Why environmental organisations show cute animals
Judgements based on our current emotional state can lead us to make irrational decisions.
👉 Why do environmental organisations show cute animals in their campaigns?
👉 Why do cigarette boxes in many countries show the gruesome effects of long term smoking?
👉 Why do we often fall into automatic, unhelpful behaviour patterns?
The affect heuristic is our tendency to make judgements and decisions based on our current emotions.
Affect is a psychological term for an emotional response that we experience and display.
We believe that our decisions are guided by rational thinking, but often we subconsciously rely on our gut feeling. The affect heuristic is a largely unconscious mental shortcut where we answer the easy question ‘How do I feel about this?’ instead of the much harder question ‘What do I think of this?’.
Let’s look at some examples of the affect heuristic in action.
👉 People who buy stock in a certain company not because of the fundamentals of the stock, but because they like the company or its products. Or who buy a certain company’s products at a premium price because they feel a positive emotional connection to the company. The main purpose of corporate advertising is to create a positive image of the company among consumers.
👉 People who behave the way the government wants them to because the government has frightened them. Fear campaigns frighten people by emphasising the worst-case consequences of certain behaviours. To deter people from smoking, cigarette boxes in many countries display gruesome effects of long term smoking, such as oral cancer and gangrene. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many governments tried to scare people into getting vaccinated and complying with emergency measures.
👉 People who eat unhealthy food because advertising makes it seem nutritious and attractive. Advertising tries to influence consumers’ emotions, which can lead them to make decisions that have harmful consequences in the long run.
👉 People who punch someone in the face because they are angry about a comment made by the other person. Under the influence of difficult emotions, such as stress or anger, we often fall into automatic, unhelpful behaviour patterns. We then do things that are not important to us (for example, too much use of social media or streaming services), or that are not consistent with our personal values (for example, smoking, fighting, or eating or drinking too much).
👉 People who donate to environmental organisations because of their emotional response to the cute animals these organisations use in their campaigns, such as pandas and polar bears. Seeing adorable animals gives us a warm and happy feeling because these animals have certain characteristics in common with human babies, such as big heads, large eyes or chubby bodies. We are biologically programmed to like human babies so that we take care of them. We want to pick them up, cuddle them and look after them. Animals without human baby features do not trigger this emotional response. That’s why you probably haven’t seen environmental campaigns that use cockroaches or snakes to solicit donors.
👉 People who skip workouts because they don’t feel like going to the gym. Or who order fast food for dinner because they don’t feel like cooking a healthy meal. It's fine if this happens once in a while, but if it becomes a pattern, it can damage your health in the long run.
By relying on our emotions instead of our thinking, we can make decisions quickly. This is to our advantage in situations where there is no time to think, such as hitting the brakes when someone cuts us off in traffic. Quick judgements based on our emotional state are often correct, but can lead us to make irrational decisions that we would not have made if we had thought things through.
Our emotions influence the perceived risks and benefits of a particular outcome, which significantly impacts our decision making. When we like an option, we view it as low risk, high benefit, and tend to choose it. When we don’t like an option, we view it as high risk, low benefit, and tend to reject it. For example, people who dislike nuclear energy or irradiated food will believe that the benefits are negligible and its risks are sky high.
Politically charged beliefs are often influenced by the affect heuristic. In a simplistic view of the world, the policies we support have no costs and the policies we oppose have no benefits. In the real world, we generally have to make painful compromises between benefits and costs.
Our mind is not totally immune to information and logical reasoning. Our emotional attitude and related beliefs may change if we learn that the risk of something we dislike is less than we thought or that the benefits are greater.
How can we reduce the influence of the affect heuristic?
Being vigilant against biases is tiresome, but it can be worth the effort when the stakes are high.
You want to find an answer to the question:
🤔 Have I thought this through carefully?
🛠️ Become aware of the affect heuristic
When making an important decision, take a step back to examine whether the affect heuristic might be distorting your view of reality. Ask yourself questions such as:
🤔 What is my current emotional state? Happy? Sad? Angry? Relaxed? Anxious? …?
🤔 Is this decision based only on my gut feeling or is it also guided by rational thinking?
🤔 Does my current emotional state distort my view of the risks and benefits?
In this case, if the affect heuristic is distorting your worldview, take the time to think things through carefully.
🛠️ Count to ten
You probably got this age-old advice from your parents: when you are angry, count to ten. That’s good advice, because if you’re particularly emotional, it’s best not to react in a knee-jerk manner. You may say or do something in the heat of the moment that you later deeply regret. Instead, consciously take slow, deep breaths as you count to ten or more, until the strong emotion has subsided.
Don’t make important decisions when your emotions are running high, regardless of whether they are positive or negative. Postpone making decisions until you have calmed down. This ensures that your decisions are not influenced by extreme emotions.
🛠️ Take into account the relevant information
Your emotional evaluation plays an important role in your decision making. The inability to be guided by a healthy fear of bad consequences is a dangerous flaw. But to make more thoughtful decisions, you need to balance your emotions with reflection on the relevant information.
In addition to your gut feeling, also consciously take the relevant information into account. For example, research the fundamentals of the stock you want to buy, check whether the premium price you pay is really worth it, or collect facts from multiple reliable sources on the topics the government wants to scare you about.
Also reflect on what is important to you, what your personal values are and what kind of person you want to be. Despite difficult emotions, you can still do what you think is important (psychological flexibility). Act according to your personal values instead of how you feel right now.
After reviewing the relevant information, make an informed choice about what is best for you to do.
References
Thinking, Fast and Slow; by Daniel Kahneman.
Why do we rely on our current emotions when making quick decisions?, The Decision Lab, https://thedecisionlab.com/biases/affect-heuristic
The Affect Heuristic and Decision Making, Verywell Mind, By Kendra Cherry, MSEd, https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-the-affect-heuristic-2795028
The affect heuristic, Slovic, P., Finucane, M.L., Peters, E., and MacGregor, D.G., European Journal of Operational Research, Volume 177, Issue 3, 16 March 2007, Pages 1333-1352, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2005.04.006
Why Some People Are Better at Assessing Risk Than Others, Psychology Today, by Kenny Skagerlund Ph.D., https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/our-cognitive-emotions/202202/why-some-people-are-better-assessing-risk-others
Why do we find some animals cuter than others?, Independent, by Jodie Tyley, https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/why-do-we-find-some-animals-cuter-than-others-a6683076.html