The Halo Effect: When Your Own Mind is a Mystery
This top 10 social psychology study not only demonstrates the 'halo effect' but also how little access we have to our own thought processes.
The 'halo effect' is a classic finding in social psychology. It is the idea that global evaluations about a person (e.g. she is likeable) bleed over into judgements about their specific traits (e.g. she is intelligent). Hollywood stars demonstrate the halo effect perfectly. Because they are often attractive and likeable we naturally assume they are also intelligent, friendly, display good judgement and so on. That is, until we come across (sometimes plentiful) evidence to the contrary.
In the same way politicians use the 'halo effect' to their advantage by trying to appear warm and friendly, while saying little of any substance. People tend to believe their policies are good, because the person appears good. It's that simple.
But you would think we could pick up these sorts of mistaken judgements by simply introspecting and, in a manner of speaking, retrace our thought processes back to the original mistake. In the 1970s, well-known social psychologist Richard Nisbett set out to demonstrate how little access we actually have to our thought processes in general and to the halo effect in particular.
Likeability of lecturers
Nisbett and Wilson wanted to examine the way student participants made judgements about a lecturer (Nisbett & Wilson, 1977). Students were told the research was investigating teacher evaluations. Specifically, they were told, the experimenters were interested in whether judgements varied depending on the amount of exposure students had to a particular lecturer. This was a total lie.
In fact the students had been divided into two groups who were going to watch two different videos of the same lecturer, who happened to have a strong Belgian accent (this is relevant!). One group watched the lecturer answer a series of questions in an extremely warm and friendly manner. The second group saw exactly the same person answer exactly the questions in a cold and distant manner. Experimenters made sure it was obvious which of the lecturers alter-egos was more likeable. In one he appeared to like teaching and students and in the other he came across as a much more authoritarian figure who didn't like teach at all.
After each group of students watched the videos they were asked to rate the lecturer on physical appearance, mannerisms and even his accent (mannerisms were kept the same across both videos). Consistent with the halo effect, students who saw the 'warm' incarnation of the lecturer rated him more attractive, his mannerisms more likeable and even is accent as more appealing. This was unsurprising as it backed up previous work on the halo effect.
Unconscious judgements
The surprise is that students had no clue whatsoever why they gave one lecturer higher ratings, even after they were given every chance. After the study it was suggested to them that how much they liked the lecturer might have affected their evaluations. Despite this, most said that how much they liked the lecturer from what he said had not affected their evaluation of his individual characteristics at all.
For those who had seen the badass lecturer the results were even worse - students got it the wrong way around. Some thought their ratings of his individual characteristics had actually affected their global evaluation of his likeability.
Even after this, the experimenters were not satisfied. They interviewed students again to ask them whether it was possible their global evaluation of the lecturer had affected their ratings of the lecturer's attributes. Still, the students told them it hadn't. They were convinced they had made their judgement about the lecturer's physical appearance, mannerisms and accent without considering how likeable he was.
Common uses of the halo effect
The halo effect in itself is fascinating and now well-known in the business world. According to 'Reputation Marketing
But what this experiment demonstrates is that although we can understand the halo effect intellectually, we often have no idea when it is actually happening. This is what makes it such a useful effect for marketers and politicians. We quite naturally make the kinds of adjustments demonstrated in this experiment without even realising it. And then, even when it's pointed out to us, we may well still deny it.
So, the next time you vote for a politician, consider buying a pair of designer jeans or decide whether you like someone, ask yourself whether the halo effect is operating. Are you really evaluating the traits of the person or product you thought you were? Alternatively is some global aspect bleeding over into your specific judgement? This simple check could save you voting for the wrong person, wasting your money or rejecting someone who would be a loyal friend.
Or perhaps, even if you do check, you'll still never know...Gulp.
» Read more on the hidden workings of our minds.
» Read more of the top 10 social psychology experiments.
Reference
Nisbett, R. E., & Wilson, T. D. (1977). The halo effect: Evidence for unconscious alteration of judgments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 35(4), 250-6.
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1. Given how clueless and rationalising we are about our thoughts, feelings, and behavious, I can't figure out why interviews and suveys (straightforward ones, I mean) are still regarded as legitimate research.
2. Each of us has no clue about how we make up our minds, but we make them up pretty darn fast. Nalini Ambadi found that students watching a silent, two-second video clip of a teacher (a complete stranger) came up with the similar good/bad teacher ratings as students who had attended an entire semester of the teacher's class.
3. I suspect that it's the patronising aspect of the Belgian teacher's manner that turned students against him. John Gottman's research with couples has found that the one trait that best predicts doom for a marriage is contempt - people hate being spoken down to.
(The work of Ambadi and Gottman is covered in Malcolm Gladwell's book 'Blink'.)
Dr Steve, thanks for your comment. On your first point I know what you mean about surveys but they are still useful sometimes. Although, it obviously doesn't hurt them that they're one of the easiest types of research to carry out!
I think this work has great relevance to the topic of diversity and equality. In every society certain groups attract halos (or horns) and this can affect a stranger's reaction in a first encounter. Frank Abegnale in his book 'Catch me if You Can' describes how when he was on the run and feeling very low he would put on his pilot's uniform and go for a walk. The positive reactions he got from the public and from shopkeepers, waiters etc gave him a real boost.
I'm sure that the opposite is true for others who are deemed outsiders or less desirable in some way.
Nice article.
thanks for your blog, I feel that the "halo effect", has serious negative but at the same time positive ramifications for society.
lauren http://www.sharkzone.co.za
Leave Britney alone!
Some of the arguments and examples have nothing to do with Halo effect. Harvard branding would be one of them. It signals the quality of the book. The quality of the book is expected to correlate with the price of the book. So the signal is very relevant thus no halo effect.
Ugur, the point about the Harvard books is that Harvard's reputation bleeds over into people's evaluation of the book. This is despite the fact that the book may have nothing to do with Harvard whatsoever, i.e. a publisher paid Harvard for the right to print "Harvard Classic" on the front of the book.
Why is "Do as I say, not what I do!" such a common expression?
This tendency is being studied as Borderline Personality Disorder which I understand as reflexively being different than what "you/I" believe to be right. The denial is cross-rationalization that short-circuits self-respect and projects problems on others to remove responsibility or victimization.
Sharing (standards) was the (principle) purpose of Ten Commandments, so universal understanding means removing accumulated reflexes patho/logically attached to basic (thousands of years unencumbered) ideals.
Principles are spiritual guidance, standards are cultural emotional baggage. laws are rational limitations of defining restorative justice.
Desperation is the feeling that needs to be treated to find more integrity.
On the other hand, students who found the professor likeable could have intentionally given him the higher ratings, and those the reverse done the opposite. In other words, because they found this trait particularly important (which is likely, given that it was especially drawn out), they added weight to it by increasing the overall review of the professor in other areas. And when confronted directly about it--being asked, "are you sure you didn't just say these things because you found him likeable/dislikeable?" they would vehemently deny it to avoid the embarrassment of being found out, or as a case of cognitive dissonance..
Seems like good ol' fashioned Charisma to me.
-The Charmer :j
James, I think what you're saying is that the participants were conscious of their decision but hid it when asked directly.
This is an unlikely alternative because first, is embarrassment a strong enough motivator to cause this effect? Second, why were people happy to report the opposite, i.e. that his accent or appearance affected how likeable he was. Surely this is just as embarrassing? Third, other studies get these sorts of results where embarrassment is an extremely unlikely explanation.
Nice try though!
This actually is quite fascinating when considering smear campaigns. If these findings are correct, and people are really as ignorant of their psychological processes regarding the halo effect, then smear campaigns are always successful, even if disproven. The only concern in doing a smear campaign then, would be to insure that it reaches as many people as possible.
The article and comments makes fascinating reading regarding the Halo effect. Don't we all put on a Mask in order to get the coveted 'Halo'?
In Ugar's comment, he didn't seem to notice that publishers can charge double the price for the identical book as long as it has the Harvard name on it. Without the Harvard name, people will pay less for the same book.