We like to think we are objective, rational people when it comes
time to hire a new employee, evaluate an existing member of your team, or form
a new partnership. We are confident we can assess people based on their merits.
But in reality, we easily succumb to a well-documented and much-researched
cognitive bias known as “the halo effect.”
In1920, the psychologist Edward
L. Thorndike published a study showing that employees, soldiers, teachers, and
aviators all seemed oddly similar across a variety of seemingly unrelated
attributes on performance reviews. For example, highly reliable workers were
also rated as being highly intelligent. Unkempt soldiers were rated as being
physically weak. Enthusiastic teachers were also prompt, and prompt teachers
showed integrity.
Thorndike
was skeptical, especially of the ratings of pilots who were routinely evaluated
very highly in just about every category. The pilots were thus recommended for
leadership roles despite being young and lacking in the sort of training a
military leadership position requires. Thorndike realized that flying aces were
great at doing something that was impressive, and it provided them with
something he called a “halo of general merit.” The halo influenced commanders’
assessments and raised the ratings of all their other traits, including those
that got them jobs they were not qualified to hold. He called it the halo
effect.
The halo influenced commanders’
assessments and raised the ratings of all their other traits, including those
that got them jobs they were not qualified to hold.
When contemplating something
complex, your evaluation of one highly salient trait creates an invisible halo
that taints how you perceive other unrelated and less-salient traits. For
example, when scientists told subjects a photo attached to an essay was of the
author (it wasn’t), subjects who saw attractive people in the photographs rated
it as being better written than did people who saw a less attractive person in
a photo attached to the same essay.
This is possibly why taller
people make more money. One 2004 study showed that for every extra inch of
height above normal a person earns on-average an extra $789 a year. This is
also why candidates for president eat corndogs at state fairs. It makes them
seem nice and approachable. A halo of niceness and approachability makes a
person seem trustworthy enough to have access to nuclear launch codes.
The
effect is not always positive. Researchers once asked two groups of students to
watch two different interviews of the same professor who spoke with a Belgian
accent (think Jean-Claude Van Damme). In one video, the professor pretended to
be laid-back and aloof. In the other, he pretended to be mean and strict. About
half of the students who believed the professor was easygoing also said his
accent was endearing, yet among the group who believed he was a hard-ass about
80 percent said his accent was grating. Objectively, of course, the accent was
neither good or bad, but the halo made it so.
This is possibly why taller
people make more money.
If you find yourself rating a
person, product, or company positively or negatively across the board on every
characteristic and attribute, know that you are likely experiencing the halo
effect. The important thing to remember about this phenomenon is that you can’t
avoid its influence, but you can learn to recognize when you are under its
spell and how to avoid its enchantment.
·
Notice when a single positive trait or credential
makes a person seem desirable for a role in which that trait or credential
would not improve your project. Individual attributes like attractiveness,
height, recent successes, impressive former employers, and respected alma
maters will skew your judgment, especially during first impressions. Make a
list of what is not important and have a third party delete that information
about a potential new hire, collaboration, or partnership before it reaches
you.
·
Periodically destroy old halos. A powerful first
impression, positive or negative, creates a halo that can survive for years.
Look for consistency instead. Toss out your first impressions and periodically
assess everything important as if it’s the first time you’ve judged it.
How about you?
Have
impressive credentials or other traits caused you to make hiring or partnership
decisions you later regretted because of the halo effect?
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