BPS Research Digest reports on a study illustrating our apparent inability to read insights into our personalities from watching a video of our own body language. We are, however, quite adept at making revealing insights on others from similar videos, suggesting we have a sort of “egocentric blind spot”.
Why can’t we use a video of ourselves to improve the accuracy of our self-perception? One answer could lie in cognitive dissonance – the need for us to hold consistent beliefs about ourselves. People may well be extremely reluctant to revise their self-perceptions, even in the face of powerful objective evidence.
In my mind I am linking this with an article from The Naked Speaker persuading you to video your speeches so that you don’t miss out on valuable feedback; something I haven’t done for the few speeches I have given and a piece of advice I definitely plan on implementing.