User:Francoisanne/sandbox

Halo effect (sometimes called the halo error) is the tendency for positive impressions of a person, company, brand or product in one area to positively 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 which is a cognitive bias 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.

Reducing the halo effect by simulating analytic thinking
The researchers have tested participants on how to reduce the halo effect with analytic thinking. They have found that participants in study 1 were bias by the central trait when using the halo effect, and participants in study 2 and 3 proved that the halo effect can be diminished by analytic thinking. Also, these participants were less biased by the central trait, suggesting that analytic thinking contributed to alleviating the halo effect.

History section

The halo effect was originally identified in 1907 by the American psychologist Frederick L. Wells (1884-1964).[34] However, it was only officially recognized in 1920 with empirical evidence provided by the psychologist Edward Thorndike, [3 Edward L. (1874-1949) Edward Thorndike was the first to say the halo effect is a specific cognitive bias in which one aspect of the person, brand, product, or institution affects one’s thoughts or judgment of the entity’s other aspects or dimensions. Thorndike, an early behaviorist, was an important contributor to the study of the psychology of learning.

Supporting Evidence Section

In Thorndike's words, “Ratings were apparently affected by a marked tendency to think of the person in general as rather good or rather inferior and to color the judgments of the qualities by this general feeling .” In "A Constant Error in Psychological Ratings", Thorndike asked two commanding officers to evaluate their soldiers in terms of physical qualities (neatness, voice, physique, bearing, and energy), intellect, leadership skills, and personal qualities (including dependability, loyalty, responsibility, selflessness, and cooperation).[4] In Thorndike’s study, attractiveness play an important role in how people tend to consider a person  such as if an person is friendly or not based on his or her physical appearance.

Possible Causes Section

The researchers defined rate error effect, which refers to mistakes made by raters when they use a rating scale of an individual. The task competence of the rater, as well as the rater’s sex, social position, race, religion, and age, have all been found to have effects on the rating given. Then, researchers showed that halo effect is one component of rate errors effect because it can influence on the way others get measured. Fisicaro and Lance introduced three models that might explain the halo effects.

Horn effect section

A negative form of the halo effect can  called the horns effect,  the devil effect, or the reverse halo effect, in which the observer allows one unfavorable or disliked trait or aspect of a person or product to influence his or her global opinion of the person in a negative direction '''. Among these is the Horn effect, whereby "individuals believe (that negative) traits are inter-connected."[58] and is the result of a negative “first impression”.[59]'''

Reverse halo effect section

The reverse halo effect occurs when positive evaluations of an individual cause negative consequences. Rater errors pose special problems for the issues of “reliability and validity”. Furthermore, ratings that differ in time may accurately reflect a change in behavior even though this difference would demonstrate an artificial lack of reliability. A follow up study with both men and women participants supported this, as well as showing that attractive women were expected to be conceited and have a higher socioeconomic status.

Political effects The researchers have shown that the halo affects are a well-known source of bias in judgment attributes. They have demonstrated that the halo effect is interfering with the public’s views of politicians because of the politicians’ attractiveness and facial appearance. A 2010 study [46] found that attractiveness and familiarity are strong predictors of decisions regarding who is put in a position of leadership.