When groups first emerge from a relatively indistinct whole, what individual characteristics determine what they will look like? Although little research has examined the critical moment of physical group formation, a wealth of literature suggests that groups do not assemble randomly, but on the basis of "fault lines." According to social identity theory, for example, individuals identify with and favor others who share common features, even arbitrary and superficial ones. We hypothesized that this bias would translate into physical grouping. Our current study directly examined whether strangers with shared physical characteristics were more likely than chance to physically cluster together. We focused specifically on gender and physical attractiveness, two superficial social traits with well-documented social homophily effects.
We also considered how gender and attractiveness might shape the physical structure of groups. A fundamental dimension of incipient groups is their physical dynamic: where individuals position themselves relative to one another. Although no empirical research in social psychology has studied the physical structure of incipient groups, work on social physics suggests that group formation is analogous to physical attraction or repulsion, such that social "attractors" exert a gravitational force that draw others to their vicinity. We hypothesized in this study that gender and physical attractiveness could also be plausible candidates for attractor-enabling features. Perhaps as a function of short-term mating strategies, men show greater attraction to women in speed dat- ing paradigms than vice versa, and individuals of both sexes show a halo effect based on physical attractiveness. We hypothesized, therefore, that women and attractive individuals would be more likely found in the middle of their groups.
We also used this project to explore the the size of incipient social groups, with no a priori hypotheses.
