Cheerleader effect: What is it and what does it consist of? – Online Psychologists

If you are a fan of the series 'How I Met Your Mother' this term may sound familiar to you. If not and you don't know what we are talking about when we say 'Cheerleader Effect', Stay with us and we will tell you everything you need to know about this curious phenomenon.

The cheerleader effect is a phenomenon in which people appear more attractive when they are in a group. This term was first introduced by the fictional character Barney Stinson, played by Neil Patrock Harris, in an episode of the series 'How I Met Your Mother'. Also known as the group attraction effect, it is a cognitive bias which leads us to perceive people or objects as more attractive when they are in a group than when they are alone.

This term has been supported by research conducted by Drew Walker and Edward Vul (2014) and van Osch et al. (2015). They conducted an experiment in which They showed 100 photographs of individual faces and then the same face surrounded by other faces. Participants were then asked to rate the attractiveness of each face. The results showed that, surprisingly, the faces were rated higher when they appeared in the collage alongside other faces.

This cognitive bias occurs because Our visual system seeks harmony and coherence in the elements we perceive, and selects the best features of each item to create a pleasing whole. Psychologists have found that our minds unconsciously rate beauty relative to the average, and that this average rating tends to be higher than that of individuals.

The visual deception explained by Barney Stinson is based on cognitive and perceptual processes that are also the basis of other well-known optical illusions, such as the Ebbinghaus illusion and the moon illusion.

Psychologists Drew Walker and Edward Vul suggested that this effect is due to the interaction of three cognitive phenomena: the human visual system takes «ensemble representations» of faces in a group, the perception of individuals is imbalanced compared to this average, and average faces are more attractive because of the average of unattractive idiosyncrasies. When these three phenomena occur simultaneouslyindividual faces appear more attractive in a group because they look more like the average face of the group, which is more attractive than the individual faces of the members.

In the study, two different explanations were put forward for the cheerleader effect: selective attention to the most attractive members of the group and the Gestalt principle of sameness or similarity, which refers to the our brain's tendency to organize visual elements into groups based on their similarity.

The cheerleader effect is an interesting phenomenon that demonstrates how our perception of attractiveness is influenced by the presence of other individuals. It doesn't just happen with people, but this effect is used in a variety of areas, from social media to digital marketing, to increase the attractiveness of products, services and people.

In the sale of productsthe cheerleading effect can also be very effective. When a product is presented in a group, Its attractiveness is increased by the combination of its positive qualities with those of the surrounding products.This approach can be applied in both physical stores and e-commerce.

In the case of the social networks, The cheerleader effect can be used to improve a person's image. By photographing yourself in the company of someone with complementary physical characteristics, you can increase the attractiveness of the image. However, it is important to be careful don't exaggeratesince the human eye tends to focus on differences and appearing too different from the rest of the group could be counterproductive.

Finally, the cheerleader effect can also be used in the digital marketing to mediate the impact of negative comments. When presenting opinions in a group, The best ones can create a perceptual compensation in the client with the less positive ones, which can increase customer confidence in the brand.

It is important to note that the cheerleader effect is a cognitive and perceptual phenomenon which occurs automatically and often without us being aware of it. Although it can be used effectively to improve the image of a person or product, it is It is important to use it ethically and without exaggeration so as not to damage the image or customer trust.