Click on the heading to continue reading.
The horns effect was defined by Edward L Thorndike, and is the twin sister of the halo effect.
The horns effect occurs, for example, if our first impression about a person is negative, we tend to unconsciously focus on other negative characteristics and regard them generally negatively. Or indeed if we notice something we see as negative about a person we tend to attribute other negative characteristics to them.
Why is this a problem? The horns effect can, for example lead us to making unconscious wrong decisions about people we recruit or when judging performance based on one aspect of behaviour, appearance or personality. If someone doesn’t look the way they should or if there is an aspect about them we don’t like, this can have a negative impact of our broader perception of that person.
It can be very difficult to admit to our own horns effect bias, so that we can question and reflect on our judgement.
In our inhouse unconscious bias training, we look at these and other challenges and solutions. Why not take a look www.international-hr.de/Leadershipskills