The Halo Effect: The Superpower of Beautiful People

When you look at the sun, sometimes it appears way larger than it actually is. The circle of light that makes it look bigger is called a halo. Beautiful women and handsome men produce the same effect. Their appearance can be so deceiving that we begin to attribute completely unrelated qualities to their looks. This bias is known as the halo effect.

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COLLABORATORS
Script: Jonas Koblin
Artist: Pascal Gaggelli
Voice: Matt Abbott
Coloring: Nalin
Editing: Peera Lertsukittipongsa
Sound Design: Miguel Ojeda
Production: Selina Bador

SOUNDTRACKS
Divine Masquerade - Jack Pierce
Cheeky Plum Fairy - Shaun Frearson

DIG DEEPER with these top videos, games and resources:
Learn how the Halo Effect Affects Marketing
This study, published by Nature, provides a comprehensive examination of the traits that predict attractiveness and examines whether facial appearance predicts health.
Learn about the Confirmation Bias which is related to the Halo Effect.
Read about baby schema, a set of facial and body features that make a creature appear "cute" and motivates others to care for it.

SOURCES
The original study: A constant error in psychological ratings.

The Attractiveness Halo Effect and the Babyface Stereotype in Older and Younger Adults: Similarities, Own-Age Accentuation, and OA Positivity Effects

CLASSROOM EXERCISE
To learn more about suggested classroom activities on this topic, visit our website!

CHAPTER
00:00 Example
00:21 Halo effect definition
00:50 History
01:12 Thorndike's finding
02:03 Halo effect study
03:17 What do you think
03:38 Patrons credit
03:47 Ending

#psychology #sproutslearning #haloeffect #perception #stereotype

[sprouts]

Support us to make more psychological theory video at www.patreon.com/sprouts!

[wronglyright]

Not gonna lie, the judgment that we make because of halo effect really could affect someone in their job, school or making friend

[hackcubit]

When my wife worked behind a counter selling memberships, she seemed more successful while wearing a mask, and suspects this was because customers couldn't see her crooked teeth. This may not be exactly what this video is about but seems to correlate the idea that people simply favor attractive people even when it comes to choosing whether or not to buy something.

[teoguurrrlll]

It's true. When I was younger, I had acne, glasses and a hairstyle that didn't match my features. My posture was very bad, my walking lacked confidence, my outfits embarassing. I'd then change all of this, and people became a lot nicer. Just yesterday I was very tired, so I took a walk outside to buy some groceries. I replaced my elegant, neat clothes with an old, ragged sweatshirt and some pants that looked awful on me. My hair was a bit messy, my posture - hunched. I actually looked like a homeless person. I was amazed at how badly everyone treated or looked at me. Returned home still shocked. Then saw myself in the mirror and had an "Wait a minute" moment.

[matheuscerqueira]

What we see as beauty are signs of health. Simetry and good proportions tell of good genes. Fitness and neatness tell of good habits. Healthy people tend to be more capable by default, so we are hardcoded to expect as such. But in a world with so many people, variations to the norm become common and social trends lead to hollow beautiful people too often

[jamesard]

But by blindly picking the non-halo candidate you are still making decisions based solely on a person's outward appearance.

[recepton.]

We cannot deny the truth that we all are under the halo effect. Since childhood we all had been seeing in the movies heros are always good looking, bad people always look bad.

[Aaqib..]

“It is amazing how complete is the delusion that beauty is goodness”
~ Leo Tolstoy

[kurzjames]

Takeaway from this: Get fit, look good, dress well. These things are all superficial but we can’t deny that they afford us an advantage in all aspects of life

[ReneeJoan]

I discovered this same phenomenon while I was studying Argentine Tango — the best-looking dancers were highly sought after as partners, but they actually turned out to be the WORST dancers. The handsome/beautiful dancers relied upon their appearance to earn invitations to dance (or acceptances from their invitees), whereas the less-appealing in appearance dancers — knowing they were at a disadvantage because of their lack of physical beauty/good looks — would work three times harder to learn this difficult dance. Also, the best-looking ones were the most likely to “hit on” their partners rather than focusing on the beauty of their dancing, preferring to use dancing as a way to find sex partners rather than actual dance partners. The less attractive dancers — perhaps sensing that they had “no chance” in the sex department — would focus on their dance technique and developing friendships within the community. These friendships sometimes ripened into lasting romances, as opposed to the “one night stands” preferred by the more attractive. After years of observation, I came to the conclusion that it paid to select dance partners on the basis of their actual abilities, and to give preference to the less conventionally attractive. I got to dance with better partners, which made me a better dancer. I also found that this same trend extrapolated to dating as well. The best looking people were the worst jerks. The less attractive individuals were much kinder and far more interesting to be with.

[bobbytheblade]

I have noticed people's reaction to me to be so helpful, friendly and positive. One year I had an injury and gained some weight, then noticed a huge disconnect in the way others responded. I healed, got fit again, and people went right back to treating me better than well. Maybe this is just nature. I go way out of my way to be extra kind to those who might be seen as "ugly".
I get it!

[fearless_galaxy]

If our eyes could see the soul our definition of beauty would change

[dattebayo]

This is literally what my mom did when she got married. I'm from India and the people here weren't yet as progressive and open minded few years back as they are today, arranged marriages was the accepted social norm to get married wherein the groom/bride's parents seek out a partner for their son/daughter. My mom was really brainy and also really good looking so her parents easily found a lot of matches for her who were also pretty handsome and earned well, and then there was my dad who was a doctor but was not really a looker, quite the opposite actually. My grandparents and other relatives tried to convince my mom to marry this guy who had a job in finance and was was known by them quite well and was also really smart and outgoing and handsome and stuff but my mom chose my dad for some or the other reason, who was a from a different state, different part of the country, with a different culture who according to some of her relatives looked like a 'cockroach' at that time. 6 months after her marriage she learnt from her relatives that the first guy was discovered to be have started having affairs with multiple women after he started hitting rough patches in his job and whatnot. My parents have been married for 20 years now and she's glad she used her head to make this decision that day, she's in a nice house with a husband that cudnt have asked for a better wife, and a son who's going to college this year

[matteocappugi]

In my opinion, it's near to impossible to avoid getting fooled by the halo effect, unless... it works the other way around. For instance, imagine you meet a new person, but at first you dislike their appearance. In a matter of months, as you get to know them better, you'll likely shift your point of view, and begin to appreciate their traits more. And, at some point, you might just end up falling in love with them!

[sorayah]

I agree that this is prevalent. However, I've met a ton of good looking people who are not smart, and I think maybe that role of "good looking person" from childhood on made them focus less on important things that can help you become smarter.And I've also seen smart good looking women treated poorly at work or school...like they aren't smart. We need to be better about our preconceived notions.

[BenMordecai]

The halo effect is a mental heuristic. It would be too mentally taxing for people to do 100% of their thinking rationally and methodically, so we naturally take mental shortcuts. One reason those shortcuts stay around is that they are right most of the time. The average person can very easily tell with a glance that they are in a dangerous area or around dangerous people even if they can't put their finger on why. In the same way, probably 70% of physical attractiveness involves body composition, grooming, dressing, and the presence of body modifications like tattoos and piercings, all of which are directly under the control of the individual. If we meet someone who is physically fit, well groomed, well dressed, and not covered in tattoos and piercings we instantly know a lot about them that is not necessarily independent of their performance in other areas.

[mynameiseden]

I experienced it myself. I started working as a waitress in a restaurant, and I noticed how customers were specifically nicer to one of my colleagues. After a while, I realized that's because she's pretty. So I started wearing make-up before going to work, just to see if that would make a difference. People were acting so differently ! Customers would spend more time chit-chatting, giving more tips, even my boss was nicer to me. So I kept the habit to wear make-up at work and it really affected my job experience.

[hazelnut]

Very true. I've seen this in school many times, but I also had a conversation with someone who I categorized as "smart" and "hardworking" that I'll never forget that's almost the oppisite.
She told me she hated when people identified her only by her aesthetic features because she was "pretty", so she actually worked twice as hard academically. I was surprised because I never thought of her genetic gifts as her most noticeable trait, but her ambition. When I thought about it though, I realized when was very pretty visually. She said it was good I didn't realize because it meant she was succeeding at being remembered for something else other than her looks. She was crazy smart, what a gem.

[j.k]

I got two coats. One yellow raincoat and one long brown kind of wealthy looking coat. The difference when I wear them is huge. People let me go in front earlier, smile more, look at me more and appear to be kinder when I wear my 'wealthy coat'. When I wear the long yellow raincoat, they tend to not look at me or ignore me more. Appearance is everything

[LvOneRose]

As an ugly person, knowing about the halo and horns effect has gradually allowed me to develop tools to combat it within myself. However, even with this knowledge it was only being stung/hurt a few times by beautiful people (and coming to terms with that pain - so that it wasn't simple bitterness) that the lesson was truly hammered in; the main problem now is when it comes to people I, specifically, am interested in - which is not just a matter of beauty.