A halo effect is an outcome in one area due to factors derived from another. When good-looking people, for example, are perceived as more intelligent, more successful and more popular, “that’s the halo effect in psychology”
it’s caused by a cognitive bias, the tendency for an impression created in one area to influence opinion in another area
The term halo effect is used in marketing to explain customer bias toward certain products because of favorable experience with other products made by the same company
The first use of this term in psychology was a 1920 paper by Edward Thorndike. Business/marketing use of this term was popularized by a 1966 textbook and software package