Cognitive biases are part of the psychological phenomena most studied from the cognitive sciences and most taken into account in Marketing Psychology.

They are evidence that human beings are tremendously prone to not interpret reality based on rational analysis, calm and based on valid reasoning from the point of view of logic. Among these cognitive biases, one of the best known is the halo effect , which explains some of the irrational aspects that make us judge a person, a product or a place more positively or more negatively.

What is the Halo Effect?

The halo effect is a cognitive bias by which we tend to make our overall opinion and assessment of a person, organization, product or brand influence the way we judge and value specific properties and characteristics of that person, organization, product or brand.

Similarly, the halo effect is based on the idea that we show a propensity to use our assessment of a very specific characteristic of something or someone to “manufacture” from it an overall assessment of that person, organization or abstract element: we extend our view of that property to the whole element we are judging and make this impression interfere with the way we interpret many other properties of the element .

In short, the halo effect is a tendency to make our impressions and opinions about certain characteristics of a subject or object dependent on the impression that other characteristics have previously made on us.

The history of this cognitive bias

The American psychologist Edward Thorndike was the first to put his name to the halo effect and to provide empirical evidence to prove its existence. He did so in 1920, when he published an article called A Constant Error in Psychological Ratings , in which he showed the results of an experiment carried out with the military. This research was relatively simple; a number of officers were asked to evaluate certain qualities of several of their subordinates.

From this data, Thorndike saw that the way in which a particular characteristic was valuated was highly correlated with the valuation of the other characteristics . Persons who obtained negative scores in one of their characteristics tended to have negative scores in the rest of the aspects, and those who were assessed positively in one specific aspect tended to be assessed positively in all the others.

The Halo Effect and Celebrities

The halo effect is noticeable in our daily lives, for example, in the way we perceive the famous people linked to the major record companies , the most recognized sports or Hollywood movies.

These are people whose public image has been painstakingly carved out by marketing and advertising agencies and of whom we know little (after all, we don’t usually deal with them directly). However, this does not prevent many people from being considered opinion leaders, great thinkers whose famous phrases are enthusiastically applauded and, in general, people whose opinion on subjects far removed from their profession is usually highly valued.

This fact, by the way, is often exploited in marketing and advertising.

Marketing takes advantage of this psychological effect

The halo effect is also noticeable in those advertising campaigns in which a famous person is used to advertise a product or service. Its inclusion in these advertising pieces does not tell us much about the characteristics and functionalities of the coffee machine being sold, or about the advantages of the insurance company being advertised, and yet its presence subtly affects us. At the end of the day, if an organization is willing to spend money hiring or a recognized character is because doing so can have objective results in sales.

Specifically, what is intended is that the values and sensations associated with the famous person in question are extended to the image of the product, thus creating a “halo” of positive assessments that has its origin in what we think of the celebrity. Branding has in the halo effect a means to make the image of a brand be revitalized simply by using a famous face.

The power of first impression

But the halo effect is found beyond the big companies: influences the way we can come to judge anyone we meet . This has a lot to do with the first impression that is made, something that is known to have a great impact on the image of others that we create in our imagination.

If, during the first few seconds of a conversation with a person, he or she is excessively nervous and insecure, even if this is due to factors less related to his or her way of being than to what is happening to him or her at that particular moment (for example, because he or she is about to take an important test), this characteristic will attract our attention and from that moment on, the first impression will become an important factor in the way we value this individual.

In summary

The halo effect is a sign that the human brain is willing to fill information gaps with the little data available in order to make the uncertainty disappear. If we can judge someone we don’t know by the first impression they have made, by their profession or by their aesthetics, we don’t need to consider the nuances of their personality and the chiaroscuro of their repertoire of skills: we can take what we know about this person, stretch it out as if it were gum and transform this originally very modest assessment into the overall opinion we have about him.

That is why, every time we stop to judge others, it is worth stopping to think that the facets of someone’s personality and way of being are always more extensive than our predisposition to collect and analyze all the relevant information that is continuously reaching us.