Definition: Judgements and decisions are guided directly by emotions - the feeling of liking or disliking - with little reasoning.
Reference: Paul Slovic proposed the affect heuristic - people let their likes and dislikes determine their beliefs about the world and choices within in.
Example: Political preference largely determines the arguments that people find compelling.
Example: Liking a project means you are more likely to believe that the costs are low and the benefits are high.
Insight: The affect heuristic is an example of substitution - where the answer to an easier question (How do I feel about it?) serves as an answer to a harder question (What do I think about it?).
Insight: The affect heuristic creates a simplified version the world for us to make decisions within, rather than a reality based one.
Insight: Reliance on the affect heuristic to influence is common in politically based arguments where we can base our beliefs on our like or dislike of a person or party.
Definition: We make momentary judgements, based on whether we like or dislike something.
Insight: Our thinking and decision making is often limited by what springs to mind, or what we feel.
Insight: A downside of using heuristics in decision making is that we are prevented from fully considering risks against the benefits.
Insight: If you like something you believe the risks are smaller and the benefits are greater than they actually are. If you don't like something then the opposite is true.
Definition: People determine what they think by consulting their feelings.
Example: We like most things about the politicians we favour.
Insight: On particular topics, we have already made prejudgements based on how we feel, rather than what we think.
Insight: The affect heuristic is one of the reasons why 'brand' is so valuable - people have emotional connections to products and companies.
Reference: Paul Slovic proposed the affect heuristic.
Reference: Paul Slovic proposed the affect heuristic - people let likes and dislikes determine their beliefs.
Insight: The affect heuristic can hinder our ability to see the negatives in our own position, and the positives in the position of others (particularly opponents).
Definition: The tendency for a current emotional state to influence risk perception.
Definition: The tendency for preconceived value judgements to interfere with our assessment of costs and benefits.
Key Insights & Principles
Decision Making
Current emotional state and preconceived value judgements can greatly influence decision making and risk perception.
In relying on our feelings we limit our ability to make decisions based on concrete information.
The affect heuristic is one of the reasons why brand (personal and commercial) can be so valuable.
Practice observing your own feelings and emotions toward particular people or topics, pause, and consider why this is the case.
Avoid making critical decisions in times of heightened emotional states.
Use concrete and available information for decision making.
