Definitionv1DF-122
Affect heuristic
the cognitive shortcut where people substitute an emotional evaluation for a cognitive one when making complex judgments, using affective impressions as proxies for analytical assessments
Why This Is a Definition
This definition clearly establishes the genus (cognitive shortcut) and differentia (substituting emotional for cognitive evaluation) of affect heuristic, distinguishing it from general emotional response and specifying its mechanism of operation in complex judgments.