What Is The Affect Heuristic? How does It Lead to Emotional Decision-making?

The affect heuristic refers to the tendency of people to make decisions based on their emotions without evaluating the situation objectively. They rely on their “gut feelings” and respond according to their emotions and moods. Due to this, they make poor decisions. 

For instance, when someone is happy and confident, they might be more likely to take risks and try new things, and when they feel down and insecure, they won’t. The affect heuristic occurs when your brain takes a “mental shortcut”. Your feelings take your decisions. 

Do you also make decisions based on your emotions hastily and later regret? If yes, then you have been a victim of the affect heuristic. This effect also significantly influences the research process and leads to research bias in researchers. 

What is the Affect Heuristic?

According to psychology, a heuristic is a mental shortcut that allows people to make quick and efficient decisions. Affect is a psychological term used for an emotional response. How you feel about a stimulus impacts your choices. 

Affect Heuristic Definition

The affect heuristic is a type of cognitive bias that plays a significant role in decision-making. It occurs when people rely on their emotions instead of objective information.  This is a mental shortcut to solve problems rapidly. 

In the affect heuristic, the effect can be divided into feeling state and quality. A feeling state is what people feel and experience, such as happiness and sadness. Quality is the stimulus associated with the source that triggers the emotions. Those can be sounds, words, and weather. 

Example of Affect Heuristic 

How Do Heuristics Affect Decision Making?

There are various pros and cons of the affect heuristic. Sometimes, these mental shortcuts allow us to make quick and reasonable decisions, but other times, they lead to poor decision-making. 

Advertising companies use affect heuristics effectively to influence the emotions of customers and lead them to buy products and services. They efficiently make ads for smoking and fast foods. Due to that, people end up smoking and eating fast food even though these are not good for their health. 

Real-life Implication

According to a 1978 study, researchers figured out that the judgment of benefits was inverse to risks. This meant that the greater the perceived benefit, the lower the perceived risk. Similarly, the greater the risk, the lower the perceived benefits it brings.

In the case of smoking and fast food, they are perceived as high-risk and low-profit. On the other hand, antibiotics and vaccines are perceived as high-benefit and low-risk.

The Affect of Presented Data

The researchers also found that the emotions of the people are significantly influenced by the data they are presented.  

Let’s take an example from a 2009 study. The researchers presented recidivism rates to clinicians either as probabilities (30%) or frequencies (30/100). 

When numbers were presented as frequencies, the clinicians rated that mental health patients have a high risk of recidivism. This is because when data was presented as frequencies, it created a mental image of the patient lapsing back to their old behaviours. 

This is how heuristics affect the decision-making.

Causes of Affect Heuristic

The causes of the affect heuristic are given as follows:

• Media & Advertising

How products and services are advertised to the audience increases the chances of affect heuristic.  These advertisements are used to trigger specific emotions that lead to emotional buying decisions and judgements. 

• Cultural Factors

Culture also plays an essential role in the affect heuristic. People from different cultures have different perceptions regarding certain things. Perceptions that are positive for some cultures can be negative for others. It can cause bias in decision-making. 

• Past Memories

Our past experiences are associated with certain objects, people, and situations. They significantly shape our emotions. If you have had positive feelings for something in the past, you are more likely to think positively about that thing in the future.

• Mental Shortcuts

The human brain is designed to preserve mental energy and effort. So, that’s why it takes the help of mental shortcuts to make quick judgements out of ease. This enables people to make more emotional decisions than judgements based on objectivity. 

• Ease of Processing

The emotional feelings are easy to access and process. For this reason, people prefer emotional responses as the main criteria for decision-making. They tend to reject objective and comprehensive data that can contradict their emotions. 

Tips to Avoid Affect Heuristic

To avoid the affect heuristic, you should have a deep understanding of its influence and causes which have been discussed above. If you want to avoid the affect heuristic, then here are some effective strategies you can follow:

Tip 1: Pause and Evaluate

You should always pause and evaluate before making an important decision. You should ask yourself whether the decision that you’re about to make is emotional, or if you have also considered comprehensive information for making this decision.  

Tip 2: Explore Multiple Point-Of-Views

To make a good decision in your life, you should explore multiple points of view. This will enable you to challenge your initial emotional reactions. You should explore credible sources of information that show multiple sides of the issue. 

Tip 3: Use Efficient Analytical Tools

You should use efficient analytical tools and frameworks to evaluate different options that can be used to make a better decision. Tools such as Pre-Mortem Analysis, pros & cons lists, and cost-benefit analysis enable you to structure your thinking efficiently. 

Tip 4: Exercise Mindfulness

Mindfulness exercises are good for enhancing your awareness of your emotional well-being. It also enables you to know how you emotionally respond to certain situations. By better understanding your emotions, you can make good decisions. 

Tip 5: Increase EQ Level

Emotional intelligence (EQ) is the understanding of your emotions and that of others. When you increase EQ levels, you can easily recognise how and when your emotions influence your decision-making and manage accordingly. 

Affect Heuristics Examples

Here are examples of affect heuristics that can help you to understand this concept thoroughly:

Example 1:

Imagine you go to a theme park. You see a particular ride and have special childhood memories associated with that ride. There could be other better and more fantastic ride options, but you may choose that same ride with emotional association.

Example 2:

You have been loyal to a particle brand for many years. You have had positive experiences with that brand, and it provides you with satisfaction. There could be several other brands that can provide a better customer experience, but you will stick to just one. 

Example 3:

Another example is “newspeak”. This language is used to portray nuclear energy and weapons in a positive way. By using words like “smart bombs” and “peacekeeper missiles”, communicators undermine the threat they pose to human lives and the environment.