Overview Of The Study On The Halo Effect - Nisbett And Wilson's Experiment

Richard E. Nisbett and Timothy DeCamp Wilson (1977) conducted an experiment at the University of Michigan studying the outcome of the halo effect on university students. In the introduction of the article by Nisbett and Wilson, they explained how they conducted an experiment by using two different videotaped interviews. In the article, Nisbett and Wilson stated how the writing and history on the halo effect is not strong, and a lot of past studies were correlational studies. According to past research, trait ratings were connected to the fact that participants would rate positive and pleasant personalities higher, and would correlate with considering people good looking. Nisbett and Wilson questioned people and their awareness of the halo effect, and they argued that people did not have enough understanding of the cognitive development behind it.

In the methods section, Nisbett and Wilson (1977) explained how they conducted an experiment on college students. The dependent variable was the evaluation scores given by the college students, while the independent variable was the mannerisms of the instructor. There were 118 college students tested, 62 males and 56 females. The participants were put into groups of 6 to 17, and there was no contact between the participants in the conference room. Nisbett and Wilson asked the college students to evaluate an instructor from videotaped interviews. They were shown one of two interviews with the same instructor. After viewing the videos, the participants rated the likability, attractiveness of mannerisms, and the accent of the teacher.

The participants were also asked if the likability affected ratings of the instructor’s appearance and other traits. Nisbett and Wilson indicated that they were interested in discovering if evaluations of teachers who are seen briefly in interviews look like those where the teachers are evaluated by students who have them regularly. The participants were shown the interviews, one with the instructor being warm and the other with him being cold, and the interviews lasted 7 minutes. The results showed that the researchers found that the mannerisms, appearance, and accent of a teacher can affect the evaluation of their traits by students. The participants used an 8-point rating scale. The warmer and nicer instructor was rated more appealing while the colder instructor with the accent was rated more irritating. Half of the “warm conditioned” participants rated the accent appealing and the other half irritating. However, the vast majority rated the accent as irritating when the instructor was cold and unfriendly. In the discussion section, Nisbett and Wilson explained that the halo effect is supported by the study’s results. These results are also dependable with results found earlier in other research done on the halo effect. Other researchers, such as Thorndike (1920), believed the halo effect exhibited a failure to resist the impact of evaluation of specific traits, and other theorists shared this viewpoint with Thorndike.

Overall, the study supported the idea of the halo effect, especially when evaluating teachers or instructors. The study had two groups and helped prove that appearance and mannerisms do effect how people view someone. When the instructor had a positive demeanor, and was nicer his rating improved. In my opinion, this supported the halo effect, in that positive traits are attributed to those who are better looking and pleasant to be around. I might suggest that to add to the study, they may be more inclusive and study how race and gender effects the outcome of the evaluation scores.