For several days, it has been difficult to scroll through social media without encountering someone transported back to the 1980s. The viral ChatGPT ’80s photo trend has people uploading modern photographs and transforming themselves into retro versions complete with vintage hairstyles, clothes, studio backgrounds and film-grain effects. Celebrities and politicians have joined in, while the trend has spawned everything from glamorous portraits to regional variations. Yet another group watched the trend spread and simply did nothing. They did not upload a selfie, experiment with prompts or post their retro alter ego.
Psychology cannot tell someone's personality from that decision alone, but theories involving conformity, psychological reactance, need for uniqueness, self-presentation and social comparison offer several intriguing reasons why some people happily watch a trend without feeling compelled to participate.
