Horn And Halo

The horn and halo effect is often an interesting phenomenon within human societies. In-groups are ascribed good values, while out-groups are ascribed negative ones. The effect is quite salient especially when it comes to racial minorities.

It works something like this: a person makes a mistake. Everyone makes mistakes from sooner or later, so that's to be expected. However, if the person is from a majority race, the mistake is attributed to an isolated fault. At most, that particular person is faulty, while the majority remain pretty decent in comparison. Yet, when the person is from a minority, the fault may become ascribed to that of their entire race. That entire race is stupid, or lazy, or (insert negative value here).

Perhaps the horn/halo effect is an offshoot of human xenophobia. Racial minorities are most certainly different, and there is greater pressure to start understanding them as quickly as possible than one would have to for a majority since one is likely already steeped in the majority culture. Generalizations may be a convenient way to come up with that understanding. However, there is also the fear of the unknown and suspicion of newcomers. That creates an additional tendency to ascribe negative attributes to minorities, in an attempt to err on the side of caution.

Overall, this is just laziness. Whether the xenophobia is a matter of nature or nurture, it would still be incumbent upon the majority to deal with the differences as they would with any other person, rather than taking the easy way out and breezing through evaluations of people. Easier said than done, apparently.