The"haloeffect"isaclassicfindinginsocialpsychology．Itistheideathatgeneralevaluations（评价）aboutaperson（e．g．sheislikeable）influencejudgmentsabouttheirspecifictraits（品质）（e．g．sheisint

　　The"haloeffect"isaclassicfindinginsocialpsychology．Itistheideathatgeneralevaluations （评价）　aboutaperson （e．g．sheislikeable） influencejudgmentsabouttheirspecifictraits（品质）（e．g．sheisintelligent）．Hollywoodstarsgivetheperfectexample．Becausetheyareoftenattractiveandlikeable，wenaturallyconsidertheyarealsointelligent，friendlyandsoon．Thatis，sometimes，nottrue．

　　Inthe1970s，well-knownsocialpsychologistRichardNisbettsetouttoprovethefactthatweactuallypaylittleattentiontoourthoughtprocessesingeneral，especiallytothehaloeffect．

　　Nisbettwantedtoexaminethewaystudentsmadejudgmentsaboutteachers．Theyhadbeendividedintotwogroupstowatchtwodifferentvideosofthesameteacher，whohappenedtohaveastrongIndianaccent．Onegroupwatchedtheteacheransweraseriesofquestionsinanextremelywarmandfriendlymanner．Thesecondgroupsawexactlythesamepersonanswerexactlythequestionsinacoldanddistantmanner．Inonetheteacherappearedtoliketeachingandstudents，andintheotherhecameacrossassomeonepowerfulwhodidn'tliketeachingatall．

　　Aftereachgroupofstudentswatchedthevideostheywereaskedtoevaluatetheteacheronphysicalappearance，mannerismsandevenhisaccent （mannerismswerekepttesameacrossbothvideos）．Thesameasthehaloffectinfers，studentswhosawthe"warm"oneevaluatedhimmoreattractive，hismannerismsmorelikeableandevenhisaccentasmorepleasing．Thiswasunsurprisingasitbackeduptheideasonthehaloeffect．Atthesametime，forthosewhohadseentheothervideo，theresultwasjustthewrongwayaround．

　　Thesurpriseisthatstudentshadnocluewhytheygaveoneteacherhigherevaluations．Mostsaidthathowmuchtheylikedtheteacherhadnotinfluencedtheirevaluationofhisindividualtraitsatall．

　　Thehaloeffectisfascinatingandnowwell-usedinthebusinessworld．Forexample，booksthathave"HarvardClassics"writtenonthefrontcanasktwicethepriceoftheexactsamebookwithoutit．Thesameistrueinthefashionindustry．

　　So，thenexttimeyouconsiderbuyingapairofdesignerjeansordecidewhetheryoulikesomeone，askyourselfwhetherthehaloeffectisoperating．Ar