I’m reading a fascinating book by Kelly McGonigal entitled The Willpower Instinct. In it she covers how self control works and the things that sabotage it. One of the most interesting findings so far is the so called “Halo Effect.” She describes it this way…
The halo effect is a form of moral licensing that looks for any reason to say “yes” to temptation. When we want permission to indulge, we’ll take any hint of virtue as a justification to give in.
She sites a very interesting food study that makes absolutely no common sense, yet I have found myself falling for it many times. Have you succumbed to this…
Researchers have found that if you pair a cheeseburger with a green salad, diners estimate that the meal has fewer calories than the same cheeseburger served by itself. This makes no sense, unless you believe that putting lettuce on a plate can magically make calories disappear.
It’s the same idea as ordering a jumbo popcorn at a movie theater and a Diet coke. We equate the good item as an eraser, that actually subtracts calories from the meal. In the study researchers found that…
Dieters— who in theory should be the most likely to know the calorie counts of foods— were the most susceptible to the halo effect, taking 100 calories off their estimates when a salad was added.
So this is how our mind would see it…
Now if we added a side salad, our mind would magically do some subtracting
If only this were true.
The actual number of calories for the two items is 910. Perception is not always truthful. Kelly’s book is full of amazing facts like this that cause us to do just the opposite of what we want.
In our next post we’ll look at some other moral licensing issues that can derail our most virtuous efforts.
Question: Have you been a victim of the Halo Effect?