Personal prejudice. A rater's dislike for a group or class of people may dis- tort the ratings those people receive. For example, some HR departments have noticed that male supervisors give undeserved low ratings to women who hold"traditionally male jobs." Sometimes raters are unaware of their prejudice, and this makes such biases more difficult to overcome. Nevertheless, specialists should pay close attention to patterns in appraisals that suggest prejudice. Such prejudice prevents effective evaluations and may violate anti discrimination laws. Whereas the halo bias affects one's judgment of an individual, prejudice affects one's judgment of entire groups. When prejudice affects the ratings of protected class members, this form of discrimination can lead to equal employment violations.