“The concept has its origins in the work of 1920s American psychologist Edward Thorndike. Happiful Features Editor, Kathryn Wheeler, explains the origins of the halo effect in her article, What is the halo or horn effect and how does it affect workplace culture? It says that a positive impression of someone in a single area positively influences our feelings of that person in other areas. The ‘halo effect’ is an unconscious bias in which our impression of a person influences how we feel and think about their character. An easy example to highlight how we might do this is by putting more trust in someone who is an authority figure than someone who is not.

But sometimes this isn’t so reliable and we make a biased positive or negative opinion of someone. Our brains are trying to categorise copious amounts of information based on previous experiences and memories. The ‘halo or horn effect’ is a cognitive bias where our impression of someone influences how we feel about their overall character.

Sometimes, we make quick decisions about people and without realising we rely on biases to do this. You might have heard the expression, ‘the first impression is the last impression’, meaning it’s hard to change an opinion of someone once it’s formed. How often do you go on first impressions? Have you ever made a snap judgement about someone? You could be falling victim to cognitive bias

Halo bias definition