What is (Hot-cold) Empathy gap?
The hot-cold empathy gap is the tendency to underestimate how much emotional and physiological states influence decisions. When calm (‘cold’), people cannot accurately predict how they will behave when angry, hungry, or in pain (‘hot’), and vice versa.
How it works
George Loewenstein identified this gap in 1996. People in a cold state consistently underestimate the power of visceral drives. A person who is not hungry cannot fully appreciate how hunger will distort their food choices, and a person in the grip of anger cannot imagine how calmly they would normally respond.
Applied example
A dieter who shops for groceries while full buys healthy food, then struggles to stick to the plan when hunger strikes at home. The shopping decisions were made in a cold state that could not predict the hot-state cravings.
Why it matters
The empathy gap explains why people make commitments they later break, and why designing for ‘hot’ states (placing healthy food at eye level, removing temptation cues) is more effective than relying on willpower.
