Here's some useful research from Royal Holloway, University of London's Department of Psychology:
Research published in the journal Psychological Science [DOI: 10.1177/0956797616661523] [DX] has shown that judgements of attractiveness vary depending on who is nearby, and how good-looking they are in comparison. A person will rank higher on a scale of attractiveness when compared alongside less attractive people, than they would when judged alone. Popular opinion points to a person's perceived level of attractiveness as somehow fixed. However, research from Royal Holloway, University of London shows that context is key to assessing attractiveness.
[...] Participants in the study were asked to rate pictures of different faces for attractiveness, one by one. They were then asked to assess the same faces, placed alongside ones perceived to be undesirable. When adding these 'distractor faces', the attractiveness of the same faces increased from the first round of ranking.
Participants were then shown two attractive faces, alongside a 'distractor' face and asked to judge between them. The presence of the less attractive face was found to make the viewers more critical between the attractive face, as Dr Furl explained: "The presence of a less attractive face does not just increase the attractiveness of a single person, but in a crowd could actually make us even more choosey! We found that the presence of a 'distractor' face makes differences between attractive people more obvious and that observers start to pull apart these differences, making them even more particular in their judgement."
The DUFF (2015). You may also be interested in this study suggested by Medical Daily:
Attractive Female Romantic Partners Provide a Proxy for Unobservable Male Qualities: The When and Why Behind Human Female Mate Choice Copying (open, DOI: 10.1177/1474704916652144) (DX)
(Score: 2) by opinionated_science on Sunday October 02 2016, @08:54PM
I read this and thought it *must* depend on context surely?
If you are , err, drinking and you got to a club the sheer nature of the surroundings make the appearance a far more likely to separate thing.
In a quiet pub, less so.
Having said that, I have discovered that once you are post-grad , it becomes a scoring system - "Haven't been to jail? Steady job? No kids?Do meth?" - although for some that's probably some positive criteria.
Anyone else?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 02 2016, @09:44PM
It's give and take.
Once knew a moderately attractive person who seemingly kept company with more homely people for I guess ego boost, but who can ever be sure?
Anyway, they were the one to attract the most attention at social gatherings until one of the more homely people decided to channel their inner slut, although fairly discreetly.
Now the homely person was getting the most attention through reputation, and when it finally came out what was going on, the attractive person pitched a fit of epic proportions.
Point being "attractive" is pretty fluid in some respects, and for most there is really nothing more attractive than being desired.
(Score: 3, Funny) by art guerrilla on Sunday October 02 2016, @09:53PM
beer goggles make strange bedfellows...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 03 2016, @07:50PM
The Macc Lads had a song, "I've never been to bed with an ugly woman but I've woken up with quite a few." They also had a much worse one speculating on the origins of and invention of alcohol ("Thank God for ugly women....").
(Score: 2) by Bogsnoticus on Tuesday October 04 2016, @02:08AM
Going to need a 12 pack [youtube.com], and a paper bag [wordpress.com].
Genius by birth. Evil by choice.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday October 02 2016, @10:37PM
This is some petty ass bullshit. And I'm not a terrible-looking person, but I would never include or exclude any of my male or female friends on the basis of looks alone.
One of the ugliest bastards I know is also one of the most witty street-smart bastards I know, and his silver tongue pulls supermodel-tier women. He has a razor-sharp acumen and a social intelligence of the highest order, even if he is short and his face looks like a twisted pink pickle...but god damn when we both hit the bar I'm the ugly bastard and he's pulling all of the girls.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 03 2016, @01:15AM
Hey Ethanol-fueled... Want to hang out?
(Score: 3, Touché) by Pslytely Psycho on Monday October 03 2016, @03:01AM
You're friends with Danny Trejo? Cool.
Alex Jones lawyer inspires new TV series: CSI Moron Division.