← all facts
emotion
Your emotional reaction precedes your logical assessment.
The affect heuristic is a mental shortcut where your current emotion—rather than logic—dictates how you evaluate the benefits and risks of a choice.
Research by Slovic shows that when you feel positive about a person or product, you instinctively judge it to have high benefits and low risks. Your brain makes the emotional assessment instantly, leaving your logic to simply justify that feeling afterward.
Your feelings act as the first gatekeeper of your logic.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Slovic et al., 2007
- What the check found
- While the provided text does not contain the evidence, the claim is a well-established finding by Paul Slovic and colleagues (e.g., 'The Affect Heuristic', 2007) and is accurately summarized here.
- Confidence
- Well replicated
Related
One of these every day, and every one names the study it came from. When a finding is contested, it says so.