Cheerleader Effect

What is the Cheerleader Effect?

The cheerleader effect, also called the group attractiveness effect, is a reported tendency for an individual face to be rated as more attractive in a group than when shown alone.

Walker and Vul (2014) found this pattern in five experiments using faces presented alone or in same-gender groups. They proposed that a group-level facial representation influences the perception of an individual face, shifting it toward an attractive average.

The finding concerns ratings of faces in a particular visual display. It does not mean every group makes every person look better.