The halo effect is the phenomenon where a global evaluation of a person influences evaluations of their individual attributes, even when there is sufficient information to make independent assessments. Richard E. Nisbett and Timothy DeCamp Wilson conducted an experiment to investigate this effect. They showed two different videotaped interviews of a college instructor with a European accent. In one, the instructor was warm and friendly; in the other, cold and distant. Subjects who saw the warm instructor rated his appearance, mannerisms, and accent as appealing, while those who saw the cold instructor rated these attributes as irritating. These results indicate that global evaluations can alter evaluations of specific attributes, even when there is enough information to make independent assessments. Importantly, subjects were unaware of this influence. Those who saw the cold instructor believed that their dislike of the instructor's attributes had lowered their global evaluation of him, not the other way around. The halo effect is a well-known psychological phenomenon, but its nature is not well understood. It is generally defined as the influence of a global evaluation on evaluations of individual attributes, but this definition is imprecise. The halo effect can be seen as a deduction from an implicit personality theory that "nice people tend to have nice attributes and less nice people have less nice attributes." It can also involve altering the interpretation of ambiguous attributes based on a global evaluation. The study by Nisbett and Wilson found that global evaluations can significantly influence evaluations of specific attributes. They showed that subjects who saw the instructor in a warm guise rated his appearance, mannerisms, and accent more favorably than those who saw him in a cold guise. However, subjects were unaware of this influence. When asked whether their liking for the instructor affected their ratings of his attributes, most subjects believed that their global evaluation had not influenced their ratings. In fact, those who saw the cold instructor believed that their dislike of the instructor's attributes had lowered their global evaluation of him. The results of the study support the strong interpretation of the halo effect, indicating that global evaluations can alter evaluations of attributes even when there is sufficient information to make independent assessments. The subjects were unaware of this influence, and their beliefs about the direction of the effect were often reversed. The study also suggests that people lack awareness of the influence of one evaluation on another. This has implications for understanding the nature of judgment and the potential for bias in evaluations. The findings highlight the importance of considering the influence of global evaluations on specific attributes and the need for awareness of this effect in decision-making processes.The halo effect is the phenomenon where a global evaluation of a person influences evaluations of their individual attributes, even when there is sufficient information to make independent assessments. Richard E. Nisbett and Timothy DeCamp Wilson conducted an experiment to investigate this effect. They showed two different videotaped interviews of a college instructor with a European accent. In one, the instructor was warm and friendly; in the other, cold and distant. Subjects who saw the warm instructor rated his appearance, mannerisms, and accent as appealing, while those who saw the cold instructor rated these attributes as irritating. These results indicate that global evaluations can alter evaluations of specific attributes, even when there is enough information to make independent assessments. Importantly, subjects were unaware of this influence. Those who saw the cold instructor believed that their dislike of the instructor's attributes had lowered their global evaluation of him, not the other way around. The halo effect is a well-known psychological phenomenon, but its nature is not well understood. It is generally defined as the influence of a global evaluation on evaluations of individual attributes, but this definition is imprecise. The halo effect can be seen as a deduction from an implicit personality theory that "nice people tend to have nice attributes and less nice people have less nice attributes." It can also involve altering the interpretation of ambiguous attributes based on a global evaluation. The study by Nisbett and Wilson found that global evaluations can significantly influence evaluations of specific attributes. They showed that subjects who saw the instructor in a warm guise rated his appearance, mannerisms, and accent more favorably than those who saw him in a cold guise. However, subjects were unaware of this influence. When asked whether their liking for the instructor affected their ratings of his attributes, most subjects believed that their global evaluation had not influenced their ratings. In fact, those who saw the cold instructor believed that their dislike of the instructor's attributes had lowered their global evaluation of him. The results of the study support the strong interpretation of the halo effect, indicating that global evaluations can alter evaluations of attributes even when there is sufficient information to make independent assessments. The subjects were unaware of this influence, and their beliefs about the direction of the effect were often reversed. The study also suggests that people lack awareness of the influence of one evaluation on another. This has implications for understanding the nature of judgment and the potential for bias in evaluations. The findings highlight the importance of considering the influence of global evaluations on specific attributes and the need for awareness of this effect in decision-making processes.