Being a wingman or wing woman is a very important job in a social environment…but does being a wingman really work?
According to The Atlantic, you look better in a group then you do alone this is called the Cheerleader effect. People were rated in groups and some pictures of people were by themselves and everyone rated the group pictures to be more attractive because in a group you have more options and you take away the least attractive and the one or couple that are left seem to be more attractive then usual.
We are also not the only ones who do this as well, Wild Turkeys have been known to do this. Wild Turkeys have one dominant and the others are helpers or wingman and help with the reproductive success by dulling out their colors and they have a better chance in the group then they do by themselves. According to the Kin Selection and Cooperative Courtship in Wild Turkeys.
This even goes for fireflies who when flashed in a synchronous beat will attract a female firefly with a significant higher rate then they would in a Asynchronous flash. You can find this summary of the article on Pub Med.
Overall if you just be yourself you will find somebody, and no matter who your wingman is he will never be better then Master Barney Stinson.
This blog post grabbed my attention right away due to its uniqueness and the fact that I love Barney. I have heard about the Cheerleader Effect but never knew if it was actually true. This was a great post but you should try to include why this effect may happen and if it has anything to do with our brains scientifically. You should check out this article relating to this topic: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-cheerleader-effect/
I found this article extremely interesting because, as college students, wingmen are very relevant. Personally, I have never really experienced a successful wing man effort, but I have not seen many instances of it. I have never used one, as I think it is kind of stupid. I have had friends be wingmen for other friends, and I have seen very unsuccessful attempts. Often, the girl will just laugh it off and not end up talking to the guy. On this website (below), there are 29 stories of wingmen going above and beyond to help their friend.
http://thoughtcatalog.com/hok-leahcim/2014/02/29-incredibly-inspiring-stories-from-wingmen-who-took-the-extra-step-to-help-out-their-friend/
I initially was drawn to your post because I have always found the concept of having a wingman to be interesting. I do think you address a valid point: people can tend to look better when they’re in a group setting versus being alone. I also enjoyed how you made the comparison with animals too in order to demonstrate that human beings are not the only species that do this and that animals can have similar tendencies. At the very end of your post you commented about Barney Stinson from How I Met Your Mother. Interestingly enough four years ago a study was conducted based off of his principle. In this study, researchers found that people are willing to embellish a friend’s reputation in order to make themselves look better. If you care to read more about this study, feel free to click on the following link: https://priceonomics.com/the-science-of-being-a-wingman/
This is very interesting, I guess it really depends on who your friends are, cause they can either help you out by saying things to make you look good or they can just use you or the person to find someone for them by making themselves seem superior. Very interesting, thank you.