Major
Psychology
Anticipated Graduation Year
2021
Access Type
Open Access
Abstract
This study examined whether emotion influences susceptibility to the availability heuristic. Prior research has shown that happiness and anger promote usage of heuristics, whereas sadness and anxiety discourages use. However, research has also shown that this relationship might be flexible. Positive affect affirms style of thought, while negative affect prompts a switch to the opposite. Consistent with these ideas, we found that happy and angry people are less susceptible to the availability heuristic than anxious people when systematic thinking is primed. The reverse was the case when intuitive thinking was primed.
Faculty Mentors & Instructors
Jeffrey R. Huntsinger, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
A Flexible Influence of Affect on the Usage of the Availability Heuristic
This study examined whether emotion influences susceptibility to the availability heuristic. Prior research has shown that happiness and anger promote usage of heuristics, whereas sadness and anxiety discourages use. However, research has also shown that this relationship might be flexible. Positive affect affirms style of thought, while negative affect prompts a switch to the opposite. Consistent with these ideas, we found that happy and angry people are less susceptible to the availability heuristic than anxious people when systematic thinking is primed. The reverse was the case when intuitive thinking was primed.