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Through with the looking glass: escape responses to implicit mirror exposure
Christopher T Burris1, Eugene Lai
1Department of Psychology, St. Jerome's University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 3G3. cburris@uwaterloo.ca
Consciousness and Cognition
|December 14, 2011
Summary
Encountering your reflection can be aversive, prompting a desire for escape. Individuals less bothered by their bodies sought flow experiences and transcendence when seeing their mirror image.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Cognitive Science
- Self-Perception Studies
Background:
- Confrontation with one's physical reflection may elicit an aversive response.
- Existing theories like Objective Self-Awareness (OSA) may not fully capture the diverse reactions to mirror exposure.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the appeal of
- escape routes
- when individuals are incidentally exposed to their mirror image.
- To investigate how self-perception of embodiment influences reactions to mirror exposure.
Main Methods:
- Participants were incidentally exposed to their mirror image.
- Interest in various experiences (flow, low-level thinking, meaning, pure consciousness events) was measured.
- Participants' chronic sense of embodiment (feeling
- trapped
- in their bodies) was assessed.
Main Results:
- Mirror exposure increased interest in flow experiences and
- pure consciousness events
- (transcendence of space and time).
- Individuals feeling less chronically
- trapped
- in their bodies showed increased interest in flow and decreased interest in low-level thinking or subjective meaning.
- Aversive effects of mirror confrontation appear more diverse than previously theorized.
Conclusions:
- Implicit confrontation with one's reflection can trigger diverse psychological responses beyond existing theoretical frameworks.
- The study suggests a need for further theoretical development to encompass the multifaceted impact of self-reflection on experiential desires.
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