A theory that since many judgments are too complex for us to thoroughly review all the relevant evidence, we rely on our emotions to provide us with rapid, reliable information about events and conditions within our social environment.

For complex, difficult judgments, people may rely on current feelings or emotions to provide rapid, easily available information.

Study asking people to give ratings of their life satisfaction found that higher ratings were given on sunny days than on rainy days 

>>Difficult to analyze information from an entire lifetime, so current mood may influence judgment 

However, when people were asked about the weather first, there was no effect of weather on judgments 

>>Realizing that current mood is influencing judgments, people can make corrections.

Positive emotions have been linked with more creative and flexible thinking 

People in good moods give more novel word associations and categorize more inclusively 

Negotiators in positive moods are more likely to come to an optimal agreement

>>Broaden-and-build hypothesis