Cheerleader effect

The cheerleader effect, also known as the group attractiveness effect or the friend effect, is a proposed cognitive bias which causes people to perceive individuals as 1.5–2.0% more attractive in a group than when seen alone. The first paper to report this effect was written by Drew Walker and Edward Vul, in 2013. Physical attractiveness implies individuals' preferences in a sexual selection based on the evolutionary psychology. In 1979, Donald Symons first proposed this evolutionary explanation, suggesting that the evolving physical attractiveness results from mate assessment favoring partners who exhibited signs of good health and fertility, including face averageness. This preference was proved to be shared across cultures. Two parts constitute physical attractiveness, and most former studies investigated underlying mechanisms leading to cheerleader effect specifically in its subset, facial attractiveness. Nevertheless, a study has recognized this effect in another physical appearance indicator, human body perceptions. The effect size of the cheerleader effect is not modulated by the presentation time, the number of individuals surrounding the target, spatial arrangement of the faces in the group. However, another study argued that the arrangement of faces in the group might influence this effect since people's central viewing tendency might affect observers to focus more on the perceived attractiveness of the middle face in the group. Findings of this effect are interdisciplinary in applications. Based on them, mate choice, marketing, and social media tactics are designed to increase the attractiveness of a target individual or item via the help of the group.