Sharing – What is the halo effect and why does it matter?

In this interview with University of Warwick Professor Daniel Read, you can get some good examples of the halo effect, something that also skews our understanding of abusers.

One of the areas where it has been studied the most is in judging people based on physical attractiveness. It turns out that if people are perceived as physically attractive, then their personality is judged as being nicer, they tend to be assumed to be more successful and so on. But it’s been looked at in a lot of other contexts as well. For example, when people mark student essays, if they mark, say, two in a row by the same student, and they see the first essay is good, they’re likely to be quite charitable towards the second essay. Even if the second essay is not a great essay. But if it’s ambiguous, they’ll be quite generous toward it. Similarly, if the first essay is not good, they won’t be as generous towards the second essay.

https://katymilkman.substack.com/p/what-is-the-halo-effect-and-why-does

This effect can be challenging to overcome if you’re not aware of it. On the other hand, if you are aware of it, when someone is good-looking, charming, and successful, and also accused of abusive behavior, we should pause before assuming that our impression of them tells the whole story.

Most of the time, it does not. Assuming that we know abusers when we see them is a dangerous game. Abusers get away with their behavior because they know how to mix in society, how to charm, and how to influence people to believe them. Victims often don’t have that going for them and are less likely to get the benefit of the doubt. Until we understand our biased thinking, we will continue to make this mistake, and. victims of abuse will be unlikely to be believed.