What is the halo effect?

The halo effect is one of the best-known cognitive biases in psychology and that we can frequently observe in everyday life. This term was coined in 1920 by psychologist Edward L. Thorndike from his research with the army, when he observed that officers attributed a positive evaluation to them, often based on a single characteristic, a single observed trait. Or on the contrary, they attributed general negative characteristics when they saw in their superiors a quality that was not so appropriate at a given moment.

The halo effect consists of making an erroneous generalization from a single characteristic or quality of an object or a person. That is, we make a prior judgment from which we generalize the rest of the characteristics. If we think about it, this type of bias is something that we apply very often almost without realizing it. We do it when we see, for example, someone attractive and we assume (unconsciously) that we will also find their personality equally pleasant.

However, beautiful is not always good, nor is a single feature sufficient to draw a general and absolute idea about a person or dimension. The halo effect leads us to infer characteristics from very little information, that is, We presuppose, evaluate and even conclude certain data without knowing how dangerous something like this can sometimes be.

The halo effect in everyday life

Daniel Kahneman is a renowned psychologist who worked and studied in detail the phenomenon of the halo effect. So, in his book “Think fast, think slow” It shows us how this bias is part of any area of ​​our lives. For example, if someone is very handsome or attractive, we attribute another series of positive characteristics to them without having verified whether they have them or not, such as that they are intelligent, seductive or pleasant. Or, on the contrary, if someone seems ugly to us, we may think that he will be a boring and unfriendly person.

Even more, According to Professor Kahneman, teachers also have their favorite students. Those who tend to get better grades receive, on average, more benevolent treatment than those who have more difficulties or get worse results. This fact is so evident that many universities have established, for example, measures to prevent the halo effect.

One of them is the University of New England, in Australia, where they conducted a study to see whether students’ grades by their teachers were mediated or not by this cognitive bias. Today they have adequate strategies so that the valuation is always as neutral as possible. All of this forces us to conclude with a very simple fact. People make value judgments on a regular basis.

We do it, yes, without bad intentions. We do not seek to label or judge lightly but we do so for a fact that we are not always aware of either: Our brain needs to get a quick idea about what surrounds it.. You want to know what or who you can trust, who offers you security and what is best to keep your distance from. Hence, a single characteristic is often enough to make a general (and often inaccurate) inference.

Likewise, we can observe the halo effect when we know what a person does in their job, categorizing them according to whether they are a doctor, carpenter or receptionist. Even In marketing, this technique is widely used as a strategy to improve the image of some products. and better position a brand in the market.

We can also be aware of the halo effect in job interviews, referring to the bias that an interviewer, upon seeing a positive trait in the interviewee, overlooks negative traits or pays less attention to them, or vice versa.

The Nisbett and Willson experiments

Nisbett and Willson later conducted an experiment at Thorndike at the University of Michigan with two groups of students (118 in total). Each group was shown a video of a teacher in classthe same for both groups.

He was different in the way he behaved., in one of the videos the teacher was cordial and affable, and in the other he was authoritarian and imperative. That is, in one video the teacher was shown with positive qualities and in another with negative qualities. Subsequently, each of the groups was asked to describe the physical appearance of the teacher. And this is where the most curious part of this experiment comes.

The results of the experiment

Those students who saw the positive side of the teacher described him as a friendly and attractive person. Meanwhile, those who observed the negative aspect described it with unflattering adjectives. But the matter went further, since the students were then asked if they thought that the teacher’s attitude could have influenced their evaluation of physical appearance, all of them responding with a resounding “no”, and arguing that their judgments were completely goals.

In short, this reflects the reality of the halo effect and how little we know about what influences our evaluation of people and our environment. This is because although we believe that we make objective judgments, they may not be so, perhaps supporting that statement that we hear so many times that the first impression is what counts. Even so, this phenomenon does not always happen; in other situations some variables, such as context or affect, can also exert a certain influence.

Image courtesy of f_antolin

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