What are the halo effect and the false consensus effect?

Halo effect: one good trait colours your whole judgement of someone. False consensus: you overestimate how many people share your views.

• Halo effect (Halo-Effekt) — a single positive impression (attractiveness, confidence, a prestigious job) spills over and inflates your judgement of unrelated traits. We assume good-looking or charismatic people are also more competent, honest, or intelligent, with no evidence for the link.
• False consensus effect (Effekt des fiktiven Konsens) — you overestimate the extent to which others share your beliefs, preferences, and behaviour. Because your own view feels obviously correct, you assume "most people" agree — so dissent feels like a fringe minority even when it isn't.

Both distort social judgement: the halo effect over-generalises from one trait of another person, while the false consensus effect over-generalises from your own view to everyone else. Each treats a narrow datum as if it represented the whole.

Tip: Halo = "good at one thing → good at everything." False consensus = "I think it → everyone thinks it." Both are unjustified leaps from a single point to a sweeping picture.