The truth of 'the cheerleader effect'

In a new study run by The Association of Psychological Science, the perceived ‘Cheerleader Effect’ has been proven to be true. This psychological phenomenon, which was first dubbed on the famous television show How I Met Your Mother by lady-killer Barney Stinson, states that a group of people, rather than individually, is perceived as more attractive.

Two of the scientists working on the study, Drew Walker and Edward Vul of the University of California in San Diego, say that people ‘average out’ the features of the people in a group, which makes each person seem more average that they truly are.

Walker expects that, since this averaging out of the faces also averages out the unattractive idiosyncrasies, it explains why the groups of average people are seen as more attractive. So, the researchers conducted five experiments with over 130 undergraduate students.

Individuals were shown electronic pictures of people individually and in groups, and the group photographs made each individual look more attractive than in their solo photograph.