horn effect
Flaw taints everything
The horn effect is a cognitive bias where one negative trait influences overall perception of a person or thing.
If someone seems dishonest, you might also assume they're lazy or incompetent—the single flaw casts a shadow over unrelated qualities.
The opposite of the halo effect, where one positive trait elevates everything else: The horn effect meant his single mistake colored how the committee viewed his entire career.
- biasUnfair inclination or prejudice
- perceptionMental interpretation of stimuli
- judgmentReasoned decision-making capacity
- negativeOpposite of affirmative
- first impressionInstant assessment of someone
first glance · gut feeling · prejudice · stereotype · cognitive · ugliness · attractiveness · ugly duckling · interview · hiring · job candidate · unfair · assumption · devil · appearance · bad apple · evaluation · rating