THE HALO EFFECT:
THE IMPORTANCE Of THE FIRST
IMPRESSION
by
Rob Hutchinson
website
www.ispectrummagazine.com
T
he halo effect is a cognitive bias
that results in the judgement of the
character of another person being
unduly influenced by the overall
first impression. This bias is widespread
throughout society and can heavily influence feelings of attraction. An example of
the halo effect at work would be when we
form a favourable opinion about someone
despite knowing little about them. Just
because someone is good at doing A and
B does not necessarily mean they are
good at C and D, but we assume they are.
This also works in a negative way too - if
someone is a thief we may assume they
are a bad person, although it is possible
that there are good aspects to their character too. Edward Thorndike coined the
phrase originally and research has shown
how it is especially relevant in not just
attraction but the judicial process and
education systems.
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