horn effect
{{Short description|Form of cognitive bias}}
The horn effect, closely related to the halo effect, is a form of cognitive bias that causes one's perception of another to be unduly influenced by a single negative trait.{{Cite web|title=Halo Effect: Definition and Examples |url=https://www.simplypsychology.org/halo-effect.html|access-date=2022-02-11 |publisher=Simply Psychology}}{{cite web|url=http://www.rightattitudes.com/2010/04/30/rating-errors-halo-effect-horns-effect|title=The Halo and Horns Effects [Rating Errors]|last=Belludi|first=Nagesh|date=30 April 2013|website=Right Attitudes|access-date=15 August 2017}}{{cite web|url=https://www.joshuakennon.com/mental-model-horns-effect-and-halo-effect|title=Mental Model: Horns Effect and Halo Effect|last=Kennon|first=Joshua|date=12 November 2011|website=www.joshuakennon.com|access-date=15 August 2017}} An example of the horn effect may be that an observer is more likely to assume a physically unattractive person is morally inferior to an attractive person, despite the lack of relationship between morality and physical appearance.{{cite web | last = Long-Crowell | first = Erin | title = The Halo Effect: Definition, Advantages & Disadvantages
| work = Psychology 104: Social Psychology
| publisher = study.com | url = http://study.com/academy/lesson/the-halo-effect-definition-advantages-disadvantages.html
| access-date = September 30, 2015}}{{cite journal | last1 = Nisbett | first1 = Richard E | last2 = Wilson | first2 = Timothy D
| year=1977 |title= The halo effect: Evidence for unconscious alteration of judgments
|journal= Journal of Personality and Social Psychology |publisher=American Psychological Association | volume =35 |issue=4
|pages=250–56 |doi=10.1037/0022-3514.35.4.250| hdl = 2027.42/92158 | s2cid = 17867385 |url=https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/92158/1/TheHaloEffect.pdf|hdl-access=free }}
Etymology
The term is derived from the word "horn" and refers to the devil's horns. This is in contrast to the word halo and the halo effect, based on the concept of a saint's halo.{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/art/halo-art|title=halo {{!}} History, Art, & Facts|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en|access-date=2019-02-03}}
In a 1920 study published by Thorndike{{Citation | last = Thorndike | first = EL
| title= A constant error in psychological ratings
| journal = Journal of Applied Psychology | year= 1920|volume=4|issue=1
|pages=25–29|doi= 10.1037/h0071663| url= https://zenodo.org/record/1429134}} that focused on the halo effect, it was noted that "ratings were apparently affected by a marked tendency to think of the person in general as rather good or rather interior {{Sic}}{{Efn|"inferior"}} and to color the judgments of the qualities by this general feeling".{{efn|Although not popularizing the actual term Horn effect.}}
=Alternate terminology=
Bias in action
The horn effect occurs when "individuals believe that negative traits are connected to each other." It is a phenomenon in which an observer's judgment of a person is adversely affected by the presence of (for the observer) an unfavorable aspect of this person.
- The Guardian wrote of the devil effect in relation to Hugo Chavez: "Some leaders can become so demonised that it's impossible to assess their achievements and failures in a balanced way."{{cite news | last =Glennie|first=Jonathan
|title=Hugo Chávez's reverse-halo effect|url= https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/may/03/hugo-chavez-reverso-halo-effect |newspaper=The Guardian|date=3 May 2011}}
- The relation of crime to attractiveness is also subject to the halo effect. A study presented two hypothetical crimes: a burglary and a swindle. The burglary involved a woman illegally obtaining a key and stealing $2,200; the swindle involved a woman manipulating a man to invest $2,200 in a nonexistent corporation. The results showed that when the offense was not related to attractiveness (as in the burglary) the unattractive defendant was punished more severely than the attractive one. However, when the offense was related to attractiveness (the swindle), the attractive defendant was punished more severely than the unattractive one. The study imputes that the usual leniency given to the attractive woman (as a result of the halo effect) was negated or reversed when the nature of the crime involved her looks.{{cite journal|last1=Ostrove|first1 =Nancy| last2 =Sigall | first2 = Harold|title = Beautiful but Dangerous: Effects of Offender Attractiveness and Nature of the Crime on Juridic Judgment | journal = Journal of Personality and Social Psychology|year=1975|volume=31|issue=3|pages=410–14 |url = https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232451231 |doi= 10.1037/h0076472}}
See also
Explanatory notes
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