mirror. It's best to relax when taking pictures and try to focus on something else. That tense, forced awkwardness will always translate to a bad photo.

我們都知道，擺拍一張尷尬的照片是怎樣的，比如駕駛執(zhí)照或護照。這些照片都不好看，而且笑容也很不自然。當你照鏡子時，你會相對放松和自信，笑容、舉止也會更自然一點。如果有人對你喊“茄子！”，你可能就會緊張起來，拍出的照片與你在鏡子里看到的自己截然不同，讓你感到陌生。因此，拍照時最好能夠放松，把注意力轉移到其他事情上。緊張、被迫的尷尬表情往往會變成一張糟糕的照片。