Cheerleader Effect
People appear more attractive in a group than when alone.
The cheerleader effect (also called the group attractiveness effect) is the cognitive bias which causes people to think individuals are more attractive when they are in a group. Research has suggested that this occurs because the visual system automatically averages the features of individual faces when presented in a group, and average-ish faces are generally perceived as more attractive than highly distinctive faces.
What it looks like in the wild.
- Marketing Team Photos Company 'About Us' pages showing the whole team make individual employees appear more attractive and competent than their individual photos would.
Recognising a definition is not the same skill as spotting it.
Two scenarios from the app, with distractors drawn from the same family of biases — which is what makes them hard.
Your friend shows you a photo of their new colleagues. You think, 'Wow, your whole team looks so put-together and professional!' Later, you meet them individually and feel they're less impressive one-on-one.
During a project review, Ava thinks her team's combined presentation is incredibly polished. Later, she reviews each member's individual slides and finds them less impressive.
Biases rarely arrive alone.
Understand more. Assume less.
188 biases, 18,869 scenarios, and a record of how you actually decide.
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