Nikolaus Effect: This is how you can be wrongly assessed

Santa Claus effect is a cute expression for something that may have serious consequences for you. You can find out here why this effect is known as the Nikolaus effect and why it can also be of importance to you.

Misunderstood because of the Nikolaus effect

Christmas is a very nice time for most. This certainly results from the fact that this event only takes place in a very limited, short time frame.

• And that is exactly what the psychological phenomenon with the trivializing name Nikolaus effect is all about. As we know it from childhood, Santa Claus presents our good or less good deeds of recent times. The emphasis is on "lately" and that is exactly the problem with the psychological phenomenon.
• Basically, the Nikolaus effect is a distortion of judgment or perception. The English term recency effect is a little more expressive and reflects the meaning of the effect a little more clearly.
• If we are to judge something, we often tend to give more weight to the facts perceived last. Especially in the context of other people, this can lead to extreme distortions of perception.
• The Nikolaus effect can be particularly fatal when evaluating personnel. If an otherwise very good employee is noticed shortly before a mistake is made, it is more present in the assessor's short-term memory than the previous good performances.
• Under certain circumstances, it can happen that you get a significantly worse assessment than you deserve because of the Nikolaus effect.
• If you tend to use the minimal principle anyway and happen to be at peak performance shortly before an evaluation, you were lucky. In this case, the recency effect plays into your hands. But you shouldn't necessarily rely on it.

So that you can check whether the Nikolaus effect has also spread in your assessment, we have compiled the secret code formulations in the job reference in a separate article.