The Halo Effect

One day a billionaire named Toby dressed himself shabbily, disguised like a homeless person walked into a restaurant to see if the staff there would treat him differently. He wanted to see how they would react before stunning them with the revelation that they were in fact dealing with a 'billionaire'.

 

He dressed in an assortment of scruffy clothing and carried a large garbage bag. He approached the restaurant. Wasting no time he headed towards a tall man standing at the entrance who appeared to be acting as a host and requested a table.

 

“Hi how are you? I would like to get a table for me and can you please show me the menu” toby asked the host. The tall man told him he cannot permit to seat him as the restaurant is 'too expensive' and is not supposed for a person with a lean purse. “I'm sorry. We're not going to be able to do it sir,' he said, while blocking toby to access the eatery. “This place is a little too expensive, not for people like you.” Toby decides to give the restaurant host a chance to redeem himself and asks again if there is a menu he can see. The host replied bluntly. “We can't serve you, we're not going to serve you today. I'm sorry about that.” Toby tries to tell him he has a lot of money he shows him the a total sum of 500 USD but the host still refuses to serve him and says: “Don’t you understand to what I say, Can you please get away? Else I am going to knock you down.”

 

Toby backs away from the restaurant and took out his phone from the back pocket to call his driver. The host shouts at him to make the call off the restaurant's property. “Can you please get away, stand over the pavement and do the business that you want to do.” Suddenly a Rolls Royce appeared in front of the restaurant. The driver opened the door and rushed towards toby with a suitcase of cash.

 

The driver handed over the suitcase to Toby. Toby approached the host with a suitcase in his hand, opened the lock and said - “I told you I had money. What's crazy is the way you judged people just by their appearance. I might buy this restaurant on the spot and I can fire you.” Toby and his driver departed leaving the host speechless and ashamed. One should not judge anyone based on their physical appearance.

 

When we are kids we have been told many times by our teachers and parents that good things look beautiful and bad things look ugly. What’s the first thing that we do when meeting a new person? We judge and evaluate their appearance as it is an inherent human instinct. Living in today's modern age it is unfortunate that this is true. In my life I have seen many people changing seats on public transportation when a person who is fat and not attractive in his appearance sits next to them. The issue is they are judging you by your appearance at first impression and it is certainly not the right thing. This concept is so deeply rooted in our minds in such a way that knowingly or unknowingly we get imprisoned under the roof of this element. This type of biasing in our behaviours where we evaluate based on physical appearance is what the psychologists label it as the halo effect.

 

Halo effect - In simple terms evaluating someone based on their physical appearance. It is a type of cognitive bias that contaminates our decision-making ability. It has been proved that a person when asked to pick only one book from the pool of available stocks the person is more likely to pick into his hand the book which has a beautiful cover design.

 

The halo effect is seen, experienced and applied almost everyday. Advertising and marketing often take advantage of the this phenomenon in their promotions. One common way of doing this is celebrity endorsements. When customers see a celebrity in an advertisement, the product seems more desirable because of the celebrity's popularity. Physical attractiveness is a prevailing factor in this type of bias as someone who is perceived to be more attractive will be assumed to have positive personality traits and abilities. The best example can be our overall impression on celebrities since we perceive them as attractive and successful we also tend to see them as intelligent, kind, and funny.

 

The term "halo" is a circle of light shown around or above the head of a saint or holy person to represent their holiness. It can be seen floating above the heads of saints in many medieval paintings. By seeing a person on a canvas was painted with a halo, you can tell that this must have been a good and worthy person. In other words, you're transferring your judgment from one easily observed characteristic of the person (painted with a halo) to a judgment of that person's character.

 

How powerful is this halo effect?

 

The halo effect can impact organizations, locations, products, websites, as well as our judgments of other people. If users like one aspect of a website, they're more likely to judge and suggest it favorably to their acquaintances in the future. Conversely, if users have a particularly bad experience with a site, they'll predict that the site will treat them poorly in the future as well and, thus, will be reluctant to return to the site. Even if the site is later refurbished and redesigned to be better than it used to be previously users will still anchor themselves over their negative expectations from their earlier experience.

 

Appearances can be deceiving

 

The creator of this universe did not create any form of life without a purpose. Never in your life add the dimension of beauty into anything that you come across be it book, place or it may even be choosing your life partner. In romantic relationships beauty is considered to play a pivotal role in arousing the emotions of likeness towards the other person. Any one who wants to marry should chose your partner based on values, morals, ethical behavior and personality. It is a natural tendency for a man or woman to marry a partner who is beautiful or handsome. The problem is when that is the only characteristic that you are looking for, where intelligence, personality, attitude and moral values all take a back seat. Anyone who is married will tell you that although beauty may get attention and might bring a couple together in the beginning but ultimately it is the kindness and care they show for each other that keeps them together until the end. There is an old Chinese saying: “You can’t measure the sea with a pot.”

 

The following story is about my friend who made a foolish mistake in his life by judging a person based on his physical appearance.

 

My friend Anand rajan discontinued his education after high school studies because of the financial troubles of his family and did many odd jobs thereafter. He is handsome and good looking and this helped him in getting a job as a waiter at a high-end restaurant in Hyderabad. The wealthy customers were generous with tips, and it wasn’t unusual for him to receive tips of a few hundred dollars. He was proud of his work at the restaurant. He always used to dream of building a good life for himself. One day, a shabby and untidy looking old man walked into the restaurant. My friend stared at his rustic look, figuring that he had just come into town as a tourist and probably didn’t have much money. The old man walked in and said to him : “Please bring me a glass of water.”

“We don’t have water. We only serve wine and drinks. Please leave if you’re not going to order food.” He continued bluntly: “This isn’t the place for you. You don’t have the money! Don’t waste our time. Leave now.” The old man abided to his decision and started manoeuvring towards the exit. On his way out he turned back and said: “Don’t be so cruel to others, you’ll be sure to regret it one day.” The restaurant manager gathered his staff together the next morning, telling them: “The new director of this hotel will be coming in today. Make sure you’re doing your best work.” Upon hearing the news, my friend thinking to himself: “If I make a good impression, I’m sure to get a promotion as a supervisor in this hotel. I can make my life happy.”

A limousine pulled up outside. An older man accompanied by a group entered into the restaurant. Everyone started greeting the new owner with a smile: “Welcome sir, It is our pleasure to have you here as the new director!” The old man nodded in acknowledgement. The manager seated the group himself, asking: “Would the new director like to say a few words?” Everyone began clapping in anticipation, but as my friend caught sight of his face, he stopped in mid-clap. “How could that be him?” It was none other than the old man he had been so cruel to the day before. He was fired almost straight away, and the tears he shed in self-pity at what he had done to himself offered no comfort to his soul. Till today he feels a pain in the neck for his misconduct.

Starting from today, right now from this moment never fall under the influence of this type of biasing. Keep in mind even rose looks beautiful, but it has thorns. But we don’t pay attention towards it. The only reason is we don’t analyze on a broader perspective.

 

“Beauty may get the attention, but in the end, only personality wins the heart”