Halo Effect
The tendency to let one positive trait — attractiveness, confidence, a nice smile — color your judgment of a person's entirely unrelated qualities. First impressions cast a long shadow.
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Origin
First identified by psychologist Edward Thorndike in a 1920 paper where he noticed that military officers who rated a soldier highly on one trait (like physique) tended to rate them highly on unrelated traits (like intelligence or leadership). The term "halo" captures how one glowing attribute casts a warm light over everything else.
Updated February 22, 2026