Psychological effects. The halo effect: the psychology of influence in sales

A specific attitude may arise in a perceiving person on the basis of previously received information or on the basis of a distortion of information about the status, reputation, professional qualities or personal characteristics of another person.

E. Aronson notes that what we learn about a person in the first place is decisive for our judgment about him.

If the image is positive, then in the course of further interaction we will look for in it only positive features without noticing the shortcomings. If, on the contrary, a person at first glance, for some reason, evokes negativity in us, then no matter how wonderful he is, we will only notice his shortcomings.

The formed specific attitude serves as a "halo" that prevents the subject from seeing the real features, advantages and disadvantages of the object of perception.

Therefore, many people talk about the importance of the first impression, and that there is no second time to make a first impression.

This effect is manifested mainly in the assessment of unfamiliar people, with whom communication is rare. With more frequent communication with this person, the halo effect disappears, and the attitude towards him becomes more objective. But whether further communication will take place also largely depends on the first impression.

The halo effect occurs when:
- Lack of time. A person does not have time to get to know another person in detail and carefully consider his personality traits or the situation in which he finds himself;

Information overload. Man is so overloaded with information about various people that he does not have the opportunity and time to think in detail about each separately;

The insignificance of another person. Accordingly, a vague, indefinite idea of the other arises, his "Halo" ;.

A stereotype of perception that arose on the basis of a generalized idea of a large group of people to which this person belongs to one or another parameter;

Brightness, eccentricity of personality. Some kind of personality trait catches the eye of others and shades into the background all his other qualities. Psychologists have found that physical attractiveness is often just such a trait.

The halo effect can manifest itself in both positive and negative ways.
Exaggeration of the merits of the object of perception leads to admiration for it and complete disregard for its real status and qualities.
In a negative sense, this effect is manifested in an underestimation of the merits of the object of perception, which leads to prejudice in relation to it on the part of perceiving people.

The halo effect is a well-known phenomenon in the business world. For example, a book labeled "Recommended by Harvard University" costs twice as much (and sells much better) than the same book, but without the "approval" of Harvard. In the fashion industry, simple jeans skyrocket in value tenfold if you present them on behalf of a well-known fashion designer.

It just so happens that although we understand the halo effect intellectually, we often don't think about it and therefore don't notice it in our daily lives.

halo effect or generalization effect

In order to understand what is meant by this effect, we will give a simple example. Very often, our successes or, worse, failures in one area of activity are extended to other areas. This is the halo effect. If you excel in, say, science, then people somehow tend to think that you should definitely excel in any other area, say, in business. Which, generally speaking, is completely wrong, and life is full of confirmation of this. It is not at all necessary that a former successful athlete will become no less successful businessman. Moreover, rather the opposite trend is observed. It is just as untrue that a military commander will be able to command a firm with the same success as he commanded a regiment. Maybe he can, and maybe not. Those examples that we know more often say that it is not. And the opposite, of course, is true: it is foolish to think that the head of a corporation of a thousand people will be able to command an army division. Very many of us fall for this effect in elections, when we vote for well-known and successful people (actors, military men, artists, scientists, etc.), believing that in the Duma they will be the same professionals, what they were at their previous place of work. However, despite numerous denials, the effect works. Because it is a consequence of another effect, the essence of which is that people really don't like to change their attitudes.

Note

It is clear why. The fact is that changing the attitude is tantamount to admitting one's own mistake, which, of course, many do not like.

And finally, here is one of the most common examples of the halo effect, which everyone must have encountered in their studies at the university. In order to become an excellent student, you do not need to literally the words "excellent" to learn all the years. Good enough to finish the first course. The maximum is the second. And then the marks will be set "automatically". And the opposite, alas, is also true. If at first you passed everything with C grades, then it is extremely difficult to jump out of the role of a “C grade student”. The teacher will look at the record book, and there ... And he puts the same thing, regardless of your knowledge of the subject.

Note

Dear readers, of those who study in any educational institution! If you fall into this trap and are trying to change something, do one simple thing. Fasten with a paper clip the previous sheets of the record book. It will be inconvenient for the teacher to fiddle around with a paper clip in front of you to see what his colleagues put there, and your chances of objectivity will increase markedly.

The halo effect can extend not only to one person, but also to a particular group of people. A simple example: very often the same school teachers who taught at the same time or with a time interval of two children from the same family treat them the same way. Thus, if, for example, the older brother did not know of English language, and the younger one then got to the same teacher, then with a high degree of probability she will automatically give him bad grades, even if he knows the language better than her. (Alas, at our current low school education it is not uncommon for a student to know the subject better than the teacher.) Similarly, if you used to work for a company that had a bad reputation, there is often a priori a negative attitude against you according to the principle "they are all so (bad) there."

Note

Once, while developing a website for one of the companies, we worked in tandem with colleagues from another studio: they did the design, we did the programming. Colleagues did not cope with the work. And earlier in a conversation with the company's management, they mentioned that they knew us. So the company's management at first removed us from the development of software blocks, although we did not give any reasons for such a decision, moreover, all of them were almost ready. The halo effect worked: if these people couldn’t do it, then their friends won’t either. Although there were absolutely no logical or other sound considerations for such conclusions. Fortunately, everything ended well, we are still successfully cooperating, and then I went to the management and in a rather harsh form explained what they were wrong about. To begin with, I scolded the company that “failed” the project, saying that I was suffering through their fault not for the first time. In general, played the victim.

From the book Overloaded Brain [Information Flow and the Limits of Working Memory] author Klingberg Thorkel

Stimulation effect The above example shows how the brain map is redrawn when structural changes occur in the body, for example, a function stops working and the brain stops receiving information from a particular organ. Other type

From the book Reboot. How to rewrite your history and start living life to the fullest author Loer Jim

13. The Flynn Effect As mentioned earlier, New Zealand professor James Flynn found that throughout the 20th century, intelligence test scores improved significantly. If in 1932 the average result was equal to 100 points, then in 1990 it was 120

From the book Secrets of Great Speakers. Talk like Churchill, act like Lincoln author Humes James

Training Effect and Story Effect The more dumbbell curls you do, the more your biceps will grow. Increase the number of repetitions or weight, and the biceps will increase in size and strength. This is not super wisdom. It's just a training effect. When you

From the book Relationship Language (Man and Woman) author Piz Alan

Echo effect An echo is the repetition of a word or phrase. The most frequent quote from Kennedy is a phrase from his inaugural speech. So, dear Americans, don't ask what a country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country. The most famous phrase

From book Common sense lies [Why you shouldn't listen to your inner voice] by Watts Duncan

Rooster effect The rooster is a lusty individual and can copulate with hens up to 60 times at a time. However, he does not mate with the same hen more than five times a day. After five times the cock completely loses interest in her and cannot achieve an erection, but, being admitted to

From the book of the Goddess in every woman [New psychology of woman. Goddess archetypes] author Bolen Jin Shinoda

The halo effect This problem stems from what management specialist Phil Rosenzweig calls the "halo effect." So in social psychology called the tendency to extend the evaluation of one trait of a person (say, tall stature or good looks) to judgments about

From the book Territory of Delusions [What mistakes do smart people] author Dobelli Rolf

The Medusa Effect The Athena woman has the ability to intimidate others and take away the spontaneity, vivacity, and creative power of people who don't like her. In other words, she has the abilities of Medusa. The goddess Athena wore a symbol of her power - an aegis adorned

From the book Think Slowly... Decide Fast author Kahneman Daniel

The Pygmalion Effect I think that someone who supports a dream by helping a person to flourish and develop their talents - a psychotherapist, mentor, teacher, or parent - causes the "Pygmalion effect", named by psychologist Robert Rosenthal in honor of

From the book Without revolutions. Working on ourselves, staying in harmony author Stevens Michael

Why First Impressions Are Deceptive Positional and Recent Effects Let me introduce you to two men: Alain and Ben. Decide without much thought which one you like best. Alain is smart, diligent, impulsive, critical, stubborn, envious. Ben, on the other hand,

From the book Master of a sharp word [What answer to a joke, collision, uncomfortable question] the author Kanashkin Artem

Exaggerated emotional coherence (halo effect) If you like the president's politics, you probably also like his appearance and voice. The tendency to see well (or badly) everything in a person, including what you have not seen, is called the halo effect.

From the book Illusion "I", or Games that the brain plays with us by Hood Bruce

The Butterfly Effect It's not hard to imagine how the act of a person pressing a button to drop a nuclear weapon will affect the reality of many other people; needless to say, such actions can cause dramatic changes in everything the globe. You

From the book How to win over people author Carnegie Dale

Evaluation effect Any person who is negatively evaluated by any parameters of his appearance, actions, clothes, social status or other things related to him, begins to be embarrassed, laugh it off, make excuses and try to show himself with better side. it

From the book The Human Project author Meneghetti Antonio

The Possession Effect Our attachment to things may have less to do with personal choice than we think. Richard Thaler did research on economic behavior that we now consider classic. Senior students participated in the experiment

From the author's book

The Lucifer Effect Do you consider yourself evil? You can cause pain and suffering to another human being Or a defenseless animal? Consider how likely you are to do any of the following. Electrocute yourself to death

From the author's book

The halo effect Prejudice can also be based on the "halo effect". When a person has one outstanding feature, we assume that they will be equally extraordinary in other respects. Lisa A., the regional manager, really liked Marjorie M., a candidate for

Why does a person tend to label the people around him? There is a scientific explanation for this phenomenon - the halo effect. A fertile ground for the appearance of this effect occurs when you get to know a person superficially or, before you met, 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 the initial impression.

To understand this phenomenon, let's take an example. Recently, you have a new colleague who soon effectively solved any of your problems. Moreover, in communication he turned out to be a friendly and pleasant person. You decide that this is someone you can rely on in difficult times. But after a while you will find out that he put up a fight in a decent public institution. The first thought that you will have will be something like this: "It can't be! I knew him, he's a wonderful person!". Thus, a positive halo effect is created. There is more than one example.

The halo effect can be both negative and positive. He appears in relation to acquaintances, public figures, politicians, pop stars, as well as in relation to famous brands. For example, if once you liked the product of a company, then in the future you may begin to consider its other products as good. Although, perhaps this is not entirely true. As a result, you believe the label, because there is simply no time to understand it.

Fraudsters have used the halo effect with amazing success. An example can be taken from classical literature. In the comedy, officials met Khlestakov, from the very beginning thinking that he was an auditor. Overconfidence in that for a long time she 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 in any way.

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. Too much can also cause this effect. Are you overloaded with information about different people so much so that you do not have the opportunity to analyze in detail the behavior of each person.

3. A stereotype of perception that has developed on the basis of the opinion of society about any group of people to which this person belongs. Different subcultures can be an example: a person who professes punk culture and comes to an interview in his usual clothes will quite possibly be negatively perceived by the personnel department.

4. Extraordinary personality. Sometimes the most striking feature of a person catches the eye of society and pushes his other qualities into the background. Psychologists in the course of their research concluded that in most cases the appearance of a person is a feature.

The halo effect can be observed in the behavior of absolutely all people, as it is the result of innate subjectivism.

The halo effect (Halo Effect, halo effect, halo error) is a well-studied socio-psychological phenomenon: a judgment about the actions and personal qualities of a person based on the general perception of this person in the absence of information about the motives of this act. In other words, the halo effect is the transfer of one's feelings about one personal attribute of an individual to others that are in no way connected with it.

For example, high and/or beautiful person will be subconsciously perceived by the masses as smart and reliable, although there is not the slightest logical reason to believe that height or appearance is in any way correlated with intelligence and honesty. ;)

The term "halo effect" (aka "halo error", Halo Error) was first used in describing the results of experiments on practical psychology Edward Thorndike in 1920 in A Constant Error in Psychological Ratings. Through empirical research, Thorndike found that when subjects were asked to rate a certain person, they negative characteristic on all personality traits in the aggregate.

The halo effect works "both ways", i.e. in both positive and negative directions:

If you like one aspect of something (person, brand, international organization etc.), then you will have a predisposition to positive evaluation the whole phenomenon or object.
Accordingly, one negative trait is similarly projected onto the entire image as a whole.

The negative Halo Effect is sometimes called the "devil's effect", but this sounds too metaphorical, too literary, so serious psychologists advise using the designation "halo effect" for both positive and negative manifestations of this phenomenon.

Why "nimbus" or "halo"?

The word "Halo" in the term under consideration is used by analogy with the well-known religious and artistic concept - halos or halos hovering over the heads of Christian saints in numerous paintings of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

When looking at the picture, it seems to the viewer that the face of a saint or a saint is bathed in a heavenly paradise light emanating from a halo above his head. In other words, you transfer your opinion, which has developed under the influence of just one visible characteristic (illuminated " divine light”) on the entire personality of the depicted character.

And of course, the term has nothing to do with the popular video game Halo. :)

Where is the origin of the halo effect?

The halo effect provokes rash decisions, because we are content with just one aspect of a person's personality (or Landing Page design, for example) in order to supposedly “know” all other aspects of him.

In the era cavemen there was some undeniable harsh truth in such hasty conclusions: if a person grew up tall, then he ate a lot of meat, so he was probably a good hunter from childhood and comes from a family of good hunters - his advice should be heeded. A person with a beautiful, smooth, unscarred and pockmarked face - that is, not injured in battle, able to avoid animal and insect bites, as well as terrible diseases - is an excellent role model for his fellow tribesmen.

Ancient people capable of receiving quick fixes, survived, gave birth, became our ancestors - in contrast to the slow-witted poor fellows who thought about their problems for hours. We are all descendants of those who make their judgments after a first glance, hence our inherited tendency to jump to quick (too quick!) conclusions as a result of generalizing based on very little data.

Landing pages and websites are also affected by the halo effect

The Halo Effect exerts its influence on businesses, brands, geographies, products, services, delivery channels and communication channels as well as our judgments of other people.

If a user likes one aspect of your landing page or website, then they are more likely to like your offer and brand in the long run. On the contrary, if the user, after visiting your web resource, acquires a sharply negative experience, then he will consider that the company as a whole is just as unfriendly to him, and will abandon the very idea of \u200b\u200bvisiting again. In this case, even the subsequent total redesign of the site will not be able to dispel the gloomy expectations of potential customers generated by their previous sad experience.

Here is a typical example often observed: visitors on the poor navigation usability of an online store are taken to judge the overall quality of the site, and then project their conclusion on the brand as a whole. The user most likely doesn't say this out loud, but if we could voice their thoughts, we would hear something like this: “Wow! This site is really badly done. This means that this company does not care about their online store and, apparently, they treat their customers the same way. I won't buy anything from them."

Note that each step in this chain of reasoning seems perfectly logical, but the final one does not follow from the initial observation: it is quite possible that you will buy an excellent product from an online store with badly executed design. In fact, users simply skip this chain of pseudo-logical reasoning. The halo effect works like a short circuit here, directly linking the first impression and the final conclusion, which allows people to make global judgments at a glance.

A similar picture is observed if the procedure for creating an account on some SaaS resource resembles an unsolvable puzzle - then an unsuccessful user experience casts a shadow over the entire service.

In a 2002 study, participants were asked how they rate the visual appeal of a group of sites. Sites that received high visual appeal ratings were then subjected to usability tests. On average, in more than 50% of cases, the usability of such resources was found to be unsatisfactory. However, overall participant satisfaction remained high.

The conclusion from this series of experiments is that beautiful web design has an effect on the entire user experience that respondents associate with a brand.

In many cases, the particular tag that a visitor will use to evaluate the whole property is not even the best solution to some user problem, but is simply based on subjective opinion and personal bias. For example, you ask someone if it is easy for him to use your online store, and in response you get: “Yes, he is beautiful.” But that doesn't mean that great web design necessarily goes hand in hand with good usability, because beauty is something that everyone dares to judge, but it's much more difficult to get a reasoned answer about usability.

The halo effect is a primary judgment about a person that people often suffer from. What to do to avoid becoming a victim of such an effect?

Today we will talk about such an interesting psychological phenomenon as halo effect.

In fact, there are many psychological effects (patterns of human behavior or thinking).

You would probably be upset if you knew how unoriginal a person is and how easily a good psychologist can analyze each of us.

The halo effect is one of the most common psychological effects that people often suffer from.

The halo effect is a psychological phenomenon

Admit it: it often happened in your life that the initial impression of a person turned out to be erroneous.

I'm sure very often.

For example, you met a handsome young man who gave you a seat in a minibus.

After 10 minutes of conversation, it seems to you that here he is - the prince, the embodiment of all virtues.

But after a couple of dates, it turns out that the prince is a stupid, narcissistic narcissist with whom there is nothing to even talk about.

And he gave you a place in the minibus not because he was gallant, it’s just that this is his usual way to get acquainted with girls, and he is so stupid that he himself told you about it.

This story is an example of the positive halo effect.

But this phenomenon is also negative.

For example, if you moved to new house, met a neighbor on the landing, wanted to get to know her, but she didn’t even talk to you, grunted something and closed herself in her apartment.

Of course, you immediately labeled her as an “unsociable rude woman” and managed to complain: “How unlucky I was with my neighbors.”

And only a month later it turns out that the new neighbor - sweetest girl, just the day she buried loved one and of course - she was not up to dating.

If to speak scientific language, then the halo effect is primary value judgment about a person.

For the first time this phenomenon was described by the researcher Edward Thorndike, who also provided strong evidence of the existence of this phenomenon.

Back in the 1970s, the social psychologist Robert Cialdini proved that we unconsciously feel sympathy for outwardly beautiful people (the same applies to supporting politicians), attributing to them non-existent virtues and are ready to call those who have been offended by nature with some physical flaws a fiend.

Causes of the halo effect

The halo effect does not arise from nowhere, it is caused by quite understandable and explainable reasons:

It is one thing to communicate with a person for several years, during which time one can observe his behavior and actions in various situations and form a more or less objective opinion about him.

But it’s quite another to talk with him for 10-15 minutes, then you give in to the “like / dislike” impulse.

If something in behavior or words alerts you, then you will label him “bad”, which he will have to remove for a long time.

An abundance of information.

This happens with people who, due to their activities or character traits, communicate with many people.

Information overload pushes them to superficial judgments about a particular person.

If a person has a bright charisma and knows how to please people, then you immediately become a victim of his charm and attribute non-existent virtues to him.

And vice versa: “gray mice” are so plain and insignificant that we start to think about them either worse than they deserve, or not at all.

Public opinion.

If there is an outcast in the team, then you, as a new person, will succumb to public judgment and will also begin to think that he is bad and vice versa: the star of the school will initially seem to you the embodiment of all virtues.

How did my friend fall victim to the halo effect?

My friend Yana came to work as an administrator in a beauty salon. Alternately, she had to work with two assistants: Sveta and Katya.

Sveta gave the impression of a kind, sociable girl and Yana liked her much more than the strict and quiet Katya.

Yana even asked the headmistress to put Sveta as her assistant more often, and to attach Katya to another administrator.

It gradually became clear that Sveta was a lazy chatterbox, and rather cunning, because she imperceptibly tried to shift some of her duties onto Yana's shoulders, and where possible, completely evade the task.

The second shift, in which Katya was an assistant, worked much better, and the headmistress began to show Yana her displeasure as the eldest.

I had to put Sveta in her place and call for order, which, of course, she didn’t like, so she began to spread gossip about my friend around the salon and complain about her: “She’s such a bitch, she ruins life.”

In the end, Sveta was nevertheless fired, but this story cost Yana a lot of nerves.

And everything could have been different if my friend hadn't applied the positive effect of the halo to Sveta and hadn't been pissed off for nothing, for no reason at Katya.

And now I want to present you an interesting video with an experiment on the topic,

how the first impression prevents you from seeing the real possibilities of a person.

We turn on, we look, we smile:

How to avoid becoming a victim of the halo effect?

The halo effect hurts both those who misjudge another person and those who are being judged.

If your initial opinion about a person was wrong, then you can accidentally offend him, deprive yourself of communication with, trust a scoundrel, or break other firewood.

If you have undeservedly applied a halo buff to another person, they will benefit from it.

This is exactly what scammers often do: remember at least Gogol's The Inspector General.

But if you attributed non-existent vices to someone, moreover, you told someone about your superficial judgments, then, of course, the person who was unfairly assessed will suffer.

To avoid becoming a victim of the halo effect, try:

Never judge people based on first impressions.

Give the other a chance, get to know him better, and only then decide whether you like him or not.

Don't give in public opinion: the first beauty in the group may well turn out to be a selfish fool, and a gray mouse that is laughed at may become you faithful companion life.
Do not trust unfamiliar people, because scammers and villains will definitely take advantage of your gullibility.

As you can see halo effect- a rather dangerous thing, try not to become its accidental victim.

Useful article? Don't miss out on new ones!
Enter your e-mail and receive new articles by mail