The affect heuristic

This paper introduces a theoretical framework that describes the importance of affect in guiding judgments and decisions. As used here, ‘affect’ means the specific quality of ‘goodness’ or ‘badness’ (i) experienced as a feeling state (with or without consciousness) and (ii) demarcating a positive or negative quality of a stimulus. Affective responses occur rapidly and automatically – note how quickly you sense the feelings associated with the stimulus word ‘treasure’ or the word ‘hate’. We argue that reliance on such feelings can be characterized as ‘the affect heuristic’. In this paper we trace the development of the affect heuristic across a variety of research paths followed by ourselves and many others. We also discuss some of the important practical implications resulting from ways that this heuristic impacts our daily lives.