She’s not an angel, why the halo?!

Two people apply for the same job for the same employer, one of them is relatively attractive and the other isn’t, who gets the job?

It is easily presumed that the person who is more attractive is the one who will get the spot. But why is that? We never think that people are generally biased towards those who are considered better looking, but the sad news is, it is actually the truth. However, it is not merely because they look good. No, it is because of the attractiveness stereotype and the universally believed concept that “what is beautiful is good” also known as the halo effect.

The halo effect is a type of cognitive bias where you correlate your overview or judgement of a person to their physical appearance or just your overall impression of them, and from that you conclude their personality traits. For instance, when you encounter a nice person, you would instantly think he or she is also smart or funny. Because of your judgment it’s like that person has a halo over his/her head, thus the name.

And yes, that is the case with the celebrities that we idolize; they are attractive and brilliant at what they do which makes them successful, so we also think they are nice and intelligent by nature.

It is also the case in class when a teacher is more biased towards the quiet students, because she thinks they are smart and bright, before seeing any real application. The same goes for mischievous students, which could affect students’ grading.

The halo does have its disadvantages, but it ultimately has its advantages as well. For it could spare us the bother of interacting and spending time with people to analyze their personalities. However, this itself is not necessarily good, since what we conclude about the person could be untrue. Furthermore, another advantage is that someone could just spice themselves up and try to look better and they would instantly get that special treatment.

References

Cherry, K. (n.d.). What is the halo effect? Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/socialpsychology/f/halo-effect.htm

Long-Crowell, E. (n.d.). The halo effect: Definition, advantages & disadvantages [Video and transcript]. Retrieved from http://study.com/academy/lesson/the-halo-effect-definition-advantages-disadvantages.html

Edited by Shruti Ram

Edited by: Zoe