Halo effect

The halo effect is an explanation for why we love to label people around us.
And then we don’t want to say goodbye to these labels. When you know a person on the one hand, superficially or are slightly familiar with his reputation, the halo effect manifests itself in all its glory. The influence on opinions, the content of knowledge, personality assessment and specific attitudes that one person has in relation to another person is the halo effect. We meet you based on your clothes and see you off...

The halo effect and its psychology

The halo effect, also called the “halo effect,” occurs when people evaluate and perceive each other in the process of communicating with each other. A specific attitude may arise in the person who perceives you, based on previously received information about you. Distortions of information about your professional qualities, reputation, status or other personal characteristics. E. Aronson (professor of psychology) emphasizes that what we first learn about a person is decisive for us. This is how we form knowledge about a person and talk about him.

The specific attitude that has been formed serves as a “halo” for us and prevents us from seeing advantages and real features. The “halo” effect occurs under the following conditions:

Lack of time. To get to know a person better and think carefully about the situation in which this person finds himself. Find out his personal qualities;
a huge overload of information. We accumulate so much information about different people that we do not have the time and opportunity to think through everything we know about each person individually;
the absolute irrelevance of a person. A vague, vague idea of his “halo” arises;
perception that arose on the basis of a generalized idea of the group of people to which a person belongs in one way or another;
an extraordinary, bright personality. One such personality trait casts into the background other qualities. Physical attractiveness is very often a characteristic feature;
The “halo effect” can manifest itself in positive but also negative senses.

Example of halo effect

Greatly exaggerated merits of a person lead to the fact that real qualities and his status are ignored by people. They don't notice reality.

The behavior of a person who assumes a positive halo can be characterized by characteristics, of course only certain ones. In order to maintain this halo effect, a person strives with all his might to always be in the center of attention. Always talks a lot. He tries to show himself as knowledgeable and very active. Trying to take the place of leader.

The meaning of a negative effect is when a person’s dignity is greatly diminished. A person’s perception leads to prejudice on the part of the people who perceive it.

Prejudice is a specific attitude of people, which is based on information about a person and his negative qualities. Usually such information is not verified, but is perceived as truth.

Studying in the field of ethnic psychology has a warning value. The perception of other ethnic groups is based on warnings.

In a team, negative information about the personal qualities of a new employee can cause prejudice. Which can make it difficult for him to adapt to the team.

Many books have been written on the topic of the halo effect. And one of the most popular is the book by Phil Rosenzweig, which is called “The Halo Effect.” In this publication, the author analyzed business success and opened eyes to the success of companies. This book absolutely debunks the myth of the relative causes of business success. It is the essential book on management.

The halo effect in marketing - we meet it by clothes

Image source

The halo effect (Halo Effect, halo effect, halo error) is a well-studied socio-psychological phenomenon: a judgment about the actions and personal qualities of a person based on the general perception of this person in the absence of information about the motives of this action. In other words, the halo effect is the transfer of one's feelings about one personal attribute of an individual to others that are in no way related to it.

For example, a tall and/or handsome person will be subconsciously perceived en masse as smart and reliable, even though there is not the slightest logical reason to believe that height or appearance has any correlation with intelligence and honesty.

The term “halo effect” (also known as “halo error”) was first used to describe the results of experiments in practical psychology by Edward Thorndike in 1920 in the article “A Constant Error in Psychological Assessments.” Psychological Ratings). Through empirical research, Thorndike discovered that when participants in experiments were asked to evaluate a person, they transferred one negative characteristic of that person to all personality traits in the aggregate.

8 factors that influence our decisions every day

The halo effect works “both ways”, that is, in both positive and negative directions:

If you like one aspect of something (a person, a brand, an international organization, etc.), then you will have a predisposition to evaluate the entire phenomenon or object positively.
Accordingly, one negative trait is similarly projected onto the entire image as a whole.

The negative Halo Effect is sometimes called the “devil effect,” but this sounds too metaphorical, too literary, so serious psychologists advise using the designation “halo effect” for both positive and negative manifestations of this phenomenon.

Why "halo" or "halo"?

The word “Halo” in this term is used by analogy with the well-known religious and artistic concept - halos or halos hovering over the heads of Christian saints in numerous paintings of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

Image source

When looking at the picture, it seems to the viewer that the face of the saint or saint is bathed in heavenly, heavenly light emanating from the halo above his head. In other words, you transfer your opinion, formed under the influence of just one visible characteristic (illuminated by “divine light”) to the entire personality of the depicted character.

And of course, the term has nothing to do with the popular video game Halo.

Emotions or logic: what determines a purchase?

Where are the origins of the halo effect?

The halo effect encourages us to make hasty decisions because we are content with just one aspect of a person’s personality (or Landing Page design, for example) in order to supposedly “recognize” all other aspects of it.

In the age of cavemen, such hasty conclusions contained some undeniable hard truth: if a person grew up tall, then he ate a lot of meat, so he was probably a good hunter from childhood and came from a family of good hunters - his advice should be heeded. A person with a beautiful, smooth face, not covered with scars and pockmarks - that is, who has not been injured in battle, who knows how to avoid animal and insect bites, as well as terrible diseases - is excellent as a role model for his fellow tribesmen.

Ancient people, capable of making quick decisions, survived, gave birth to offspring, and became our ancestors - unlike the slow-thinking poor souls who thought about their problems for hours. We are all descendants of those who made judgments on first glance, hence our inherited tendency to make quick (overly quick!) conclusions as a result of generalizations based on very little data.

Fly on the urinal, or 5 principles of persuasive web design

Landing pages and websites are also affected by the halo effect

The Halo Effect exerts its influence on businesses, brands, geographies, products, services, delivery channels and communication channels as well as our judgments about other people.

If a user likes one aspect of your landing page or website, then with a high degree of probability he will sympathize with your offer and the brand as a whole in the future. On the contrary, if a user, after visiting your web resource, acquires a sharply negative experience, then he will consider that the company as a whole is equally unfriendly to him, and will abandon the very idea of visiting again. In this case, even the subsequent total redesign of the site will not be able to dispel the gloomy expectations of potential clients generated by their previous sad experience.

Here is a typical example that is often observed: visitors judge the overall quality of the site based on poor usability of an online store’s navigation, and then project their conclusions onto the brand as a whole. The user most likely does not say this out loud, but if we could voice his thoughts, we would hear something like this: “Wow! This site is really poorly done. This means that this company does not care about its online store and, apparently, they treat their customers the same way. I won't buy anything from them."

Note that each step in this chain of inference seems quite logical, but the final one does not follow from the initial observation: it may well be that you buy an excellent product from an online store with a very poorly executed design. In fact, users simply skip this chain of pseudological reasoning. The halo effect works like a short circuit here, directly linking the first impression and the final conclusion, allowing people to make global judgments at first glance.

First impressions matter, or Why good design matters

A similar picture is observed if the procedure for creating an account on some SaaS resource resembles an unsolvable puzzle - then an unsuccessful user experience casts a shadow on the entire service.

A 2002 study asked participants how they rated the visual appeal of a group of websites. Sites that received high ratings for visual appeal were then subjected to usability tests. On average, in more than 50% of cases, the usability of such resources was considered unsatisfactory. However, overall participant satisfaction ratings remained high.

The conclusion from this series of experiments is that beautiful web design has an effect on the entire user experience that respondents associate with the brand.

In many cases, the particular attribute that a visitor will use to evaluate an entire object is not even what best solves some user problem, but is simply based on subjective opinion and personal biases. For example, you ask someone if it’s easy for them to use your online store, and the answer you get is: “Yes, it’s beautiful.” But this does not mean that great web design necessarily corresponds to good usability, since everyone can safely judge beauty, but it is much more difficult to get a reasoned answer about ease of use.

Attract attention through design, or the 3W Principle!

Conclusion

It's important to keep the halo effect in mind as you begin planning landing pages/sites, defining key performance indicators (KPIs), and collecting quantitative data about your property, because a drop in conversions or sales may indicate a poor first impression made by the design. text content, site performance, etc.

It will be quite difficult to determine the problematic aspect, since it will be necessary to complement quantitative research methods (determining the speed of task completion and loading speed, conversion, etc.) with qualitative methods, such as usability testing.

Need a professional landing page? We are ready to help - fill out the form and get advice from LPgenerator specialists.

High conversions to you!

Based on materials from nngroup.com
06-12-2013

What is the halo effect: examples of use

Hello, dear readers! The halo effect is a distorted perception of another person based on stereotypes or in connection with personal characteristics. Distorted - because the opinion about someone does not always coincide with his real image. This is when, for example, an obedient, quiet boy who gets straight A’s in school takes and breaks a window in the classroom. Teachers can deny his guilt until the last moment. After all, how can such a good child do something wrong?

How to avoid the halo effect?

Realize that this effect is present.
Conduct interviews with the candidate (at least preliminary) by telephone or through testing. This way, the halo effect will not affect you too much and you will be able to partially weed out unsuitable candidates.
Link the employee performance evaluation system not to your personal impression, but to a system of digital indicators. For example, the number of tasks a person completes in a week.
Before transferring a candidate to a new position, conduct psychological testing that can show whether the person is suitable for this position.

It is also worth mentioning that this effect can be applied not only to people, but also to things, programs, ideas, companies, and sometimes entire states :)

If you have other ideas on how to get rid of the halo effect, write them in the comments to this article.

History of origin

Initially, back in the 1920s, Edward Thorndike spoke about this phenomenon. He conducted an interesting experiment by asking two commanders to characterize and evaluate their platoon. It was necessary to start with physical data, such as physique, timbre of voice, endurance and activity. Then move on to intellectual capabilities. And also indicate how capable each of them is of finding a common language and collaborating with others. Lead, support, take responsibility for decisions and mistakes made.

The results confirmed Thorndike's guesses about how our perception is distorted in such moments. It turned out that the soldiers who received high marks for physical characteristics also had quite high other marks. The one who looked weak outwardly did not stand out in the eyes of the commander with other abilities. In terms of other characteristics, it also did not reach the norm.

Afterwards, already in the 1970s, Robert Cialdini stated that subconsciously we like more attractive people, so much so that we endow them with non-existent positive qualities. But we reject less sympathetic personalities completely, attributing to them and noticing mostly negative things. Those whom nature has deprived outwardly too clearly can generally be considered fiends of hell.

Conditions of occurrence

Most often, the halo effect occurs under the following conditions:

Lack of time. It is not always possible to get to know someone closely, to find out how he behaves in various situations, and so on. Why does a lack of information distort the reality of our perception? Consequently, we have to rely on the minimum that we can grasp.
Lack of interest. Either the person himself did not arouse the desire to get to know him better, or due to various circumstances a state arose when fixation of attention was concentrated on one’s own experiences and thoughts. The result is a chaotic, vague idea of the interlocutor.
Information overload. Every day we come into contact with a lot of people. Therefore, sometimes there simply are not enough resources to think about each of them for an objective assessment.
Stereotypes. There are many stereotypes in society that we react to and use at times when there is no desire to personally explore and test reality.
Feature of appearance or character. She can take all the attention to herself, making other characteristics unimportant. For example, when talking with and admiring the winner of a beauty contest, it is quite difficult to maintain clarity of mind and notice the real her, with flaws and imperfections.

Recommendations

One can accuse the commanders in Thorndike's experiment of being biased and, in general, anyone who forms an opinion about another person without getting to know him very well. But if you think about it, each of us constantly falls into this trap. For example, a tall, large man with pumped up muscles reproduces the impression of a hardy and strong person. Capable of surely protecting anyone weaker than him. And also withstand a lot of troubles and problems without breaking spirit.

This is exactly how women can sometimes think when choosing a partner. And stubbornly fail to notice that he is actually trying at every opportunity to avoid responsibility, work, and constantly doubts himself. Then experience disappointment that he turned out to be not as beautiful as he looked at first. And this disappointment threatens to lead to distrust of men in general, or even worse - to depression.

The halo effect can bring a lot of problems, both to the one who is incorrectly assessed and to the one who evaluates. The simplest example: without getting to know a person well, you can push him away and lose a true friend or companion. Trusting someone who at first glance seemed interesting and safe, but in reality being betrayed and deceived.

Recommendations to help avoid this phenomenon:

Integrity

Expand the boundaries of perception, that is, do not form an opinion about a person based on only a few characteristics of his personality or actions. One-sided judgments lead us into a trap. For example, your colleague can be both evil and kind. Depending on the situation, his mood, etc., he will behave differently. Each of us is multifaceted, it’s just that some character traits are more pronounced. But this does not mean that those that are polar to them, that is, completely opposite, are absent. In other words, even the nicest person in the world in some situation shows himself to be cruel and callous.

In psychology there is such a thing as a perverted narcissist. This is a person who manipulates others for the purpose of destruction. So, at first glance, she may seem quite charming and charismatic, otherwise how else to lure the victim? The first opinion about them is usually positive; it seems that we managed to meet the most interesting person in the world, who guesses desires and understands as no one else has ever understood. And then, when a partner becomes attached to him, becomes dependent, he reveals his true face. And the torment and mental torture begin.

Therefore, refrain from making superficial judgments. Look closely and tirelessly get to know the other person. We are all constantly changing. And judging even your partner one-sidedly, thinking that you know him like no one else, is a big mistake.

Reality testing

The essence of this recommendation is to constantly compare any information with reality. For example, many students use the halo effect to their advantage. Entering the first year, they study diligently and behave quietly in classes. Do you know why? Because there is an opinion that how you prove yourself initially is how teachers will treat you throughout the entire time until you receive your diploma.

And indeed, those who later start skipping classes and don’t turn in work on time are given concessions, “turning a blind eye” to many nuances. The teacher knows the student’s capabilities, knows what he was capable of. And to the last he can strive to “pull” it out. Losing objectivity.

The halo effect in management and business.

“First the student works for the student, then the student works for the student” - this student saying reflects reality very well. A person and his name often leave an imprint on all his affairs. Famous football coaches, having earned a name due to high-profile achievements, can use it indefinitely and even in case of failures, they will still be highly valued. It has been noticed on the market that shares of Russian state-owned companies begin to rise in price after Putin’s public speeches.

You need to remember this when you hire a person; your opinion may be formed due to some minor points: the candidate’s appearance, achievements at a previous job, etc. All this can lead to errors. And vice versa, if you often need to express yourself, it is enough to simply show a “beautiful picture” and hide your shortcomings behind it.

Completion

In the field of trade, this phenomenon occurs quite often. Buyers, having evaluated one product of a brand, purchase the rest of its products, believing that their quality and other characteristics are also excellent. This is exactly what marketers use successfully. A celebrity involved in product advertising can also influence the minds of customers by instilling trust. Definitely with a good reputation. In this case, the company's profit is guaranteed. If you want to learn more about the influence of brands on our lives, check out the Veblen effect.

And that’s all for today, dear readers! Develop yourself, get to know yourself and don’t let your guard down!

The material was prepared by psychologist, Gestalt therapist, Alina Zhuravina

What is the 'Halo Effect' in psychology? What does this term mean, what is the impact of the Halo Effect on a person’s life.

A value judgment about a person upon first meeting consists of expectations, assumptions, and a brief analysis of external factors. The explanation for this is the halo effect in personality psychology.

In anticipation of a conversation, the brain tries to endow the opponent with certain qualities based on appearance, clothing, status and other information aspects. This is how a stereotyped personality is created, the type of which is very difficult to change, since many are accustomed to trusting the first impression.

But how accurate is it? Remember the proverb: “ You are greeted by your clothes, but you are seen off by your mind.”

" So is it worth making a final verdict so hastily?

But a person cannot do otherwise. The mechanism of perception of the surrounding world involuntarily forces him to analyze everything in order to avoid a threat to his own life. Another, more powerful instinct of self-preservation comes into play.

Definition

Beautiful people initially evoke not only tenderness and admiration, but also trust. It is generally accepted that outwardly attractive people have a good disposition and warmth. This is one of the most famous stereotypes.

Naturally, only good behavior is expected from beautiful people. Such expectations literally envelop people in a halo and obscure their other personal qualities, which are not so attractive, this is how the halo effect manifests itself.

The halo effect in psychology is a definition of an evaluative impression that is formed on the basis of minimal information and existing stereotypes. That is, in essence, a person, having minimal information about an individual, endows him with certain personal characteristics that correspond to the template.

Moreover, depending on the circumstances and a person’s worldview, the halo effect can manifest itself as:

positive assessment
, which is based on previous experience of communicating with similar people earlier;
negative assessment
, which is formed based on the same patterns and personal preferences.

With a positive perception, the opponent is endowed with positive qualities and all his actions, behavior, and character traits are perceived through the prism of exaggerating trustworthiness.

If a person makes mistakes, they are not taken into account or are always justified under far-fetched reasons. After all, it’s easier to forgive a handsome young man than to admit that his face is just a mask, and we were mistaken. Nobody likes to call out their wrongness, especially a personal one.

Negative perceptions are also formed under the influence of patterns, as well as personal preferences. At the same time, all the positive qualities of an individual are not initially perceived, and achievements are downplayed or not taken into account at all. If even the slightest flaw is identified, it is exaggerated to an incredible size without taking into account the logical relationship between good and evil.

Important!

With the help of the halo effect, a person carries out invisible categorization and, thanks to assessment, simplifies social selection, endowing opponents with a number of personal qualities.

How the Halo Effect Affects People

It is natural for human nature to be wary of new acquaintances and evaluate how risky it is to continue communication. Here the first impression, which is based on minimal information and stereotypes, is of great importance. Outwardly attractive people, dressed cleanly and expensively, inspire trust.

However, a pleasant face and courteous manners, an expensive suit and rich relatives are not a guarantee of an individual’s honesty and decency. Over time, not his best qualities may appear, which were not “read” during the initial communication. And what’s most interesting: due to the halo effect, these manifested negative qualities can be ignored by people around them.

Examples

Previously, it was believed that the halo effect only occurs in interpersonal relationships. This is an incorrect statement.

In addition to communication, a person, a child of society, must meet a number of requirements for so-called adaptation, which consists in organizing the standard process of life.

Examples of the halo effect in psychology:

a person with a pleasant appearance is perceived as more intelligent and successful; even with the same professional indicators, he receives more benefits, and often his position;
people with external defects cause distrust and often rejection, regardless of personal achievements; they must always prove their abilities and kindness to the world around them;
when purchasing household appliances, the buyer will initially trust a manufacturer that is already known or has received positive feedback from friends;
a person will prefer to buy a laptop with a bright design, because initially he will consider it more functional;
Having once purchased a tasty product from a certain company, an effect of trust arises, which then constantly manifests itself in the future;
women are bad at driving cars, so they are not attentive drivers, and yet many representatives of the fairer sex are more obliging drivers than men;
the label of a winner does not guarantee the presence of hard work, but it helps in conquering the pinnacle of success for some time;
if Vova gets straight A's, he can't be a bully.

Causes of the halo effect

All people are susceptible to the halo effect, regardless of nationality, religion or gender. We all label things because that's how our brains are wired.

The most common causes of the effect are:

Lack of time.
Literally within a few seconds a person makes a lot of decisions based on existing experience. Often people simply cannot wait for additional information, so they are guided by their first impression.
Information overload.
Many modern people have a large circle of acquaintances. They have no time to evaluate everyone, especially if there is an important deal or meeting coming up. Therefore, each of the opponents receives only a superficial assessment, which is diluted with standard stereotypes.
Stereotypes.
Initially formed personality templates prevent people from making real assessments.

No one expects great achievements from the hooligan Petya, and yet he can become a great artist or mathematician. And, on the contrary, the beautiful Masha is obliged to marry an oligarch, but if she has a quarrelsome character, it is unlikely that successful suitors will await her. The insignificance of man.

After the first acquaintance, all people are subject to a certain classification, into useful and not so useful.

If the opponent is from a famous family, he is initially endowed with positive qualities that they plan to use in the future. A simple person can be pushed into the background, despite his kindness and selflessness.

Important!

The halo effect is called the labeling principle. Once you have received the label of a loser from society, it will be difficult to “wash yourself off.”

Experiments

The influence of information on society has been used in marketing for quite a long time, because thanks to a positive first impression, you can not only put people in the right mood, but also force them to attend certain events or make a purchase from a certain manufacturer.

Thus, the halo effect in psychology was experimentally proven by Nisbet and Wilson. Two groups of students were shown a lecture given by the same teacher. It’s just that at the first lecture the professor conveyed information in a friendly manner, and at the second it was more harsh, allowing for harsh expressions.

Opponents had to evaluate his appearance, accent and demeanor and indicate who they liked best. Few people noted the appearance of the teacher, as well as the peculiarities of his speech, but his manner of presenting the material significantly influenced the assessment and entailed a lot of negative feedback regarding the second lecture.

Less well-known experiments, already in relation to products or household items, are carried out constantly. It has already been proven that advertising the same toilet paper by a famous person will encourage many people to choose that particular brand. How can such a successful person make mistakes and use a second-rate product? Hardly. A classic example of labeling.

The halo effect in sales and marketing.

The halo effect is a great helper for everyone involved in sales, primarily because with this tool you can significantly increase your effectiveness. Perhaps the halo effect is most widespread in marketing and advertising. For clarity, let's look at the main examples:

For a well-known brand, people are willing to pay many times more, even taking into account the fact that the product is no different. Large manufacturers, as a rule, have several brands, and the price of the product differs, but the product is made in one factory. For example: ]Electrolux[/anchor] owns the premium brand AEG and the economical Zanussi.
Use of famous personalities in advertising. A famous person can change the attitude towards a brand; it’s not for nothing that all famous athletes star in advertising.
The appearance of the product significantly increases its value. This applies to both goods and packaging, for example, under the unknown brand Bork (BORK) they sell elite expensive equipment. Although this company does not have factories and in general it is a vivid example of a pocket brand (private label).
Auto manufacturers produce expensive, fashionable sports cars that become a dream for many people, only for this image to spread to the entire brand.
A high-quality product creates an impression of reliability about the entire company.

These are just some examples of how the halo effect is used in sales; to summarize, we can say that the halo effect can hide all the shortcomings of a product and a company. A striking example are representatives of network marketing, who always look good and simply glow when they talk about how great their product is. This is where the experience of MLM companies is irreplaceable; it allows you to understand how to sell yourself.