The affect heuristic is a heuristic, a mental shortcut that allows people to make decisions and solve problems quickly and efficiently, in which current emotion — fear, pleasure, surprise, etc. — influences decisions. In other words, it is a type of heuristic in which emotional response, or “affect” in psychological terms, plays a lead role. It is a subconscious process that shortens the decision-making process and allows people to function without having to complete an extensive search for information. [0]

“Where judgement and decisions are guided directly by feelings of liking and silting, with little deliberation or reasoning” [1]

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affect_heuristic

[1] Kahneman, Daniel. Thinking, fast and slow. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011. Print.