Time to ditch your hot friends.
A new study shows that your level of attractiveness depends on who you're with—and if they're better-looking than you.
The study, which was led by psychologists from the University of London and published in Psychological Science, had 40 participants who were asked to rate different faces on their attractiveness level. They were also asked to rate the same faces alongside others. Because life is terrible, it turns out that the more attractive the people around you are, the less attractive you seem by comparison.
"Until now, it's been understood that a person's level of attractiveness is generally steady," Dr. Nicholas Furl, the study's author, said in a statement about the study. "If you saw a picture of George Clooney today, you would rate him as good-looking as you would tomorrow. However, this work demonstrates that the company we keep has an effect on how attractive we appear to others...People may even socially evaluate a person differently depending on who is standing nearby."
