A group's physical attractiveness is greater than the average attractiveness of its members: the group attractiveness effect.
We tested whether the perceived physical attractiveness of a group is greater than the average attractiveness of its members. In nine studies, we find evidence for the so-called group attractiveness effect (GA-effect), using female, male, and mixed-gender groups, indicating that group impressions of physical attractiveness are more positive than the average ratings of the group members. A meta-analysis on 33 comparisons reveals that the effect is medium to large (Cohen's d = 0.60) and moderated by group size. We explored two explanations for the GA-effect: (a) selective attention to attractive group members, and (b) the Gestalt principle of similarity. The results of our studies are in favor of the selective attention account: People selectively attend to the most attractive members of a group and their attractiveness has a greater influence on the evaluation of the group.
Tilburg University, The Netherlands y.m.j.vanosch@tilburguniversity.edu.
Yvette
Y
van Osch
Tilburg University, The Netherlands.
Irene
I
Blanken
Tilburg University, The Netherlands.
Maartje H J
MH
Meijs
Tilburg University, The Netherlands.
Job
J
van Wolferen
D001288:Attention; D001504:Beauty; D005260:Female; D005863:Gestalt Theory; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011593:Psychology, Social; D012938:Social Perception
cheerleader effect; group attractiveness effect; group evaluation; perceptual averaging; physical attractiveness; selective processing; social cognition