Halo effect

On being impressed by a bad or a good quality, to overrate or underrate accompanying qualities.

If a person has one salient and available trait judged as favourable, the person’s other characteristics are likely to be judged as better than they really are. Physically attractive people tend to be rated highly on intelligence, athleticism, sense of humour, and as more desirable in terms of personality, and so forth. Though there is a small, real, association between attractiveness and intelligence, it is not sufficient to account for this effect: actors’ inflated perception of these other personal characteristics. The opposite can be true as well: an individual thought of as possessing a salient unfavourable trait such as selfishness has his or her other traits lowered as a result and is seen, for example, as more dishonest or less intelligent.

In extreme instances the results may be dire. For example, at the beginning of a court case before any evidence has been ‘heard’ a juror might remark to fellow panel members: “I don’t like the look of the defendant – we should find him guilty”.

 (see also: Availability heuristic, Contrast effect, Primacy effect)

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