Two weeks ago, I wrote about the Halo Effect and how it helped Ted Bundy get away with murder until he ran out of luck. After writing on the topic, I wanted to keep it buried and move on to other things but the ghost of the Halo effect kept coming at me. It came back in the form of NAN readers questioning their biases and asking me how to be less biased.
Then last week, it came in form of someone paying me to write about how people who fit the ‘global’ media’s depiction of attractive tend to get away with punishment and minorities (blacks, Hispanics, etc) get to suffer, even for things they did not do.
While doing a further reading for the work, I discovered the case of Ronnie Long, a black man who served 44 years (he’s 64 now) for alleged rape and burglary, which he, in fact, did not commit. The woman who accused him of the crime had picked him out on a busy court day where he was also on trial for alleged trespassing (which he was not found guilty of). Unlike Ted Bundy, Long did not fit the attractive depictions that many people knew; curly hair, blue eyes, caucasian, and was instead fingered for the crime by an all-white jury.
Asides from the overwhelmingly racist nature of this, the jury was also guilty of a cognitive bias called the horn effect.
Horn effect
Cognitive biases affect everyone, though you may not always notice them. These errors in thinking and reasoning happen as your brain tries to help you process and make sense of the vast quantity of sensory input you receive each day. Your brain categorizes this information through the lens of your memories and experiences, which means it doesn’t always provide an accurate picture of what you take in at any given moment.
The horn effect, a type of cognitive bias, happens when you make a snap judgment about someone on the basis of one ‘negative’ trait. Say you meet your new supervisor, who’s bald, and immediately remember a bald middle school teacher who bullied and mocked you. Angry and afraid all over again, you distrust your boss immediately. Your bias led you to judge him by one trait — baldness — which your brain connected to that negative past experience.
This bias can show up in different contexts: when choosing foods to purchase, finding somewhere to live, or deciding whom to date.
For Long, his ‘negative’ trait was that he was black.
First impressions only feed biases
Our cognitive biases feed on our past experiences to help us arrive at a lot of decisions. I have written in the past about how people will sometimes hate you, reject you, or refuse to acknowledge your importance just because you remind them of something from their past. Sometimes people are able to remember what those things are, most times they don’t. They just act on it.
For someone who has been hurt by a short person in the past, they may grow to dislike short people without having a ‘reason’ for it. You might have someone hate you at first sight because you have beards. And it would not be your fault, you might just remind their subconscious of someone who harassed them in the past.
All of these subtle nuances combine to help people make opinions about first impressions. While it is advisable that we are of good behaviour, dress decently, and look responsible when meeting people for the first time, often, situations are beyond the recipient of the cognitive biases and they just can’t help it. Or, how else would Long have reacted to his accuser’s biased upbringing that taught her that black people are harmful?
This then puts to question the validity or importance of the first impression.
Be quick to see, be slow to react
While we are increasingly living in a snap behaviour/thinking world where everyone wants everything to be as fast as possible, we should individually try to constantly teach ourselves to be slower in our reactions towards other people, especially in judging them.
Humans are full of biases and our biases are fuelled by experiences. But we should always constantly try to question our individual biases and not obsessively act on them.
Here are some suggestions from Healthline:
You can’t define anyone by a single trait, no matter how noticeable that trait is. Anyone you meet will have a personality defined by multiple characteristics, many of which you may not notice right away.
Take a look at yourself in the mirror. What does your reflection say?
Maybe you’re relaxing in comfortable sweatpants and a T-shirt that boasts a few holes and a questionable stain or two. You forgot to comb your hair, and your eyes look a little tired.
Someone could use those clues to decide you don’t care much about appearance. They might assume you’re sloppy, lazy, and can’t manage your time well — clearly you don’t get enough sleep and can’t be bothered to do laundry.
Of course, they have no way of knowing whether any of those things are true. They’re basing it all on their first impression.
In short, personality doesn’t always align with what appearance may suggest.
TEA
I recently got hooked on the Explained Collection on Netflix and I am highly recommending them to you (if you use Netflix). My first Explained was on ‘The Mind’ and I think you might find it fascinating too.
In 2013, a music video came out and it had me laughing and clapping and singing all at a go. It was a pretty simple video that just perfectly fits the song’s theme. It was Natural Something by Nigeria’s multitalented artist, Sound Sultan. Yes, I remember Sultan’s Mathematics but I just could not get his voice at the beginning of NS out of my head; “my name is Sultan…”
Yesterday, Sound Sultan died. Naturally, my thought went to his wife, his children, his friends… and I had some sympathy for them. But Sound Sultan lived a very glorious life. I watched several interviews and features of him; talking about family, performing free of charge for indigent people, playing basketball as a pastime, etc. Sultan lived a glorious life and in prayers and thoughts with the family, I hope we all continue to remember him for how colourful his life was.
Is this your first time reading (Not a) Newsletter? I have a little gift for you here. If you enjoyed this email, be sure to share it with your friends. You should follow the (Not a) Newsletter community on Twitter. Finally, please check out my website to enjoy more of my writing for free — and for writing jobs and consultations.
Be nice to other people, smile as much as you can, and live freely. Have a great week.
Superb. Thanks sir.🤗🤗🤗
Wow. That was a really enlightening one. Well-done