Halo Effect

Halo Effect

The halo effect (sometimes called the halo error) is the tendency for positive impressions of a person, company, country, brand, or product in one area to positively or negatively influence one's opinion or feelings in other areas. Halo effect is "the name given to the phenomenon whereby evaluators tend to be influenced by their previous judgments of performance or personality." The halo effect is a cognitive bias which can possibly prevent someone from accepting a person, a product or a brand based on the idea of an unfounded belief on what is good or bad. The term was coined by Edward Thorndike. A simplified example of the halo effect is a person, after noticing that an individual in a photograph is attractive, well groomed, and properly attired, then assuming, using a mental heuristic, that the person in the photograph is a good person based upon the rules of their own social concept. This constant error in judgment is reflective of the individual's preferences, prejudices, ideology, aspirations, and social perception.

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