The Halo Effect

(I am paraphrasing this story)

A researcher took two elementary school classrooms, each with students that were roughly equal in capability.

A teacher took on both classes. One class, she was informed, was filled with not-so-bright students who had discipline problems.

The other, she was told, was the honors class, the students in the class were the best and brightest of the school.

Two weeks after starting to teach these students, she was asked to describe the classes.

"The first class was a nightmare. They were always interrupting, they didn't grasp the material very well, discipline was a real problem."

"The second class was really fun. The students participated and really got into the material. I had no problems with them at all."

When told of the experiment, she was a little upset. Obviously, the students were fundamentally different. Look at the test scores! Listen to these problems we had!

What this concept is, is the Halo effect. It is also known as first impressions. If your initial assessment of someone is positive, then any negative thing they do is considered the exception. Likewise, if you have a bad first impression, you are less likely to give that person the benefit of the doubt.

Does this sound familiar to anyone?

Don't you think it applies to transition?