The"haloeffect"isaclassicfindinginsocialpsychology.Itistheideathatgeneralevaluations(评价)aboutaperson(e.g.sheislikeable)influencejudgmentsabouttheirspecifictraits(品质)(e.g.sheisint
The"haloeffect"isaclassicfindinginsocialpsychology.Itistheideathatgeneralevaluations (评价) aboutaperson (e.g.sheislikeable) influencejudgmentsabouttheirspecifictraits(品质)(e.g.sheisintelligent).Hollywoodstarsgivetheperfectexample.Becausetheyareoftenattractiveandlikeable,wenaturallyconsidertheyarealsointelligent,friendlyandsoon.Thatis,sometimes,nottrue.
Inthe1970s,well-knownsocialpsychologistRichardNisbettsetouttoprovethefactthatweactuallypaylittleattentiontoourthoughtprocessesingeneral,especiallytothehaloeffect.
Nisbettwantedtoexaminethewaystudentsmadejudgmentsaboutteachers.Theyhadbeendividedintotwogroupstowatchtwodifferentvideosofthesameteacher,whohappenedtohaveastrongIndianaccent.Onegroupwatchedtheteacheransweraseriesofquestionsinanextremelywarmandfriendlymanner.Thesecondgroupsawexactlythesamepersonanswerexactlythequestionsinacoldanddistantmanner.Inonetheteacherappearedtoliketeachingandstudents,andintheotherhecameacrossassomeonepowerfulwhodidn'tliketeachingatall.
Aftereachgroupofstudentswatchedthevideostheywereaskedtoevaluatetheteacheronphysicalappearance,mannerismsandevenhisaccent (mannerismswerekepttesameacrossbothvideos).Thesameasthehaloffectinfers,studentswhosawthe"warm"oneevaluatedhimmoreattractive,hismannerismsmorelikeableandevenhisaccentasmorepleasing.Thiswasunsurprisingasitbackeduptheideasonthehaloeffect.Atthesametime,forthosewhohadseentheothervideo,theresultwasjustthewrongwayaround.
Thesurpriseisthatstudentshadnocluewhytheygaveoneteacherhigherevaluations.Mostsaidthathowmuchtheylikedtheteacherhadnotinfluencedtheirevaluationofhisindividualtraitsatall.
Thehaloeffectisfascinatingandnowwell-usedinthebusinessworld.Forexample,booksthathave"HarvardClassics"writtenonthefrontcanasktwicethepriceoftheexactsamebookwithoutit.Thesameistrueinthefashionindustry.
So,thenexttimeyouconsiderbuyingapairofdesignerjeansordecidewhetheryoulikesomeone,askyourselfwhetherthehaloeffectisoperating.Ar