The phrase "affective errors" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used in contexts related to psychology, education, or language learning, referring to mistakes influenced by emotions or feelings.
Example: "In language acquisition, affective errors can occur when a learner's anxiety affects their ability to communicate effectively."
Alternatives: "emotional mistakes" or "feelings-based errors".
We make "affective" errors, too, letting our feelings color our thinking.
Doctors make affective errors when they are biased in the direction of a positive outcome for the patient.
It's easy to see why well-meaning, caring doctors might be susceptible to making affective errors; it must be very difficult to see a patient cut down in the prime of her life by a deadly disease.
This tendency to make decisions based on what we wish were true is what Croskerry calls an "affective error".
This tendency to make decisions based on what we wish were true is what Croskerry calls an "affective error". In medicine, this type of error can have potentially fatal consequences.
Hadley's journey to diagnosis illustrates some of the cognitive errors Dr. Croskerry names: attribution error, affective error, confirmation bias and diagnosis momentum.
When I suggested that Hadley see my Dr. Bright to confirm or rule out MSA, I might have unwittingly contributed to the affective error that Dr. Bright made.
Dr. Bright's approach further demonstrated an affective error when he told me that when it comes to diagnosing MSA, he doesn't "circle the wagons around the diagnosis unless they're sure".
Even so, Gilbert is currently working on a complex experiment in which he has made affective forecasting errors "go away".
The psychologists Dan Gilbert and Timothy Wilson have written about what they call "affective forecasting" errors, the inability of humans to predict their own future.
* * * The psychologists Dan Gilbert and Timothy Wilson have written about what they call "affective forecasting" errors, the inability of humans to predict their own future.
