| Abstract | Reference for the "halo-effect" The halo effect refers to a cognitive bias whereby the perception of a particular trait is influenced by the perception of the former traits in a sequence of interpretations. The halo effect is involved in Harold Kelley's implicit personality theory, where the first traits we recognize in other people then influence the interpretation and perception of latter ones (because of our expectations). Attractive people are often judged as having a more desirable personality and more skills than someone of average appearance. Celebrities are used to endorse products that they have no expertise in evaluating. A corollary to the halo effect is the devil effect, or horns effect, where individuals judged to have a single undesirable trait are subsequently judged to have many poor traits, allowing a single weak point or negative trait to influence others' perception of the person in general. Said another way, if we are told that we are seeing a person that has just returned from psychiatric treatment, we will tend to interpret otherwise neutral behaviors as indicators of mental illness. |
