You're out with friends and notice a group standing by the bar. You can't believe how attractive they all are.

After many drinks you and your friends talk to them, and after a long night dancing, you can't believe your luck: the one you've had your eye on wants to come back to your place.

The next day you wake up feeling proud until you see them again. You could have sworn they were more attractive the night before.

Congratulations! You've fallen victim to the cheerleader effect!

How I met your mother

Most cognitive biases have a long history, some dating back in anecdote form as far as ancient Greece.

The cheerleader effect, however, was coined by the character Barney Stinson in a 2008 episode of the television series How I met your mother called "Not a father's day".

In the episode, Ted points out a group of seemingly attractive girls, but Barney explains that in a group they appear attractive, but individual they aren't.

According to Barney, it's also known as The Bridesmaid Paradox, The Sorority Girl Syndrome, and The Spice Girl's Conspiracy.

Subsequence research

It sounds like a work of fiction, but since the television show two studies have been conducted which concluded that the effect does exist.

In 2013 Walker and Vul asked participants to rate the attractiveness of male and female faces when shown in a group photo and an individual photo. Those photographed scored higher when viewed in a group.

The theory is that when we look at groups we take an average for the entire group, removing unattractive features.

What can we do about it?

When you want to hook up with someone, go out with a group of friends to raise your perceived attractiveness from others.

Likewise, if you find someone in a group attractive, try to view them alone to avoid falling victim to the effect.

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Banner photo by Keith Allison used under the CC-BY-2.0 license. Changes were made to the original.

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Other posts in the series:

• The lies we tell ourselves - the hindsight bias
• The lies we tell ourselves - authority bias
• The lies we tell ourselves - the halo effect
• The lies we tell ourselves - the gambler's fallacy
• The lies we tell ourselves - the sunk cost fallacy
• The lies we tell ourselves - the framing effect
• The lies we tell ourselves - cognitive dissonance
• The lies we tell ourselves - confirmation bias

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