HaloEffekte

HaloEffekte is the phenomenon in which an overall favorable impression of someone or something spills over to influence judgments of its other attributes. In psychology, the halo effect describes how a single trait—such as attractiveness, warmth, or status—can bias evaluations of unrelated traits like intelligence, honesty, or competence, leading to inflated or deflated ratings overall.

Origin and terminology: The concept was first documented by Edward Thorndike in 1920s experiments with military officers, who found that ratings on one dimension strongly correlated with ratings on others. The English term halo effect is standard, while German-language sources often use haloeffekt or HaloEffekte to describe the same bias.

Domains and examples: In hiring, a candidate who is charismatic may be judged as more capable or reliable regardless of evidence. In marketing, a favorable impression of a brand or product can lead to higher perceived quality across features. In person perception, attractive individuals are often rated as more trustworthy or capable (physical attractiveness stereotype).

Measurement and mitigation: Researchers study the halo effect using controlled experiments and rating tasks. Mitigation strategies include using structured evaluation rubrics, separating judgments of different attributes, double-blind assessments when possible, and training raters to attend to objective criteria and to counteract biases. The halo effect interacts with other biases and may vary with culture, context, and task complexity.