Self-perception

[cdif911]

I just bought a video-camera to tape my team's games, and tested it out. It's amazing how different your voice sounds on tape than it does in your head.  Makes me wonder what other perceptions of myself are different than reality - have others had these moments?

[fairweatherfan]

I love this sort of stuff.  Most people hate their own recorded voices - I read once it's due to the vibrations that carry through your jaw to your inner ear when you're speaking.  Makes your own voice usually sound deeper than it sounds to others.  Another neat effect along these lines is that since you see yourself mostly in mirrors, which are reversed images, most people prefer the appearance of their mirror image to their actual image.  It's one of the reasons why a lot of people don't like how they look in photographs.

Also, the spotlight effect studied by social psychologists says that on average, people think others are paying much more attention to them and notice a lot more about them than they actually do.  People also consistently overestimate how good they are relative to others in common skill areas (social skills, writing, attractiveness, etc) and underestimate how relatively good they are at uncommon skills (computer programming, marathon running, etc).  It's not unusual to see 95% of people tested rate themselves as above average in the common skill areas, and the exact opposite in the uncommon areas.

[cdif911]

I love this sort of stuff.  Most people hate their own recorded voices - I read once it's due to the vibrations that carry through your jaw to your inner ear when you're speaking.  Makes your own voice usually sound deeper than it sounds to others.  Another neat effect along these lines is that since you see yourself mostly in mirrors, which are reversed images, most people prefer the appearance of their mirror image to their actual image.  It's one of the reasons why a lot of people don't like how they look in photographs.

Also, the spotlight effect studied by social psychologists says that on average, people think others are paying much more attention to them and notice a lot more about them than they actually do.  People also consistently overestimate how good they are relative to others in common skill areas (social skills, writing, attractiveness, etc) and underestimate how relatively good they are at uncommon skills (computer programming, marathon running, etc).  It's not unusual to see 95% of people tested rate themselves as above average in the common skill areas, and the exact opposite in the uncommon areas.

good stuff, I have a coworker who takes a headshot every year to look at the regression of his appearance, its amazing how such little changes can hit us over time appearance-wise.. I'm sure a lot of us at some point weighed ourselves and said, how did I get so heavy (or light)?  If you can get others to give you brutaly honest opinions of you, it helps, but you do have to have a thick skin too

[Redz]

I did some radio work way back when so I'm pretty aware of my voice.  I think I'm much less aware of my physical appearance than my voice.

It's what's inside that counts anyhow 

[cdif911]

I did some radio work way back when so I'm pretty aware of my voice.  I think I'm much less aware of my physical appearance than my voice.

It's what's inside that counts anyhow 

Do you hear yourself on a delay?  And I've heard your voiceover work, good stuff

[Redz]

I did some radio work way back when so I'm pretty aware of my voice.  I think I'm much less aware of my physical appearance than my voice.

It's what's inside that counts anyhow 

Do you hear yourself on a delay?  And I've heard your voiceover work, good stuff

nope, no delay

[Edgar]

I have both the looks and the voice of a moviestar so my self perception is just excellent.
just in between

james



and resortes.

[Neurotic Guy]

Was at the bank the other day and the teller noticed that my license on file (picture ID kept for identification purposes) had expired.  She asked if I had an updated one, which I did have as I just renewed in the past few weeks.  She spontaneously and lightheartedly exclaimed that my old license must have been from a long time ago (indicating that the old license picture was clearly of a much younger man). 

Thus, my self-perception as a very young looking 51 year old went swirling rapidly down the toilet.

[cdif911]

my college ID looks nothing like me, its a nice icebreaker though when I pull it out

[greg_kite]

I notice more and more that I don't like pictures taken of me.  For some reason my jawline has been taken over by fat.  It has nothing to do with Quiznos, Chipotles, Panera or Oreos though.

[jambr380]

my college ID looks nothing like me, its a nice icebreaker though when I pull it out

Yeah, same here. My college ID doesn't have an expiration date on it, so I had been using it occasionally for discounts. I finally got called out on it a couple of times and realized my younger days are over. I am only 29, and even though I think I look like I did in college, apparently I do not...what a bummer.