People Look Better in a Crowd, Study Claims
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iStock/Thinkstock(SAN DIEGO) — The phrase “looking good” might be more applicable if you happen to be surrounded by others.
Psychological scientists Drew Walker and Edward Vul of the University of California, San Diego contend that there is actually something to what one of the characters on TV’s How I Met Your Mother refers to as the “cheerleader effect,” that is, a person tends to get better looking in a crowd.
Walker and Vul attempted to test the theory by showing participants in a study photos of 100 people, sometimes with two other people and other times alone.
More times than not, the participants found that a person, either male or female, was more attractive in a group than by themselves although the researchers admit the perceived bump in attractiveness was not that significant.
Nonetheless, Walker and Vul says it gives hope to those who consider their looks average because in crowds, “Average faces are more attractive, likely due to the averaging out of unattractive idiosyncrasies.”
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