Imagine meeting someone named Ben at a party, and you instantly find him easy to talk to. Later, when asked if you know anyone willing to help a charity, you think of Ben, even though you know very little about him besides his approachability.

In essence, you liked one aspect of Ben’s character and assumed you’d like everything else about him. Often, we pass judgments on people with little information. This tendency to oversimplify things and make judgment errors is known as the halo effect, where positive feelings about one aspect, like approachability, lead to a positive overall judgment of a person.

However, the mind’s shortcuts in making judgments don’t stop there. Another common shortcut is confirmation bias, where people tend to agree with information that supports their existing beliefs and readily accept suggested information. For example, if you were asked, “Is James friendly?” without any other information, you’d likely consider James friendly because your mind automatically confirms the suggested idea.

Both the halo effect and confirmation bias stem from our eagerness to make quick judgments. Unfortunately, these shortcuts often lead to mistakes since we lack sufficient data to make accurate assessments. Our minds rely on false suggestions and oversimplifications to fill in the gaps, potentially resulting in incorrect conclusions.