Description

This video shows a quick social experiment to show the power of the cognitive biase know as the halo effect.   When under this biase we are swept up by the good qualities of a person, which then spill over into our assumptions of other unrelated character traits.  This is especially important for first impressions, during which we’re first exposed to more superficial traits.  For instance, beautiful people are often judged to be nicer or confident people are assumed to be smarter.  This video has a game show flavor to it, which might have a halo affect of its own.

Discussion Questions

• What is the halo effect?  Can you think of some examples?
• Does the power of the halo effect change how we should think about first impressions?
• What about how we judge political campaigns?  commercials?  job interviews?

Keywords: cognitive biases, beauty, confidence, optimism, confidence, attitude, rhetoric,