Rock the PHR Exam 2025 – Unleash Your HR Superpowers!

The correct choice is related to the concept of the horn effect, which describes a cognitive bias where an individual's overall evaluation of a person is negatively influenced by one negative characteristic. In a performance assessment scenario, if an employee exhibits a single undesirable trait, that trait may cause evaluators to assign low ratings across multiple performance dimensions, even if the employee excels in other areas.

This effect arises because the negative trait clouds the assessors’ judgment, leading them to overlook or misinterpret the employee's strengths. It contrasts with the halo effect, where one positive quality elevates the perception of the individual across the board. Strengths-based assessment focuses on leveraging an individual's strengths rather than highlighting weaknesses, which is opposite to what occurs in the horn effect. Finally, 360-degree feedback involves multiple sources providing input on an employee's performance, which can mitigate biases like the horn effect.

Thus, the horn effect specifically captures the scenario where a single negative aspect results in low evaluations across the board, underscoring the potential for biases in performance assessments.