An article in Scientific America has pointed out that empirical research says that, actually, you think you’re more beautiful than you are. We have a deep-seated need to feel good about ourselves and we naturally employ a number of self-enhancing strategies to achieve this. Social psychologists have amassed oceans of research into what they call the “above average effect,” or “illusory superiority,” and shown that, for example, 70% of us rate ourselves as above average in leadership, 93% in driving and 85% at getting on well with others—all obviously statistical impossibilities.

We rose-tint our memories and put ourselves into self-affirming situations. We become defensive when criticised, and apply negative stereotypes to others to boost our own esteem. We stalk around thinking we’re hot stuff.

Psychologist and behavioural scientist Nicholas Epley oversaw a key study into self-enhancement and attractiveness. Rather than have people simply rate their beauty compared with others, he asked them to identify an original photograph of themselves from a lineup including versions that had been altered to appear more and less attractive. Visual recognition, reads the study, is “an automatic psychological process, occurring rapidly and intuitively with little or no apparent conscious deliberation.” If the subjects quickly chose a falsely flattering image—which most did—they genuinely believed it was really how they looked.

Epley found no significant gender difference in responses. Nor was there any evidence that those who self-enhanced the most (that is, the participants who thought the most positively doctored pictures were real) were doing so to make up for profound insecurities. In fact, those who thought that the images higher up the attractiveness scale were real directly corresponded with those who showed other markers for having higher self-esteem. “I don’t think the findings that we have are any evidence of personal delusion,” says Epley. “It’s a reflection simply of people generally thinking well of themselves.” If you are depressed, you won’t be self-enhancing.

Knowing the results of Epley’s study, it makes sense that many people hate photographs of themselves viscerally—on one level, they don’t even recognise the person in the picture as themselves. Facebook, therefore, is a self-enhancer’s paradise, where people can share only the most flattering photos, the cream of their wit, style, beauty, intellect and lifestyles. It’s not that people’s profiles are dishonest, says Catalina Toma of Wisconsin-Madison University, “but they portray an idealised version of themselves. ”

1.According to the first paragraph, social psychologists have found that _________.

A our self-ratings are unrealistically high

B illusory superiority is a baseless effect

C our need for leadership is unnatural

D self-enhancing strategies are ineffective

解析：选A。A 推理判断题。根据题目定位到首段第三句，可知研究表明大部分人对自己各方面的评价都是“高于平均水平”的，这些从统计学上来看都是不可能的。A项符合原文，故选A。

2.Visual recognition is believed to be people’s _________.

A rapid matching

B conscious choice

C intuitive response

D automatic self-defence

解析：选C。C 细节理解题。根据题目定位到第三段第三句，可知“视觉识别”是一种无意识的心理过程，rapidly and intuitively，很少或根本没有明显的有意识思考。故选C。 

3.Epley found that people with higher self-esteem tended to _________.

A underestimate their insecurities

B believe in their attractiveness

C cover up their depressions

D oversimplify their illusions

解析：选B。B 细节理解题。根据第四段第三句可知，那些认为“修过的更具吸引力的照片是真实的”的人与那些“在其他方面表现出较强自尊心”的人是相对应的，即自尊心较强的人往往对自身吸引力更自信，故选B。

4.The word “viscerally” (Para. 5) is closest in meaning to _________.

A instinctively

B occasionally

C particularly

D aggressively

解析：选A。A 词义猜测题。由viscerally定位到第五段，可知人们“本能地”不喜欢自己的真实照片与上下文逻辑更统一，故选A。

5.It can be inferred that Facebook is a self-enhancer’s paradise because people can _________.

A present their dishonest profiles

B define their traditional lifestyles

C share their intellectual pursuits

D withhold their unflattering sides

解析：选D。D 推理判断题。根据题目定位到第五段第二句，可知人们在Facebook上可以只分享自己最讨人喜欢的照片，结合上文人们讨厌自己的真实照片可知Facebook恰好能把人们不讨人喜欢的一面隐藏起来。故选D。