Halo effect (psychology)

The halo effect is a cognitive bias in which an overall impression of a person or thing shapes judgments about its specific traits. A positive impression can make unrelated qualities seem positive, while a negative impression can do the reverse.

Implicit personality theory: A set of assumptions linking personality traits, such as kindness and honesty, in judgments of people. Trait associations can carry an initial impression from one perceived quality to another.
Edward Thorndike: An American psychologist whose research shaped educational psychology and the study of learning. His 1920 study of military officers documented correlated ratings that inspired the halo-effect label.
Performance appraisal: The process of evaluating an employee’s work and performance. A supervisor’s general liking can spill over into ratings of distinct job skills.
Horns effect: A cognitive bias in which one negative impression leads to unfavorable judgments of a person’s other traits. It is the negative counterpart to the halo effect’s favorable spillover.
First impression: An initial evaluation of a person formed during an early encounter. Early evaluations can anchor later judgments of otherwise unseen traits.
A Constant Error in Psychological Ratings: A 1920 paper by Edward Thorndike examining how military officers rated soldiers on different qualities. Thorndike used the paper to describe how an overall impression distorted judgments of separate traits.
Structured interview: A job interview that uses standardized questions and evaluation criteria for every candidate. Standardized scoring can reduce the influence of a candidate’s general appeal on each rating.
Leniency error: A rating bias in which an evaluator consistently gives overly favorable scores. It raises ratings broadly, unlike the halo effect, which links ratings across traits.
Affect heuristic: A mental shortcut in which feelings toward something guide judgments of its risks and benefits. A global feeling can substitute for separate assessments of each trait.
Solomon Asch: A social psychologist known for research on impression formation and conformity. His trait-list experiments showed how one central quality can reshape an entire person impression.

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