Halo effect and why it’s important for your career
“Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won’t come in.” ― Isaac Asimov
During my college year, I was quite an active and ambitious student. So, I joined a lot of debate competitions to win some awards. There were some moments when I felt insecure before the match. Not because I hadn’t prepared well, but because I recognized other participants’ quality by their alma mater. When I saw people wearing a yellow, light-brown, or blue blazer (which is associated with top universities in Indonesia), I assumed they were smart and well-prepared, making me think that they are much better than me.
This assumption impacted my performance and I lost before the battle begin.
Have you ever had similar experience? If yes, then we all fell into Halo Effect trap.
What is Halo Effect?
The halo effect is a term for a cognitive bias in which someone assumes that because an individual has one good attribute, they also have other good attributes. When we see a physically attractive person, we assume that they must be smart, or nice, or humble, etc. Likewise, when we see a hideous person, we automatically think that they must be grumpy, or lazy, or poor. In other words, our overall impression of a person influences how we see we feel and think about their character. The Halo effect does not only apply to individuals, but it can also apply to a brand, school, or others.
The term halo effect originally coined by American psychologist Edwards Thorndike in 1920 on his paper titled “The Constant Error in Psychological Ratings.” He conducted an experiment in which commanding military officers were asked to evaluate a wide range of qualities in their subordinates. The characteristics vary ranging from leadership, physical appearance, to intelligence and loyalty.
He discovered that high ratings of a particular quality are significantly related to high ratings of other characteristics, whereas low ratings of a particular quality are also related to low ratings of other characteristics. He also discovered that a person’s physical characteristics heavily influence how commanders judge other qualities of their subordinates.
For a fun fact, the term “halo” refers to the religious concept of a glowing circle crowning the heads of saints and bathing their faces in a heavenly light. Therefore, halo represents the positive light that we place upon people or things because of their certain characteristics.
Why people fell to this bias?
Halo effect is often seen as a way humans cope with constructive process. When we form initial impression of a person or a thing, our mind does not solely rely on one information, instead, we actively construct an image that fits in what they know. Other psychology study believe that halo effect may be an effective shortcut to understand a person or a thing to confirm their pre-existing beliefs. The confirmation is used to ensure that our mind can be well-prepared to face that person/thing.
How relevant the halo effect in our daily lives?
Halo effect often occurs in a wide range of areas in our daily lives: education, work, dating, or shopping.
In education, teachers’ perception of student’s social status, physical appearance, or academic achievements influence how they identify bullies instead of students’ actual behavior.
In work, supervisors may rate subordinates based on the perception of a single characteristic rather than the whole of their performance and contribution. For example, a worker’s enthusiasm or positive attitude may overshadow their lack of knowledge or skill, causing co-workers to rate them more highly than their actual performance justifies.
In dating, a person with attractive physical appearance may also be perceived as interesting, ambitious, or funny even though they only meet once.
In shopping, when the same food products are labeled ‘organic’ and ‘conventional’, the ‘organic’ products receive higher ratings and consumers are willing to pay more for them.
Why it’s important for your career?
Halo effect occurs anytime, anyone, and in any place. Understand that the bias exists helps a lot to your decision making in life.
Whether you are a CEO of a startup or a job applicant, understanding that you might have assumed other great characteristics of a person/company just because of one single trait, will help you to identify why you originally chose your initial decision.
Understanding the halo effect also help you in a team discussion. You can be more critical on why your colleagues choose certain strategy instead of others and help the team to identify problems and preference based on facts, instead of assumption.
Next time, when you already have something in mind of a person or a thing, it’s worth a time to know them more before confirming whether they are really what you think of.
I hope this article helps to improve how you see life.
Till next time!
