How to turn the halo effect to your advantage

“Don’t judge a man by where he is because you don’t know how far he has come.” – C. S Lewis, 20th-century British writer

I guess it is fair enough to call it one of humanity’s worst foes. Its name? The halo effect. And undoubtedly, we have both been its culprit or victim from time to time in our lives. Coined by American psychologist Edward Thorndike in the early 20th century, it refers to a cognitive bias where people tend to use a single trait about someone’s personality or appearance to make an overall conclusion about them.

Recall a time sitting on a bus when a fellow passenger boarded and sat beside you. Almost immediately, they began a conversation that lasted until either of you alighted. Probably, you must have rated them as warm, bubbly, sociable, and desirable candidates for a marketing position.

On the other hand, remember a time when you were walking across the street and oncoming were two individuals dressed in soiled, tattered garments. What automatically came into your mind? “These could be thugs!” and therefore, you tightened your clench on your clutch while walking a bit towards the furthest end of the pavement.

Still, think of a time when you were part of a congregation. A quick glance and you saw a stranger sitting a few pews away bearing the appearance of an ordinary human, only for them moments later to either ask a question that left the panel mesmerized or turned out to be one of the conference speakers, thus delivering an awe-inspiring presentation that granted them a standing ovation. And the list is endless…

The above scenarios have one common denominator:

We are prone to jumping to strong conclusions, positive or the contrary, solely based on what our senses momentarily take in.

We also tend to be more capricious in our judgments while relishing having wild swings in our evaluations of people based on their behavioral patterns. It’s a phenomenon that is almost like second nature to us.

Yet, this tendency can lead to disastrous results, especially in the workplace, institutions of learning, or even in society. Back in 2021, the media was flooded with the news of young men who lost their lives as victims of mistaken identity. Why? Since childhood, we have all been inundated with various scripts, such as equating dreadlocks to violence, being outspoken to rebelliousness, availability to reliability, attractiveness to compatibility, self-promotion to bootlicking, et cetera.

Oftentimes, most of us are blinded by appearances forgetting that they are not necessarily reality’s best indicators. While the halo effect may rightly guide you to safety (as in the case of correctly predicting a looming robbery attempt), the reality is that it is responsible for the wreckage of destiny, especially when we make great life decisions such as marriage and investments based on it.

That said, along the course of your life, you’ll meet people who’ll label you as incompetent, lacking seriousness, and undesirable based on brief moments of interaction. It’s painful to swallow, and it may cause feelings of resentment in you. However, this is what I have learned:

Try not to allow someone’s unsolicited opinion, which they would’ve better kept to themselves, to deter you from doing your craft or cause you to shorten your stay in any set-up.

Instead, heighten what I call your obscurity index. Keep a low profile, and remain a ‘mistaken identity’ while you up your game. Then someday, like Italian football player Jorginho, you might have the confidence to say, ‘I would also like to thank the people who didn’t believe in me because they motivated me to work even harder.’

Cheers, good people, to a week full of tolerance!