Thorndike’s a Constant Error in Psychological Ratings

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Big five Personality traits is to be used by the researchers to measure the dependent variable which is the ratings of personality perceived by male and female first year psychology students.

Halo Effect theory- it refers to a cognitive prejudice in which an individual's judgment of another person's character is shaped by his or her overall impression.

Halo effect is to be used in theoretical basis of this experiment. Halo effect will be the main concept of this study on how the voice and physical appearance affects the perception of personality types.

Personality assessment – is the measurement of personal characteristics. Assessment is an end result of gathering information intended to advance psychological theory and research and to increase the probability that wise decisions will be made in applied settings.

Personality assessment test is to be used by the respondents to rate the personality of the person in the given voice, images and video.

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Local

The halo effect - Doy Santos aka The Cusp

Individuals may suffer positively or negatively if they have been judged or evaluated for the first time because of their communication skills, appearances or even both. It is said to be the cognitive bias known as hallo effect studied by Edward Thorndike (1920). Researchers conduct a study focusing about the halo effect to know if it affects and influences a person’s perception about other’s personality based on its traits. An example would be judging a good-looking person as more intelligent or believing a politician’s policies are good, just because the person appears good.

In the case of President Aquino and his high public satisfaction ratings, there seems to be a substantial amount of this effect taking place. The general impression of P-Noy is that he is honest. This comes from being who he is, the only son of two national heroes. This has translated into very positive sentiment towards the actions taken by the government under his watch.

Part of this has to do with the anti-GMA sentiment or the reverse halo effect. So pursuing cases against his predecessor is seen to be the legitimate thing to do, and rightly so, given the shenanigans that her administration was accused of. It also ties in with the president’s retraction and review of contracts and projects already approved for fear that they would somehow benefit her proxies within certain departments and sub-contracting firms.

But if you look at the outcome of these actions, it becomes immediately apparent, leaving our cognitive biases aside, that the positive evaluations given to P-Noy by the public are probably unjustified.

First of all, with respect to the way in which his justice department has gone after Mrs Arroyo, certain questionable legal maneuvers have actually undermined the rule of law rather than upheld it. And secondly, with regards to the handling of the economy, the third quarter GDP figures clearly show that the overly cautious due diligence performed on public contracts undermined economic growth rather than encouraged it.

To counter the cognitive bias associated with the halo effect on the part of an evaluator, “blind-fold” tests or blind experiments are often administered where the person rates a product based on its actual attributes or performance, not on the subject’s perceived reputation. Respondents are often surprised with the results when they remove their blindfolds. I wonder what would happen if a poll was conducted that used the same principle in evaluating the performance of our presidents.

If faced only with the indicators of success and not the name of the person being rated, what marks would be given this president? What the government under him did this year countered its aims of fostering good government, rule of law and economic growth, but somehow its acts of commission and omission get glossed over and given a positive spin. Not only that, but the public by and large is willing to accept the message given them that all is well. So it seems the halo effect can cover a multitude of sins.

International

The Beauty of Self-Actualization: Linking Physical Attractiveness and Self-Fulfilment

The study is studied by ItaiIvtzan and Hee Sun Moon. It examined the relationship between physical attractiveness and self-actualization. It was hypothesized that higher levels of physical attractiveness lead to higher levels of self-actualization, as physically attractive and self-actualized people share certain characteristics, such as inner-directiveness, sociability and self-acceptance. To investigate this hypothesis, 119 participants completed the Personal Orientation Inventory (POI) questionnaire as a measure of self-actualization and six professional judges rated the participants’ level of physical attractiveness. The study revealed that participants in the high attractiveness group scored significantly higher on 7 of the 12 POI scales in comparison to the participants in the low attractiveness group: Inner-Directed, Self-Actualizing Value, Feeling Reactivity, Spontaneity, Self-Regard, Self-Acceptance, and Capacity for Intimate Contact. The role of self-esteem and the self-fulfilling prophecy effect were discussed as possible explanations for the findings.

Self-Perceived Attractiveness and Its Influence on the Halo Effect and the Similar-to Me Effect

Cotter from Bucknell University believes that physical and sexual attractiveness of a human being does not affects its hireability, but she noted that halo effect was found effectively for white applicants showing sexual attractiveness due to in-group bias and out-group homogeneity. Cotter then examined how halo effect and similar-to-me effect influences hiring decisions. She hypothesized that the halo effect would cause applicants rated highly in physical and sexual attractiveness to receive higher ratings of hireability than unattractive applicants. However, participants who rated themselves as less attractive should favor unattractive applicants if the similar-to-me effect is influential for levels of attractiveness in hiring situations,. The results did not show an interaction between participant self-ratings and ratings of hire ability, indicating the similar-to-me effect does not apply to physical or sexual attractiveness.

ARE WE RATIONAL VOTERS?: A STUDY OF “HALO-EFFECTS”

Srajal