Mirror Experiment

Buzzfeed did an experiment where they asked individuals to look in a mirror and describe what they saw. Unbeknownst to them, on the other side were complete strangers offering their own opinions. The results are shown here in their video called “What Do Strangers Think Of You" It’s very similar to the Dove Real Beauty Ads, with their tagline of “you’re more beautiful than you think”, and although I’m usually not a sap, damn do these kinds of things get to me. What I found really amazing about this is anything negative that the individual had to say about themselves was either a) entirely ignored, or b) seen as beautiful. Also, I liked that it was people’s first impressions – so not just describing their appearance, but extrapolating from their appearance what that person would be like, so their were phrases like, “he seems like the life of the party”, “he seems like a cool guy”, “I don’t know if she realizes how lucky she is”, “she’s probably a really fun person”. I also like that it’s not just about the lady-folk, guys get insecure too and deserve an ego boost just as much as women. Equal opportunity sappy positivity! I think the point of this experiment is summed out pretty well by one of the participants after watching the footage of people’s comments: “I’m stuck in my body until I die, so what good is it going to do if I’m mean to myself?”