WE LIKE OUR BODIES, WE JUST DON’T KNOW IT

Researchers from the Experimental Virtual Environments Lab at the University of Barcelona did a study that found people rate their own body more negatively when inside it, compared to viewing their exact same body as an outsider. The researchers recruited 11 men and 12 women from the University of Barcelona (* Hot co-eds! Yowza!). The researchers used virtual reality to create three “virtual bodies” on the computer for each participant: one based on their own image of it, one based on their ideal body shape, and one based on their actual body measurements. Once these computer models were created, participants were immersed in virtual reality to view these three avatars from two different perspectives: first-person (like how we see our own bodies day to day) or third-person (how others in public would see us). They were then asked to rate the attractiveness of each of these virtual bodies. When their virtual body – based on their own measurements – was perceived from a third person perspective, it was evaluated as more attractive than when it was perceived from a first-person perspective.
* Slow day at the research lab, eh fellas?
* In the third-person perspective, can your body get on a scale and weigh itself?
* They’re college coeds. How bad can their bodies be?
* This is what I keep telling women – I’m totally a hottie. Now I’ve got research to prove it.
* Would I like my body if I viewed it from, say, 20 or 30 years ago?