The effect of a pratfall on increasing interpersonal attractiveness

Abstract

An experiment was performed which demonstrated tha tthe attractiveness of a superior person is enhanced if he commits a clumsy blunder; the same blunder tends to decrease the attractiveness of a mediocre person. We predicted these results by conjecturing that a superior person may be viewed as superhuman an, therefore, distang; a blunder tends to humanize him and, consequently, increases his attractiveness