People misattribute halo-effect influence onto wrong causes while denying it

Evidence

Subjects in the warm condition later judged the teacher to be more attractive in appearance, accent, and mannerisms than did subjects in the cold condition. Subjects denied that the teacher’s likeableness influenced the other judgments. Quite the opposite, subjects in the cold condition incorrectly believed that the (unvaried) accent, mannerisms, and physical unattractiveness of the teacher had reduced the teacher’s likeableness. — Anthony G. Greenwald and Mahzarin R. Banaji, Implicit Social Cognition, 95

Categorization

• DEFINE: A classic demonstration that explicit introspection misdirects causal attribution even where subjects assume independence of judgments — relevant to the reading purpose of separating implicit from explicit/professed measures.
• XREF: connects to: People often distort evidence to fit preexisting worldviews rather than updating beliefs — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects…, 108; Halo effect is implicit attitude diffusion from one attribute to unrelated judgments. — Anthony G. Greenwald and Mahzarin R. Banaji, Implicit Social Cognition: Attitudes,…, 97; Attitudes activated by one object can be misattributed to another — Anthony G. Greenwald and Mahzarin R. Banaji, Implicit Social Cognition: Attitudes,…, 30

Broader Connections

• Halo effect is implicit attitude diffusion from one attribute to unrelated judgments. #expands (0.85) — Anthony G. Greenwald and Mahzarin R. Banaji, Implicit Social Cognition, 97
• Attitudes activated by one object can be misattributed to another #expands (0.82) — Anthony G. Greenwald and Mahzarin R. Banaji, Implicit Social Cognition, 30
• People often distort evidence to fit preexisting worldviews rather than updating beliefs #expands (0.72) — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof, 108