Halo or Horns effect

Unconscious bias can impact any of us and in all walks of life.

Relationships; e.g. falling in love at first sight.

Workplace; e.g. hiring the candidate who is the best dressed, spoken or groomed.

Acquaintances; e.g. having a bad experience with one or two people can lead to generalising “people are awful” which could lead to isolation.

Are you aware of when you have misstepped and found yourself attributing either a “halo” or “horns” to someone or a group?

Three horns so far then… 😂

@divegeester said
Three horns so far then… 😂

Gooster, You somehow always manage to step in it! 🙂

-VR

Reminds me of a funny incident a couple of months ago. I own a track car with 3 pals, nothing fancy, just a Mazda MX5. One afternoon one of my pals brought a friend of his over to drive the car. A young chap, softly spoken. After driving the car he said the engine is not running quite right. 'Oh and just what qualifies you to say that' I said. He replied 'I have a PhD in automotive engineering and design engines for Mclaren.'

@divegeester said
Are you aware of when you have misstepped and found yourself attributing either a “halo” or “horns” to someone or a group?

With all the resources now available on the net I have more access to ideas and arguments that I might have dismissed or even been contemptuous of in the past [horns] - and therefore I have gained a more nuanced appreciation of them - while also becoming more acutely aware of the flaws in ideas and arguments that I might have given an unthinking or ideological free pass to in the past [halo].

@the-gravedigger said
Reminds me of a funny incident a couple of months ago. I own a track car with 3 pals, nothing fancy, just a Mazda MX5. One afternoon one of my pals brought a friend of his over to drive the car. A young chap, softly spoken. After driving the car he said the engine is not running quite right. 'Oh and just what qualifies you to say that' I said. He replied 'I have a PhD in automotive engineering and design engines for Mclaren.'

Did you ask for proof?🤔

@great-big-stees said
Did you ask for proof?🤔

He said it in front of people who know him so I don't think he was lying.

@the-gravedigger said
He said it in front of people who know him so I don't think he was lying.

Forgive my instinctive horns, but perhaps he got his Ph.D. from some beastly redbrick university?

@fmf said
Forgive my instinctive horns, but perhaps he got his Ph.D. from some beastly redbrick university?

Probably better than from some random walk-up, yeah?

@suzianne said
Probably better than from some random walk-up, yeah?

Perhaps your funny quip about "some random walk-up" is funny, or funnier than my quip about redbrick universities, I'll grant you; but I cannot say for sure that it is because I don't know what "some random walk-up" means: is it an American expression?

@divegeester said
Unconscious bias can impact any of us and in all walks of life.

Relationships; e.g. falling in love at first sight.

Workplace; e.g. hiring the candidate who is the best dressed, spoken or groomed.

Acquaintances; e.g. having a bad experience with one or two people can lead to generalising “people are awful” which could lead to isolation.

Are you aware of wh ...[text shortened]... you have misstepped and found yourself attributing either a “halo” or “horns” to someone or a group?

So you assume that whatever-it-was was a misstep and not absolutely bang-on correct at first blush?

I haven't made a social misstep in years. Every time I meet someone new, I get along with most, but every single time I think to myself, geez, this guy seems like a jerk, he later proves himself to be all that and more.

I never "generalize" with people, just as I don't use stereotypes; everyone is their own person and deserves to be treated that way. "Unconscious bias" is a weakness I do not indulge in.

@fmf said
Perhaps your funny quip about "some random walk-up" is funny, or funnier than my quip about redbrick universities, I'll grant you; but I cannot say for sure that it is because I don't know what "some random walk-up" means: is it an American expression?

I'll indulge you this time. Plus, you asked nicely (for you, at least).

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/walk-up

@suzianne said
I'll indulge you this time. Plus, you asked nicely (for you, at least).

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/walk-up

What does "some random walk-up" mean in the context of what I posted? Someone with a Ph.D.? A university? I concede you may well be saying something funnier than what I posted, but you need to explain. Do you have "random walk-up" Ph.Ds in the U.S.? Do you have "random walk-up" universities? There's no such thing in the U.K.

@suzianne said
I haven't made a social misstep in years. Every time I meet someone new, I get along with most, but every single time I think to myself, geez, this guy seems like a jerk, he later proves himself to be all that and more.

I never "generalize" with people, just as I don't use stereotypes; everyone is their own person and deserves to be treated that way. "Unconscious bias" is a weakness I do not indulge in.

It is interesting that you would think the OP is about you personally.

@suzianne said
I never "generalize" with people, just as I don't use stereotypes; everyone is their own person and deserves to be treated that way. "Unconscious bias" is a weakness I do not indulge in.

This claim about yourself sits very incongruously alongside the rather scathing broad-brush comments you make about people with conservative values with whom you have political disagreements.