Memories, Selfies and other Photos

Selfies play a different role in our lives than other photos.  A Niese-lead team found that “When photographing moments in their lives, people can use a first-person (capturing the scene as they saw it) or third-person (capturing the scene with themselves in it) perspective. Past research suggests third-person (vs. first-person) images better depict the meaning (vs. physical experience) of events. The current work suggests the use and impact of perspective in personal photography follow this representational function. Across six studies . . . we find that the goal to capture meaning (vs. physical experience) causes people to be more likely to use third-person (vs. first-person) photos, that people are reminded more of the meaning (vs. physical experience) when viewing their own actual third-person (vs. first-person) photos, and that people like their photos better when the perspective matched (vs. mismatched) their goal for taking the photo.”

Zachary Niese, Lisa Libby, and Richard Elbach. 2023. “Picturing Your Life:  The Role of Imagery Perspective in Personal Photos.”  Social Psychological and Personality Science, https://doi.org/10.1177/`94855-6231163012