Previous research has found that people are seen as more attractive when they appear in a group rather than inisolation. Do faces that surround us in time also affect how attractive we seem? Participants rated the attractiveness of famousfemale faces presented in a sequence of three and in isolation. We found that people do integrate information about attractivenessover time, but that temporal context has the opposite effect of static context. People perceived faces as less attractive in a seriesthan when those same faces were presented in isolation. We also varied the attractiveness of surrounding faces in order toexamine how the serial position of contextual information figures into people’s judgments of a face. Faces presented early inthe sequence figured more heavily into people’s judgments than did faces presented at the end. These findings highlight therole that temporal context plays in the perception of attractiveness.

Previous research has found that people are seen as moreattractive when they appear in a group rather than in isolation.The present study asks whether faces that surround us in timealso affect how attractive we appear to be. Participants ratedthe attractiveness of famous female faces presented in asequence of three and in isolation. We found that people dointegrate information about attractiveness over time, but thattemporal context has the opposite effect of static context.People perceived faces as less attractive in a series than inisolation. We also varied the attractiveness of surroundingfaces in order to examine how the serial position of contextualinformation might figure into people’s judgments. We foundthat faces presented earlier in the sequence figured moreheavily into people’s judgment than did faces presented laterin the sequence. These findings highlight the role of temporalcontext in perceptions of attractiveness.