We’re all attracted to people all the time. What is it that attracts us to others? And
what do others find attractive about you? These are some of the questions our team is
going to try and answer in this series of videos. With millions of people to choose
from, finding that perfect someone shouldn’t be that difficult. But the media, social pressures
and human nature itself have turned it into a mystery. We’re surrounded by manipulated
images, celebrity and glossy perfection. We’re given rules about dating through books, websites
and the press. They all pressure us to conform to an ideal of what is attractive. [music]
But what’s the truth? It’s time for science to tackle the subject. Through a series of
experiments, our team are going to piece together some of the clues to this enormously complex
phenomenon and in these videos they will explore the
science of attraction.
When we meet a person for the first time we undoubtedly draw a conclusion about them.
We make a judgement on what type of person we think they are and possibly subconsciously,
decide whether we like them or not.
But is it possible that one aspect of their personality, one trait or detail can affect
how we perceive them? Would we judge a generally good person as bad because of their views
on religion, or a joke that's in bad taste or how much money they have? And is the reverse
true? How good is our judgement really?
In this experiment two groups of lovely ladies will see two very different sides of the same
guy.
>>I do like his personality.
>>I think he's quite self-centred.
As the team investigate how easily we can deceive ourselves. But first here's Kat.
The choice of a product we buy can be influenced by the positive aspects of the celebrity representing
it or we may stay in a relationship which is wrong for us because of one good quality
which blinds us to the negatives of our partner or makes them seem more positive.
This is known as the halo effect. When one good quality spills its appeal onto
other elements of a person's character we are seeing the Halo Effect in action. We decided
to find out what impact it has on personal relationships and the way we perceive others.
To test out the halo effect we've asked Mr X also known as Dan to create two dating videos
for us. Charlie who will be hosting the experiment is going to explain to Dan exactly what we
need.
>>Hello Dan,
>>Hello, how's it going?
>>Now today your going to be our Mr X for our halo effect dating video experiment. We're
going to give you one script which we would like you to read in two different ways, one
quite happy and upbeat and the other quite negative and downbeat. Does that sound alright?
>>Yeah that's cool
Just to point out, this experiment isn't about confidence, its more about acceptance of the
person through first impressions. Do we ignore the bad points because of good ones?
>>Hi my names Dan and...
Right so now were going to show the two different videos to two separate groups of very lovely
ladies to find out exactly what they think of Dan.
Hi girls, I'm Charlie thank you everyone for coming along today. Now we're going to split
you into to two groups and ask you to watch a dating video make sure you pay attention
because there's going to be a test at the end. Don't worry, not really, just you know
go and have some fun.
>>Bye
[laughter] So group one are sent off to one room to watch Dan's upbeat video. Whilst group
two are sent off to another to watch Dan's downbeat video and the girls have no idea
that there is anything different about either of their videos.
Hi My names Dan and this is my stupid dating video for this dating site where I hope I
can meet someone.
Hi [laughter] My names Dan and this is my stupid dating video for this dating site where
I hope I can meet someone. [laughter] I don't know what to say. The reason I'm here is because
I can't find my perfect woman in the real world so there must be something wrong with
me.
The reason I'm here is because I can't find my perfect woman in the real world so there
must be something wrong with me. So I suppose you want to know a bit about me, I look football,
music...
...Going out with friends. Best part about me, my body no doubt. [laughter]
What makes me laugh? I don't know what makes me laugh, anything funny I guess. I'm looking
for someone who understands me...
...That gets me and isn't afraid of trying things that I like
who isn't afraid of trying things that I like. I'm not into all these sex and the city girls
or hair or handbags or shoes.
I'm not into these sex and the city types, with their hair and handbags [laughter] and
shoes and that...
I want my woman to stay at home whilst I go out and go work and earn the money for her.
>>Boo, no definitely not
I go out and go work and earn the money for her. My ideal date would be someone fun interesting,
but cheap [laughter] because its not about the money that I spend but about the time
we spend together.
Its not about the money that I spend but about the time we spend together. So if you like
me, call me.
If you like me, call me. [laughter]
>>Right let's see what Group one think about Dan after seeing that video
>>I do like his personality, I think he seems like a really like honest guy and he's also
quite like a man kind of guy. Like he's quite manly. He's not all showy trying to be like,
do you know what I mean.
>>He seems like a wholesome boy though doesn't he.
>>He'd be a good boy to bring to your parents
>>Trustworthy kind of guy, like you know, solid.
>>He said the best thing about him was his body
>>That was meant to be a joke
>>I know but it wasn't funny
>>I like the bit when he was like its not about the money its not about the quality
of day its about the quality of time.
>>So what do you reckon girls yes or no? Is he likeable?
>>Likeable yeah
>>Yes
>>Likeable but not for me romantically
>>I think he was quite self-centred like he was about me me me
>>I agree yeah
>>But I guess with a dating video that's all he has to go on that's all he can say that's
what he's like that's what he's looking for
>>Nowadays women are quite career focused so it would be both of them going out to work
where he's expecting him alone to like provide for both of them. And he was also saying he
doesn't like girls that are into like hair and hand bags and I think a lot of ladies
are.
>>Yeah I agree, I don't think we'd get on. He would have a fit with my healthy obsession
with shoes.
>>He seemed to have like a hard run to be like you know, thinking this is my last chance
to actually find someone.
>>I don't like how he started it though saying this is a stupid dating video, well yeah exactly,
your not having much luck elsewhere.
>>So do you think you would go on a date with him or..?
>>No
>>No no no from me
>>No way
>>I would yeah I would give him a chance just because there's no harm in the first date
then you can really tell what they're like, how the conversation goes. So thumbs up or
thumbs down?
>>Well those reactions were quite different. So lets go over to Kat to see what its all
about.
Despite seeing videos of the same person saying the same thing, the opinions were varied.
One group mentioned specific things they didn't like about Fan while the other group completely
ignored them. But why? These mixed opinions are partly due to the
halo effect. The videos were identical in every way apart
from his tone and body language. He showed much more enthusiasm in one video and seemed
like he wanted to be doing it.
Hi I'm Dan and this is my stupid dating video for this dating site where I hope I can meet
someone.
While in the second video he was less outgoing and had a more negative feel to the way he
spoke.
Hi my name's Dan and this is my stupid dating video for this dating site where I hope I
can meet someone.
The enthusiasm and positive tone of the first video created the halo effect his positive
attitude clouded the girls judgement and made them accept his comments in a more positive
way.
Hey girls, welcome back I hope that was interesting. So its pretty clear that you both had different
opinions about the video you have just seen. Which is a little weird because both videos
are of both the same guys saying exactly the same thing.
However, group one your Dan was upbeat and enthusiastic and group two your Dan was unenthusiastic.
We explained to the girls the concept of the Halo Effect and what the experiment was about.
>>It kind of makes sense now
>>It makes you realise how important tone is and how you deliver it
>>We then played the girls each others videos, the question is, will they change their opinion
or will the halo effect still have a hold?
>>It came across more about what he wants to do and you'll do what he likes even though
he's saying the same thing that came across to me so much more.
>>That is so much better
>>So different
>>You feel like you would be able to have a proper conversation with him, where as before,
although you probably could, it would be a bit more difficult where as now, yeah actually
I could probably chat to him for a while.
>>If we had seen him be negative first time around, we might not give him a chance to
improve on that but because we saw him being positive like it might give you the chance
to think oh he's just having a bad day if he's being negative so like he would have
got passed the first hurdle to give off a good impression.
>>My initial opinion has changed but then at the end of the video you're still like
he did say those things.
>>He can't take it back
>>Yeah exactly
So that was the Halo effect in action. When we are given a positive characteristic that
we like, in this case a nice smiley personality, it can affect our perception in a way that
increases the attraction of all other attributes or blinds us to any negative ones.
We ignore negative comments because they don't fit with the positive quality we associate
with that person.
So the Halo affect can cloud our judgement, even when we know about it.
The next time you make a judgment about a person, good or bad, ask yourself 'is the
halo effect in action'. It could be the difference between voting for the wrong person, staying
in a relationship you should leave or rejecting someone who would otherwise be a loyal friend.
>>To find out more and test out our chat up line generator go to scienceofattraction.co.uk