The Psychology of the Size Illusion

The mood heuristic for happiness. The psychology of what hppened is precisely analogous to the psychology of the size illusion in fig nine. Happiness these days is not a natural or an easy assessment. A good answer requires a fair amount of thinking. Any emotionally significant question that alters a person's mood will have the same effect. If you like the current health policy, you believe its benefits are substantial and its costs more manageable than the costs of alternatives. Your emotional attitude to such things as irradiated food, red meat, nuclear power, tattoos or motor cycles drives your beliefs about their benefits and risks. In this way people let their likes and dislikes determine their beliefs about the world.