Affect Heuristic
A mental shortcut where current emotions — fear, pleasure, dread, comfort — serve as a rapid guide for judgments and decisions, often bypassing slower analytical reasoning.
Origin
Psychologist Paul Slovic, president of Decision Research in Oregon and professor at the University of Oregon, developed the concept through the 1990s and named it in a 2002 chapter in the book Heuristics and Biases edited by Thomas Gilovich, Dale Griffin, and Daniel Kahneman. Slovic and colleagues showed that people assess risks and benefits not through careful analysis but through the emotional tags — positive or negative — they associate with an activity.
Everyday Use
You evaluate a vacation destination by how the photos make you feel, not by comparing costs and reviews. A scary headline makes a risk feel bigger than the statistics show. When your gut says "good" or "bad," the affect heuristic has already made the call — and you'll rationalize it later.