"Psychologists speak of “heuristics,” which are shortcuts in thinking that we use to get quickly to a solution. Imagine that you’re trying to solve an anagram. It’s pretty easy to use trial and error when you’re dealing with only a few letters (e.g. “YOU”), but as soon as you’ve got 7, 8, or 9 letters to unscramble, trial and error could take you a very long time (e.g. “VERAUNTDE”).   You’ll need a heuristic such as “RE” often go together as do “A” and “D.”  Using such rules of English words, you’ll more easily and quickly arrive at the solution (“ADVENTURE”)." - Lit

"Heuristics can save time, then, but they might lead you to make errors....These are logical errors that we make because we misjudge probabilities based on what we can remember (availability) or what we think should occur (representativeness). However, there is another heuristic that can get us in even more trouble, and that is known as the affect heuristic. The “affect” in this term refers to feelings. According to the affect heuristic (Slovic et al., 2002), we make mistakes in judgments because our feelings get in the way of our rational thoughts." - Lit

"When your affect heuristic goes into action, you throw your common sense logic to the winds. The basis for the affect heuristic can be traced to classical conditioning, in which you learn to associate a good feeling with some initially neutral stimulus. Advertisers use the affect heuristic all the time to get you to buy their products. The less the product has an obvious value to you, in fact, the more that advertisers manipulate your behavior through the affect heuristic. After all, why would the name of one brand of insurance appeal to you more than another? The names “Geico” and “Allstate” mean nothing in and of themselves. However, we’ve all learned to love the little Geico gecko through his many on-screen shenanigans, and so we now associate positive feelings with this insurance, if not its very funny TV ads. The phrase “15 minutes can save your life” that serves as the narrative for many of these ads is supposed to cinch the deal. Who wouldn’t spend 15 minutes to save your life? Humor is one way that advertisers manipulate you, then, but another is a feeling of comfort and relief from worry. Allstate takes that other kind of feel-good approach. You’re in “good hands,” their ads proclaim. It might take you more than 15 mintues, but at least you’ll be taken care of, no matter what. To cinch their deal, Allstate hired the “President” of the U.S., actor Dennis Haysbert who portrayed the strong and steady David Palmer in the series “24.”. Surely, the president will stand by you, no matter what." - Lit

"...Apart from the entertainment value that the affect heuristic can produce, it can also cause us to loosen our inhibitions. As the insurance example above showed, we buy things that make us feel good. Even without directly manipulating us through advertising, however, marketers also get us to make choices by the way they show or describe their products. Slovic and his co-authors point out that this third use of the affect heuristic occurs so much that we are rarely even aware of its presence. Specifically, consider the look on a model’s face who is showing off a particular piece of clothing. Those models you see in catalogs or product websites never communicate anything other than a blissful smile. Take the smile test yourself. Go to your favorite online clothing or accessory website and look at the faces of the people wearing or using the products. Something is clearly making them laugh or at least feel excited and happy. If you buy that product you too, so your brain tells you, will share those wondrous emotions. And guess what kind of smiles the models on the Victoria’s Secret website depict? Yes, they certainly seem to have a secret which you too can ahre when you buy their scanty panties. The affect heuristic also colors your more mundane, everyday consumer decisions. Slovic and his associates point out that the food packaging you see on the grocery store shelves is covered with affect-manipulating information. Even setting aside the photographs, it’s the words they use to describe their products that can manipulate you in very subtle ways. Just by slapping the word “improved” on a package, marketers draw your attention to it almost instantaneously. It’s a completely illogical ploy. Would a product be anything but improved? Would you ever buy something that said “downgraded”? Oddly enough, “improved” may actually mean there’s less of the product than you could get in the old package. Other terms such as “fat free,” “natural,” or “organic” also appeal straight to your feelings. The manufacturer doesn’t even have to do anything to the actual product in some cases (e.g. carrots are fat free by definition). Yet, you’ll spend more on these supposedly healthy products which, in some cases, are no better for you than the cheaper alternatives." - Lit