Affect Heuristic Research Articles

Reducing the Influence of Time Pressure on Risky Choice

Abstract: While the impact of time pressure on decision-making is extensively studied, how individuals regulate their behavior under such conditions is less understood. This study addressed this gap by prompting participants to use cognitive reappraisal, an emotion regulation strategy. Participants were instructed to reinterpret their emotions during the decision-making process and asked to answer within 1,000 ms. Findings revealed that cognitive reappraisal mitigated the effects of time pressure in gain-framed trials by decreasing risk aversion that is usually induced by time pressure. A post hoc moderated mediation analysis indicated that this was attributed to the dual influence of cognitive reappraisal: less emotional intensity toward options and less overall emotional reliance during the cognitive process, both modulating risky preferences. However, this modulation was not observed in loss-framed trials. These results enhance our understanding of cognitive reappraisal’s role in moderating the behavioral impact of time pressure and suggest interventions to reduce affect heuristics in decision-making.

Affect heuristics and peer effect on substance use among adolescents in Brazil

Significant changes are observed during adolescence with respect to health-related habits and risky behaviors. Among the behavioral changes, the consumption of substances such as alcoholic beverages, cigarettes, and illicit drugs, and social interactions are relevant factors for the intake of such substances. This study aims to analyze the relationship between the joint decisions of substance use by adolescents and their peers from the perspective of the affect heuristics. To this end, a multivariate probit model was estimated, based on microdata from the 2019 National School Health Survey. The results showed that substance use by adolescents was positively related to substance use by their peers; therefore, having friends who consume alcohol, illicit drugs, and cigarettes or having parents who consume alcohol or cigarettes increases the likelihood of an adolescent consuming these substances. The study also identified that the substance consumption decision was governed by an unobserved common factor compatible with the affect heuristic.

How Do People Perceive Immigrants? Relating Perceptions to Numbers

Abstract How does the general public perceive immigrants, whom do they think of when thinking about “immigrants,” and to what extent are these perceptions related to the actual composition of immigrant populations? We use three representative online surveys in the United States, South Africa, and Switzerland (total N = 2,778) to extend existing work on the perception of immigrants in terms of geographic coverage and individual characteristics. We also relate these responses to official statistics on immigration and integration patterns. In all three countries, there are significant discrepancies between perceptions of immigrants and their real proportion in the population and characteristics. Although we observe clear country differences, there is a striking pattern of people associating “immigrants” with “asylum seekers” in all three countries. We consider two possible explanations for the differences between perceptions and facts: the representativeness heuristic and the affect heuristic. In contrast to previous research, we find only partial support for the representativeness heuristic, whereas the results are consistent with the affect heuristic. We conclude that images of “immigrants” are largely shaped by pre-existing attitudes.

The Power of Images: How Multimodal Hate Speech Shapes Prejudice and Prosocial Behavioral Intentions

While online hate speech has become a serious problem in multimedia environments, most studies in this area have examined text-based hateful content, with less attention paid to its other visual aspects. From a multimodal perspective, we conducted an online experiment ( N = 799) to investigate how multimodal hate speech (i.e., text and images presented together to convey hateful meanings) on social media affected users’ prejudicial attitudes and prosocial behavioral intentions. The results showed that participants in the text-plus-image (vs. text-only) condition felt more sympathy, which led to less implicit prejudice toward the target group and more prosocial behavioral intentions. In addition, exposure to text-plus-image hate speech had an indirect effect on prosocial behavioral intentions through sympathy and implicit prejudice. The findings contribute to scholarship on online hate speech and provide insights into the affect heuristics that individuals rely on when processing multimodal information.

Advanced age predicts increased susceptibility to attribute, goal, and risky-choice framing in negative frame valences

The framing effect has been extensively studied in the context of attribute, goal, and risky-choice framing, revealing its significant impact on decision-making. However, the interplay between age and the framing effect remains relatively unexplored, and existing findings are inconclusive and conflicting. Addressing this gap, this study investigates the influence of age on all three types of framing using a large cohort of participants (N = 696). The Johnson-Neyman technique was employed to examine the effect across a continuous range of ages. The analysis demonstrated that advanced age significantly increased susceptibility to the framing effect. Moreover, it was found that this susceptibility primarily manifests in response to negative frames across all framing types. These findings not only align with the socioemotional selectivity theory and dual-process model but also underscore the importance of affect heuristics in decision-making among older adults. By offering a robust examination of all three types of framing and their interactions with age, this study provides a theoretical foundation for the role of age as a potential moderator in framing contexts. These findings may therefore inform the development of targeted strategies to mitigate the impact of the framing effect on elderly populations.

AI Pilot in the Cockpit: An Investigation of Public Acceptance

Crew-reducing exhibits promise for various benefits in the aviation industry. However, there is limited understanding regarding public acceptance. Using an experimental design deployed with a vignette-based online study, we investigated individuals’ negative emotion, trust, risk acceptance, and willingness to ride toward Single Pilot Operations (SPO) and Dual Pilot Operations (DPO). Results established that people preferred DPO flights, relying on affect heuristic. Specifically, people’s negative emotion associated with SPO decreases their trust, which subsequently results in lower levels of willingness to ride and risk acceptance. Furthermore, we observed that people are less likely to accept risk evoked by intelligent autonomous system in DPO flights, which likely due to their psychological model about two pilots in the cockpit. Findings from this research highlight the importance of users’ initially positive affects about intelligent equipment in the cockpit. Other theoretical and practical implications for narrowing the acceptable gap between SPO and DPO are discussed.

Heuristic Information Processing as a Mediating Factor in the Process of Exposure to COVID-19 Vaccine Information and Misinformation Sharing on Social Media

ABSTRACT Social media use for risk communication during the COVID-19 pandemic has caused considerable concerns about an overabundance of information, particularly misinformation. However, how exposure to COVID-19 information on social media can lead to subsequent misinformation sharing during the pandemic has received little research attention. This study adopted the social amplification of risk framework to delineate how exposure to COVID-19 vaccine information on social media can be associated with individuals’ misinformation sharing through heuristic information processing. The role of social media trust was also examined. Results from an online survey (N = 1488) of Chinese Internet users revealed that exposure to COVID-19 vaccine information on social media was associated with misinformation sharing, mediated by both affect heuristics (i.e., negative affect toward the COVID-19 pandemic in general) and availability heuristics (i.e., perceived misinformation availability). Importantly, both high and low levels of trust in social media strengthened the mediating associations. While a low level of trust strengthened the association between exposure to COVID-19 vaccine information on social media and the affect heuristics, a high level of trust strengthened its association with the availability heuristics, both of which were associated with misinformation sharing. Our findings suggest that heuristic information processing is essential in amplifying the spread of misinformation after exposure to risk information on social media. It is also suggested that individuals should maintain a middle level of trust in social media, being open while critical of risk information on social media.

Impacts of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Risk Perception and Behaviors of Small Life Cycle Event Attendees

This study investigated the behaviors of attendees of small social life cycle events during the COVID19 pandemic, incorporating the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) into the study framework. Adopting individuals' risk perception aspects based on the affect and availability heuristics as antecedents of variables of TPB, this study found that affect and availability heuristics influenced individuals' attitudes and perceived behavioral control when attending small social life cycle events during the pandemic. Findings of the study also revealed that individuals' attitudes, perceived behavioral control, and social norm influenced their behavioral intentions and, in turn, their behaviors. The group comparison analysis found the severity of the pandemic in the regions moderated attendees' behaviors partially. Theoretical and managerial implications were addressed, followed by limitations and future study suggestions.

Implications of zero party data on user decision-making in digital advertising

Today’s digital advertising is predominantly founded on third party data such as cookies, which track the browsing behavior history. However, the data collected by cookies is incomplete, it merely reflects past browsing behavior instead of providing information on current interests and specific consumption desires.
 Due to an increased need of privacy, Google announced the disappearance of third party cookies. This means that websites will not be allowed to collect user data through cookies anymore in order to share it with third parties. As a result, companies will not be able to rely on user data gathered through external websites.
 On the other hand, zero party data allows companies to collect direct information from its users. Through the means of intentionally provided data by users (such as user profiles, forms and surveys), digital advertisers could create more pertinent advertising content without relying on third party cookies.
 When subject to digital advertising, several biases play a role in the decision making process. This work intends to assess the impact of digital advertising using zero party data, by analyzing the potential decrease in discrepancy between rational consumption intent and actual consumption considering behavioral biases. 
 Browsing is defined as the “act of looking through a set of information quickly, without a specific sense of purpose”[1]. In Thinking Fast and Slow, Kahneman, D & Tvesky, A (2011) explain how the thinking system 1 uses past decision-making experience to generate a fast response, which is often influenced by a variety of behaviour biases. Therefore, browsing information collected by third party cookies results from system 1. 
 Zero party data primarily relies on system 2. This thinking system works in a slower manner as it requires effort to lead to logical conclusions. It is used for instance to resolve hard problems and evaluate pros and cons. When answering a complex survey on personal goals, or completing a form requiring conscious attention, then, system 2 is used. As zero party data consists of more meaningful and intentionally provided information compared to third party data, digital advertisement based on zero party data has a higher likelihood that rational consumption intent and actual consumption are in line.
 The methodology conducted consists of research through two surveys (which served as A/B test) and interviews to suggest an alternative approach to third party cookies. Through the surveys and interviews, eight biases and heuristics present in the user journey were identified; the paradox of choice, the availability bias, the confirmation bias, the consistency bias, the bandwagon effect, the anchoring bias, the Ikea effect, and the affect heuristic. Each section aims to analyze how these biases affect the online consumption process of a user in both scenarios of third party data and zero party data. Each outcome revolves around how to use the identified bias in the benefit of the user using zero party data.
 Digital advertisement based on zero party data is a win-win solution for the user and the advertisement company.

Linking cognitive and affective heuristic cues to interpersonal risk perceptions and behavior.

People often use cognitive and affective heuristics when judging the likelihood of a health outcome and making health decisions. However, little research has examined how heuristics shape risk perceptions and behavior among people who make decisions on behalf of another person. We examined associations between heuristic cues and caregivers' perceptions of their child's asthma risk, the frequency of caregivers' asthma management behaviors, and child health outcomes. We used Ipsos KnowledgePanel to recruit 814 U.S. adult caregivers of children with asthma of the age<18 years. Participants completed a survey at baseline (T1) and 3 months later (T2). Caregivers who, at T1, reported greater negative affect about their child's asthma (affect heuristic cue), greater ease of imagining their child experiencing asthma symptoms (availability heuristic cue), and greater perceived similarity between their child and a child who has ever experienced asthma symptoms (representativeness heuristic cue) reported statistically significantly (p<0.05) higher interpersonal perceived risk of their child having an exacerbation or uncontrolled asthma at T1. They also indicated at T2 that their child had poorer asthma control and more frequent exacerbations. Greater T1 negative affect was associated with more frequent T2 actions to reduce inflammation, manage triggers, and manage symptoms, and with poorer T2 child health outcomes. Heuristic cues are likely important for interpersonal-not just personal-risk perceptions. However, the interrelationship between caregivers' ratings of heuristic cues (in particular, negative affect) and risk judgments may signify a struggle with managing their child's asthma and need for extra support from health care providers or systems.

Communicating risk: How relevant and irrelevant probabilistic information influences risk perception in medical decision-making.

Patients rely on knowing potential risks before accepting medical treatments, but risk perception can be distorted by cognitive biases and irrelevant information. We examined the interactive effects of subjective processes, objective knowledge, and demographic characteristics on how individuals estimate risks when provided with relevant and irrelevant probabilistic information. Participants read medical scenarios describing potential adverse effects associated with declining and accepting preventative treatment, as well as the objective likelihood of experiencing adverse effects associated with one of these two courses of action. We found that the perceived negativity of outcomes influenced perceptions of risk regardless of whether relevant probabilities were available and that the use of affect heuristics to estimate risk increased with age. Introducing objective estimates ameliorated age-related increases in affective distortions. Sensitivity to relevant probabilities increased with greater perceived outcome severity and was greater for men than for women. We conclude that relevant objective information may reduce the propensity to conflate outcome severity with likelihood and that medical judgments of risk vary depending on exposure to relevant and irrelevant probabilities. Implications for how medical professionals should communicate risk information to patients are considered.

Willingness to invest and the assurance of corporate social responsibility reports

AbstractRecent research has found that the effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) information on investment decisions will be eliminated when it is explicitly assessed, especially when CSR is not related to core business activities (immaterial CSR issues). We thus extend prior research by investigating whether (1) CSR assurance increases investors' willingness to invest when CSR performance is material or immaterial to core business activities and (2) CSR assurance moderates the effect of explicit assessment and CSR information on investment judgment. A 2 × 2 × 2 between‐subjects experiment was conducted using 213 professional investors. Overall, our results suggest that investors' willingness to invest is greater when positive CSR is verified by third‐party assurance in both material and immaterial CSR conditions. In addition, CSR assurance has a significant effect on investment judgment when immaterial CSR performance is explicitly assessed. As the affect‐as‐information heuristic (i.e., heuristic processing) is likely to be removed when CSR performance is explicitly assessed, the results of this study indicate that the affect heuristic is only eliminated when immaterial CSR is not assured, suggesting that CSR assurance moderates the effect of explicit assessment on investment judgment. Consistent with systematic‐heuristic theory, our results thus confirm that the systematic processing of CSR information does not necessarily attenuate affect heuristic processing; rather, these two processing modes can co‐occur. Our results concerning the impact of CSR assurance on positive CSR information inform firms that third‐party assurance affects investment judgment, especially for parties who consider purchasing these services, for example, managers or audit committee members. As CSR assurance is not mandatory, the audit profession could also be interested in our findings, as they might encourage firms to assure their nonfinancial information to enhance disclosure credibility. The inconclusive results on how CSR assurance affects investment judgment warrant further investigation of this issue in other reporting environments in different countries. Nevertheless, our findings contribute to the CSR literature by identifying novel aspects of the value of CSR assurance in different contexts, that is, the moderating role of CSR assurance and the explicit assessment of CSR information during investment decisions.

Public perception of flood hazards in the housing market: A revealed preference study of affect heuristics and availability heuristics

Are people neglecting natural hazards’ risk? The two main mental accounts of how laypeople judge natural hazard risks are the availability heuristic and the affect heuristic. However, these two mental accounts have rarely been compared alongside each other. Using flood hazards, this study argues that the affect heuristic and the availability heuristic should be considered together in assessing the public perception of the risks of natural hazards. Based on preferences revealed by property transactions in the Auckland Region in New Zealand, difference-in-differences hedonic models show that the positive affect heuristic associated with coastal amenities is dominant and moderating the negative affect heuristic from flood risks. Availability-by-recall, a heuristic that exploits people direct experience of risk, conformed to public responses at best after severe flood events. The impact of the availability heuristic of severe flooding events on property prices is similarly negative in the first six months and then declining over time after controlling for coastal amenities. This study concludes with a discussion of its policy implications, including how to calibrate public perception of the risk of natural hazards due to global warming and to raise their awareness of taking action against climate change.

Risky Therefore Not Beneficial: Replication and Extension of Finucane et al.’s (2000) Affect Heuristic Experiment

Risks and benefits are negatively related in people’s minds. Finucane et al. causally demonstrated that increasing risks of a hazard leads people to judge its benefits as lower. Vice versa, increasing benefits leads people to judge its risks as lower (original: r = −.74 [−0.92, −0.30]). This finding is consistent with an affective explanation, and the negative relationship is often presented as evidence for an affect heuristic. In two well-powered studies, using a more stringent analytic strategy, we replicated the original finding. We observed a strong negative relationship between judgments of risks and benefits across three technologies, although we do find that there was no change in risks when highlighting low benefits. We note that risks seem to be more responsive to manipulation (as opposed to benefits) and find evidence that the negative relationship can depend on incidental mood. We provided materials, data sets, and analyses on https://osf.io/sufjn/?view_only=6f8f5dc6ff524149a4ed5c6de9296ae8.

Investigating the Neural Correlates of the Affect Heuristic Using Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

This study investigated the neural correlates of the so-called affect heuristic, which refers to the phenomenon whereby individuals tend to rely on affective states rather than rational deliberation of utility and probabilities during judgments of risk and utility of a given event or scenario. The study sought to explore whether there are shared regional activations during both judgments of relative risk and relative benefit of various scenarios, thus being a potential candidate of the affect heuristic. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we developed a novel risk perception task, based on a preexisting behavioral task assessing the affect heuristic. A whole-brain voxel-wise analysis of a sample of participants (n = 42) during the risk and benefit conditions revealed overlapping clusters in the left insula, left inferior frontal gyrus, and left medial frontal gyrus across conditions. Extraction of parameter estimates of these clusters revealed that activity of these regions during both tasks was inversely correlated with a behavioral measure assessing the inclination to use the affect heuristic. More activity in these areas during risk judgments reflect individuals' ability to disregard momentary affective impulses. The insula may be involved in integrating viscero-somatosensory information and forming a representation of the current emotional state of the body, whereas activity in the left inferior frontal gyrus and medial frontal gyrus indicates that executive processes may be involved in inhibiting the impulse of making judgments in favor of deliberate risk evaluations.

Is Reliance on the Affect Heuristic Associated With Age?

With age, decision makers rely more on heuristic and affect-based processing. However, age differences have not been quantified with respect to the affect heuristic, which derives judgments based on positive and negative feelings toward stimuli and concepts. This study examined whether reliance on the affect heuristic is associated with age, whether these patterns vary by task type, and which covariates account for age effects. In a preregistered study, an adult life-span sample (N = 195, 21-90 years, Mage = 52.95, 50% female, 71% non-Hispanic White) completed a battery of cognitive, personality, and socioemotional covariates as well as 3 established affect heuristic tasks: (a) a risk-benefit task, (b) a dread-inference task, and (c) an affect-impact task. Reliance on affect was indexed through (a) a negative relationship between perceived food risks and benefits, (b) a positive relationship between feelings of dread and statistical inferences about mortality risks, and (c) a positive relationship between affective responses and impact judgments when evaluating catastrophes. For all 3 tasks, usage of the affect heuristic was documented at the group and the individual levels. Contrary to hypotheses, age was not associated with affect heuristic use for any of the tasks. Affect heuristic indices did not correlate across tasks and showed no consistent associations with the covariates. Results suggest that the use of affect-based heuristics is context- or stimulus-dependent rather than a stable, age-associated trait. Further research is needed to validate the present results across additional domains, tasks, and stimulus types.

The Sentimental Influence of Investors on Investment Decision Making

The study explores the impact of investor’s sentiments on individual investment decision making in the stock exchange of Pakistan. It illustrate a broad range of factors that are usually unseen during the decision making process although the fact that they have a huge influence on their course of action. There are number of factors that are the cause of investor’s overall attitude and sentiments. These factors like religion, overconfidence, affect heuristics, demographic variables etc. Some of these factors impact negatively on an investment decision of an investor but at the same time others could help the investor to make logical and rational decisions. It is an exertion to enhance investors understanding about the factors that could stay away his/her vital investment decisions towards irrational decisions. Primary data is use to conduct the present study. Questionnaire is used to gather data from respondents. Sample size consists of 200 stock investors and brokers from Islamabad Stock Exchange. Convenience sampling technique is used, E-Views is used as statistical tool to test hypothesis. Regression analysis shows that overconfidence, religion has significant relationship with investment decision. While affect heuristics have insignificant relationship with investment decision. Demographic is taken as moderator variable. &#x0D;

How Miners and Other Professional Groups Perceive the Benefits and Risks of Hard Coal Mining: A Study on the Role of the Affect Heuristic

The problems that are inherent in the green shift of the energy sectors are particularly visible in countries where the hard coal mining industry plays an important role in the economy and society. For any transition to be successful, public support is crucial. This empirical study shows that – as a consequence of the affect heuristic – those who perceive hard coal mining as beneficial tend to minimize both its detrimental environmental impacts and its personal safety hazards. Ignoring the affect heuristic may have retarded transformations and led to a failure of many information campaigns.

Cognitive heuristics and risk evaluation in crisis fraud

PurposeThe recent COVID-19 crisis has been followed by an epidemic of fraud. This study aims to evaluate cases of COVID-19-related fraud to identify cognitive heuristics that influence decision-making under the pressure of crisis conditions.Design/methodology/approachAn analysis of fraud advisories and cases relating to COVID-19 is conducted and matched against various types of cognitive heuristics to explain their influence on victims of crisis fraud.FindingsThe affect, availability, cue-familiarity, representativeness and scarcity heuristics are identified and explained to have a substantial influence on risk evaluations of crisis fraud.Originality/valueThe findings from this study can help individuals avoid fraud victimisation by helping them understand psychological vulnerabilities that they may be unaware of under the pressure of crisis conditions.

Exploring the affect heuristic in Iranian women entrepreneurs

PurposeHeuristics are fundamental components of the bounded rationality paradigm and influence entrepreneurs' decisions profusely. On the other hand, the affect heuristic is one of the most important heuristics. The body of knowledge on entrepreneurial heuristics is scattered on the whole and very superficial concerning women entrepreneurs, given that most studies have considered women and men entrepreneurs similar in showing heuristics. The dearth of research is more evident in the context of developing countries. Thus, to fill part of the existing research gaps, this study explores the affect heuristic in Iranian women entrepreneurs.Design/methodology/approachThis paper's data were gathered by conducting face-to-face interviews with 17 novice Iranian women entrepreneurs active in biotechnology, nanotechnology, advanced medicine, aerospace, textile and food sectors and analyzed through a thematic–narrative analysis.FindingsAccording to the results, the main outcomes of the affect heuristic in Iranian women entrepreneurs are delaying the final decision (including an obsession with collecting too much information, overemphasizing the role of negative information and seeking external advice before making a decision), rash decisions (including evaluations based on satisfying decision strategies, too much enthusiasm about one's venture, as well as an optimistic assessment of different scenarios) and serious consideration of quitting (including too much disappointment and anger over discrimination).Practical implicationsBased on this paper's findings, novice women entrepreneurs should be heedful of their fear, which could not only delay their decisions but also paralyze their capability of decision-making. Furthermore, while under circumstances such as information overload and uncertainty, positive feelings like optimism and happiness could be very instrumental by enabling entrepreneurs to shorten the process of their decisions, women entrepreneurs should be very careful about the possible biases resulting from their positive affect.Originality/valueThis study is a pioneer in two respects. First, it explores women entrepreneurs' decision-making heuristics, which is often a neglected area of research. Second, coming to the conclusion that most of the research on women entrepreneurs has been conducted in the Western context, this paper focuses on the context of developing countries by targeting Iranian women entrepreneurs.