Are attractive people superior? Of course not, but that is almost all of us thinking when we see one. The reason is the Halo Effect, which is creating an overall impression of someone by relying on one single trait of that person.
The Halo Effect concept was found in 1920 by American Psychologist named Edward L. Thorndike. He made observations on military officers ranking their subordinates. Military officers did not even communicate with their subordinates before ranking them. They were requested to rank them based on their characteristics such as leadership ability and intelligence. Results showed that the physical appearances of the subordinates were effective in how they were perceived. For example, the tall and attractive subordinate was rated as the most intelligent.
Even the above example is from the military case, the Halo effect is in our daily lives. Think about it. Every one of us has a judgment when we see someone for the first time. Imagine you got a new job as a manager. Would you think the same things for a tall, fit subordinate wearing a suit and a shorter, fat subordinate with a casual outfit? Of course not! You might make positive assumptions about the first person’s skills, abilities, and character traits but it might not be all true. Same with the second person you might make negative assumptions about his/her skills, abilities, and character traits as well, but you can’t know if you are right about your assumptions before you get to know him/her.
Although people should and try to eliminate these biases, it is not that easy as we are not machines that can be programmed to do something in a certain way, that’s why it would not be possible for many people to eliminate them which proves the importance of the first impression. But for the elimination of these biases people might try to think more objectively about others, to get to know the person more before making your judgment about him/her, and never forget the quote from Franz Kafka:
“First impressions are always unreliable.”