The Nuance
How the ‘Frog-Pond Effect’ Distorts Your Self-Image
Few of us fully appreciate the role of social comparison in our well-being
For a 2012 study in PLOS One, researchers invited a young woman into a laboratory at Ohio University.
The woman learned that she would be taking part in an “aesthetic judgment” experiment. The researchers took a photograph of her face and then asked her to sit at a table that held two objects: a computer monitor and a mirror.
On the monitor, the woman viewed a series of headshots of what the study termed “attractive professional models” — all of them women. Following this barrage of beautiful faces, the woman’s own photograph appeared on the screen. But it wasn’t just a single photo; the woman saw 13 pictures of herself scattered across the monitor. Looking closely, she could see that each version of her face was different from all the others.
Using a specially designed photo-editing program, the researchers had taken the woman’s photograph and created “morphs” — copies manipulated to make the woman appear either more or less attractive. Along with her original headshot, the woman was now looking at eight photographs that airbrushed and otherwise enhanced her appearance — dramatically, in some cases — and four…
