The first impression is the last impression, they say. However, is it fully, correct? The question raises a number of confusions.
How can the first impression be the last? How is it possible to judge people by their first impression? Does impression actually help determine the character of a person or the real person he/she is? If not, then what is it that attracts us to a person who is beautiful from the outside? The answer to all these questions is ‘the halo effect.’
What is the Halo Effect?
The halo effect is a kind of cognitive bias that influences our thoughts and perceptions concerning a person. In this bias, the overall impression of a person highly impacts others’ feelings and perceptions about a particular trait of that person. Let us understand this clearly with an example. An attractive person is often thought to be generous, smart, or trustworthy.
Under the influence of this bias, we often fail to recognize the real person behind the mask of attractiveness or beauty. The halo effect bias can often be misguiding and lead to the misjudgment of not only people but also brands, companies, countries, or products. Through this article, we will see how the halo effect bias influences our lives.
American Psychologist Edward Thorndike first coined the term ‘halo effect’ to express a cognitive bias. As per this theory, the subjective judgment of people can negatively impact our critical thinking ability. A positive first impression can compel us to make positive assumptions about a person’s character, and a negative impression can lead to unrelated incorrect assumptions.
The Halo Effect: How it Influences Lives
Thorndike’s Halo Effect theory posits that people quickly judge others by their first impression, which abates our thinking process. Let us learn how the halo effect bias influences our lives.
1) Influences Attractiveness
The halo effect can cause us to make quick judgments about people, brands, and other things depending on a single trait. It can significantly influence our attractiveness to people, places, brands, and others. As it relies on first impressions and physical appearance, we can easily get attracted to people with attractive appearances. This might lead to a misjudgment of the person’s actual character or personality. For example, a well-dressed person is often assumed to be smart and charming, whereas, in reality, they might not be as smart as they look.
2) Influences Perceptions
Halo effect bias influences our perceptions to a large extent. We often make good perceptions about a brand having an appealing public image. On the contrary, we can misjudge people, work situations, and other things by making a negative perception of them with their first impressions. For example, the halo effect can help in building trust and long-term relationships with a good and popular brand. A positive feeling about a brand’s image can also make us perceive a bad brand to be good.
3) Influences Decision-Making
This cognitive bias associated with the halo effect highly influences our decision-making. The bias-driven perceptions can influence us to make a wrong decision regarding a situation, apparently looking positive. For example, a higher salary offered by a company can mislead candidates in assuming its workplace to be productive. On the other hand, a small-scale organization with a low payroll can have a positive work environment to engage more talent.
We all experience the halo effect bias, and it is hard to distinguish biases from facts. By adopting more objective thinking over subjective thinking, we can decrease the impact of the halo effect. With knowledge about this cognitive bias, we can reduce the chances of misjudging people, places, and others and be more informed in our decision-making.
