Fuck Up and Still Look Sexy
October 19, 2009
The Pratfall Effect
Aronson, Willerman and Floyd (1966)
Proposed that the influence of a pratfall on a superior-ability person’s attractiveness might depend on the ability level of the “beholder.” Exp. I with 150 undergraduates showed that Ss of superior intellectual ability disliked a superior-ability person significantly more if he committed a pratfall, whereas an average-ability person was reacted to indifferently regardless of whether or not he committed a pratfall. The dislike shown for the superior-ability-pratfall person was so intense that it fell significantly below the liking shown for the average-ability-pratfall person. In Exp. II, 76 Ss of average intellectual ability tended to derogate a person of average ability if he committed a pratfall and was berated by a 3rd person, while the same conditions brought about a slight increase in superior-ability person’s attractiveness. Results are discussed in terms of the general pattern that emerged, showing that superior-ability Ss reacted toward a superior-ability person much as average Ss reacted toward an average-ability person.
The pratfall effect is a psychological phenomenon whereby the attractiveness of a person perceived as competent increases if the person commits a blunder. Conversely, the attractiveness of a person perceived as incompetent decreases if the person commits a blunder.
http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/psp/22/2/246/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pratfall_effect
