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Has this happened to you: You see a charismatic person and your inner voice tells you right away that she/he is “out of your league”?Why? What makes it unthinkable to be at par with this “perfect” person, even before you shared a word?
Because of a thing that social psychologists call the Halo Effect — a kind of cognitive bias.
Subconsciously, you put a halo on their head. You mark them as flawless, saintly, or even godly, totally ignoring that they might have flaws like any other mortal.
A high opinion of one part of their personality becomes a judgment of their whole character.
We humans do that — make snap judgments based on limited information available to us. And it disappoints us when we get to see their true nature.
“When first impressions shatter, you don’t like the person you see. But you fail to see that it was you who built those impressions.”
What Is The Halo Effect In Psychology?
The Halo Effect is when we believe that someone who is very good at one thing must also be good at other things, even if there is no proof. It also explains how one good quality can make us overlook other qualities that might not be as great.
Definition: The Halo Effect is a cognitive bias in which the perception of one trait in a person influences the perception of other traits, affecting overall judgment of that person’s other unrelated qualities.
The term “halo effect” was coined by American psychologist Edward Thorndike in his 1920 paper titled “A Constant Error in Psychological Ratings.” In 1946, Polish psychologist Solomon Asch found that people give more weight to first impressions than later ones when creating an overall image of a person.
This logical fallacy can lead to unfair judgment if we are not careful to check ourselves.
How The Halo Effect Can Ruin Your Relationships
The Halo effect is a bias that makes us poorly judge human character based on a limited amount of information.
Here are some ways it can destroy our relationships:
- Idealization of Partners: The Halo Effect can lead one to focus excessively on their partner’s positive traits, creating an unrealistic idealization that downplays any flaws they may have. This could lead to overlooking important issues in the relationship.
- Overlooking Problems: When one positive trait overshadows one’s perception, partners may ignore relationship issues at an early stage, waiting until they become too big to overlook. Ultimately, the conflicts and disappointment are too heavy to pass over.
- Unrealistic Expectations: The Halo Effect can set unrealistic expectations. Both partners may suffer dissatisfaction when those expectations are not met, ultimately harming the relationship.
- Increased Conflict: It can distort perceptions, causing partners to avoid addressing issues directly. This avoidance can lead to unresolved conflicts and resentment over time.
- Erosion of Trust and Intimacy: Focusing too much on positive traits while ignoring flaws can erode trust and intimacy between partners, making it difficult to connect on a deeper emotional level.
- Need for Open Communication: The Halo Effect can prevent open communication and self-awareness, leading both to maintain unbalanced (and somewhat untrue) perceptions of each other.
Examples of The Halo Effect
• If your new boss looks confident and affable, you might believe that they are a great leader, even if you haven’t seen them in action yet. This is how we make unfair judgments about people based on just one thing we like about them.
• It can occur when you believe that a nerdy-looking guy is an obsessive and introverted person who is lonely because they lack social skills.
• The halo effect can lead you to believe that an impeccably dressed person would be a rich and powerful one.
• You may assume that an attractive person must have many friends and admirers in real life and millions of fans and followers on social media. (Did you know that your Facebook friends are more likely to make you unhappy?)
• If you like a person’s artwork, you might also believe they are intelligent and kind. This can happen without any actual evidence of these qualities.
• Steve Jobs was a great innovator, but people who watch his product launch speeches frequently forget that he fired his employees for flimsy reasons.
• It can happen when you buy a new phone and find it to be great, you may start to think that all other products by the same company are also good quality. That’s one reason people who buy one product often go on to buy that company’s other products. In fact, that’s how companies “jail” people in their ecosystems. (Did you know that removing restrictions from an iPhone is called “jailbreaking?”)
• The halo effect can be seen when an interviewer or customer has a first impression that influences their opinion on other traits they observe later on. For example, if an interviewer or customer likes a candidate’s personality, they might then think that they are more qualified than they would have been had the interview not gone well.
• Companies promote their products with attractive spokespersons. The viewer associates the positive qualities of the spokesperson with the product they are advertising. An almost ubiquitous campaign is beautiful celebrities endorsing a whole array of products, from luxury cars to holiday apps.
• Lastly, a good but grossly unjust example is the jaded and mistaken idea of “dumb blonde” jokes.
What Causes The Halo Effect?
The reason we evolved to have the halo effect is that, in essence, it is a mental shortcut (heuristics), It lets us quickly decide whether a stranger can be trusted or not. Thus, it works as a survival mechanism, helping us judge people’s intentions quickly and easily, without spending much mental energy or time.
Our ancestors would have judged a good-looking person as a role model for future procreation since that person seemed to have avoided bodily defects from wars, diseases, and animal attacks.
Today, when we see a person who appears to have a flawless face, we tend to think that their skincare regimen and their makeup line must be excellent.
“The Halo Effect is based on heuristics—mental shortcuts that act as rules-of-thumb to reduce the mental effort required to make critical and time-sensitive decisions.”
How Marketers Use The Halo Effect
The Halo Effect is frequently used in marketing and advertising.
A company may design a perfect logo, run a relatable and memorable ad campaign, and get a celebrity to endorse them. All of which lead us to assume that its products and services are great, in line with its other aesthetics.
Final Words
How can we protect ourselves from shady marketers working the Halo Effect on us?
By reminding ourselves constantly not to judge a book by its cover.
√ Also Read: 12+ Cognitive Biases (That Everyone Makes)
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