Why is a person inclined to label people around him? There is a scientific explanation for this phenomenon - the halo effect. Favorable soil for the appearance of this effect arises when you know a person superficially or before meeting you knew about his reputation in society - positive or negative.
The halo effect is a special tendency that almost every person has to evaluate the behavior of other people based on their initial impression.
To understand this phenomenon, we give an example. Recently, you have a new colleague who will soon solve your problem efficiently. Moreover, in communication, he turned out to be a friendly and pleasant person. You decide that this is a
“good person” that you can rely on in difficult times. But after a while you will find out that he had a fight in a decent public institution. The first thought that you have will be something like this: "It can’t be!
This is gossip, I knew him, this is a wonderful person!". Thus, a positive halo effect is created. An example can be given more than one.
The halo effect is both negative and positive. It appears in relation to acquaintances, public figures, politicians, pop stars, as well as in relation to well-known brands. Suppose if once you liked a product of a company, then in the future you can begin to consider its other products as good. Although, perhaps this is not entirely true. As a result, you believe the hanged label, as there is simply no time to figure it out.
With amazing success, the halo effect is used by scammers. You can give an example from classical literature. In
Gogol’s comedy
"The Examiner", officials met Khlestakov, from the very beginning thinking that he was an auditor. Excessive confidence in this for a long time turned a blind eye to the fact that Khlestakov did not understand his profession at all, did not fulfill his duties, and did not look like an auditor.
Under what conditions does the halo effect occur?
1. Lack of time. You do not have enough time to get to know a person well, carefully analyze his behavior and form an opinion about him as a person.
2. Excessive
amounts of information can also cause this effect. You are so overloaded with information about different people so that you do not have the opportunity to analyze in detail the behavior of each person.
3. The stereotype of perception, which has developed on the basis of public opinion about any group of people to which this person belongs. Different subcultures can be an example: a person who professes punk culture and comes for an interview in his usual clothes will quite possibly be negatively perceived by the personnel department.
4. The originality of personality. Sometimes the most striking feature of a person strikes the eyes of society and pushes into the background its other qualities. Psychologists in the course of their research concluded
that such a feature in most cases is the appearance of a person.
The halo effect can be observed in the behavior of absolutely all people, since it is the result of innate subjectivity.