Attribute Substitution
Substitution Bias
A mental shortcut in which a person faced with a hard question unconsciously answers an easier, related one instead — without realizing a swap has occurred.
Origin
Daniel Kahneman and Shane Frederick proposed attribute substitution in their 2002 chapter "Representativeness Revisited" in the book Heuristics and Biases. The model unified earlier work on judgment heuristics under a single mechanism: when a target attribute is hard to assess, the mind silently swaps in a related heuristic attribute that comes more readily to mind.
Everyday Use
Asked "Is this a good investment?" your brain might actually answer "Do I like the company's logo?" Asked "How happy am I with my life?" you might really be answering "What mood am I in right now?" We swap hard questions for easy ones all the time — and rarely notice the switch.