Oddly Wired
← all facts
perception

One visible flaw blinds you to everything else.

The horns effect is the negative manifestation of the halo effect, a phenomenon first described by Edward Thorndike in his 1920 paper 'A Constant Error in Psychological Ratings.'

Thorndike did not publish a paper titled 'The Horns Effect'; this is a misnamed reference.

A single negative impression acts as a filter for all future information.

Where this comes from

Study
Thorndike, 1920, The Horns Effect
What the check found
The phenomenon is accurate, but the source citation is a misattribution of the title. Thorndike did not publish a paper titled 'The Horns Effect'.
Confidence
Solid, with limits

Related

One of these every day, and every one names the study it came from. When a finding is contested, it says so.