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We often see ourselves through self-criticism instead of the camera's lens.

Confirmation bias can make photographs feel like proof of long-held beliefs.

We often overlook the memory because we're evaluating the appearance.

Changing how we see ourselves can change how we experience the very same photograph.

A friend sends you a group photo from dinner, a wedding, or a weekend trip. Before you've registered anyone else in the frame, you've already found yourself, and you've already found something wrong. The smile looks off. The face looks older than you expect. Your eye lands on the one part of your body you already have a complicated relationship with. Everyone else is texting back heart-eyes emojis. You're staring at the same photo, wondering whether no one else can see what you see, or they do, and are silently judging you.

If that sounds familiar, you're not alone in this, and you're not vain. You're doing something almost everyone with a body and a smartphone does. The real question isn't whether the photo is flattering. It's why you and the people standing next to you in it can look at the same image and walk away with such different........

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