Issue 5: On Biases, Writing and the Halo Effect
Between the current January 6 committee hearings and the recently concluded Johnny Depp-Amber Heard libel trial, I feel like I’ve been listening to a lot of damning testimony lately about powerful men who may never experience consequences for their actions.
Watching conversations about the latter take hold of social media was particularly mind boggling. It seemed so obvious who held the balance of power in that relationship, yet there were rafts of fans arguing that somehow Depp had been the victim and Heard the aggressor. I was reluctant to enter the conversation–I had four classes worth of grading to finish up, assignments to do, a conference presentation to write. And the kind of vitriol I was seeing online–who has time for that?
But over the last few weeks, as the aftermath of that trial has worked its way through our public consciousness and conversations around feminism have taken on a new urgency, this puzzle has stayed with me: why are people are so willing to believe and support these men who are obviously lying to the world and maybe even to themselves?
I started thinking about the work of Daniel Kahneman, a psychologist and economist whose research on judgement and decision-making earned him a Nobel Prize in 2002. In his book Thinking, Fast and Slow, Kahneman mentions a well-studied psychological phenomenon called “the halo effect” which is essentially the “tendency to like (or dislike) everything about a person–including things you have not observed.”
The key here is that our first impression of a person can become psychologically entrenched in a way that is tremendously difficult to shake. Kahneman points out that the “sequence in which we observe characteristics of a person is often determined by chance. Sequence matters, however, because the halo effect increases the weight of first impressions, sometimes to the point that subsequent information is mostly wasted.” It’s also worth remembering that gender, sexuality, race and class can all be part of that first impression and carry with them expectations that influence our belief in a person’s trustworthiness in ways we aren’t always aware of.
For a quick example of this, imagine I introduced Kahneman himself to you at a party with the description above. Then he tells an innocuous funny story, compliments you on your dress in a way that’s not creepy. You’re charmed. A moment later, maybe he’s rude to the waiter, but you put that out of your mind because he seems like such a nice guy. So down to earth for a professor emeritus at Princeton and Nobel Prize winner. That’s the halo effect–the first two qualities you observe–funny and charming–overrides the third–rude to wait staff.
For a lot of the people posting about Johnny Depp, and maybe the jury members themselves, this trial was their first real encounter with Heard of any kind. Maybe they saw some brief glimpse of her in a movie or on Depp’s arm at a premier, but those impressions were fleeting or infused by the stereotype of the Hollywood blond, which comes with a whole cloud of stereotypes and innuendo.
Depp, on the other hand, has been in the public eye for decades. The leading roles he played have been steeped in romance and pathos (Edward Scissorhands, Cry-Baby) or good natured hi-jinx (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, those pirate movies). Many of his characters have been underdogs–men who have been misunderstood and dismissed by society. If you map these fictional qualities onto Depp himself, of course you’re going to assume that the person with whom you have such positive associations is telling the truth. This is Depp’s halo effect. You can see this in the posts that rhapsodized about Depp’s presence in beloved childhood films.
And I kind of get it. There are men in pop culture who have meant a great deal to me too–the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation were probably my most stable male role models. It’s hard for me to separate my impressions of their characters from the realities of their lives, and it would be painful for me to see them accused of the things Depp was proven in a British court to have done.
Brains love coherent stories (so says Kahneman). Your brain will go wild trying to find evidence to support your pre-existing idea of a person unless you learn to question that bias. This is one of the ways that powerful men in particular get away with doing terrible things right out in the open. And it has had a long history of deadly effects for victims of domestic violence.
How do we fight against the halo effect? Training. Learning to question those first impressions and accept evidence that doesn't fit with your preconceived notions. As a nonfiction writer who often depicts other people in my work, I have to be aware of my own biases and work against them. I do a whole class on recognizing biases and stereotypes when I teach literary journalism to beginning writers because I believe it’s a foundation of the practice. But it's not something you do once and the problem is solved. It must a continual practise over time.
Thanks again for reading. If you'd like to read more or subscribe, you can do so here. If you have thoughts or questions, go ahead and drop me a line via Twitter. Just try to be chill. These are complex times.
~ Erika
PS: It was pointed out that I misspelled Gretchen McCulloch's name my previous newsletter. Consider this a correction!