Research Paper On The Halo Effect

Could you see yourself making conscious judgments about a person in regards to trust and demeanor based solely upon their physical appearance? This idea seems to be everything we are taught not to do, “never judge a book by its cover.” With this idea comes the latter, a theory entitled the Halo Effect. With the Halo Effect comes just the opposite, we as individuals judge others subconsciously upon their looks and other positive qualities we perceive, in turn making judgements about who they are in regards to a few characteristics. In this paper I will explain in detail what the Halo Effect is, how it affects our judgment in certain situations, reference studies where this effect has been proven, as well as how to counteract this effect. The Halo Effect can be defined as a bias obtained from a person's physical appearance or an advertisement boasting an image to subconsciously affect their judgments of said person or advertisement.
“The halo effect works by
According to Will Tumonis one way is to make sure you, when having to make judgments on individuals or a topic, have enough mental energy to make proper evaluations. This can be by getting enough sleep, having a well balanced meal before hand, and being cognitively healthy, all of these things can help you overcome this subconscious bias. Another task that can be used to overcome this effect is the avoidance of making judgments when in a “good mood.” According to a study done by Joe Forgas in 2011, people in a negative mood were notably less swayed by the halo effect (Will Tumonis - 2014-11-05). Lastly according to Tuminous, If the cognitive strain of the situation is difficult enough, we as humans are more likely to turn to an analytic thinking system making it less likely to make impulsive decisions because of the use of critical thinking (Will Tumonis -