tunnevetoisia

Tunnevetoisia is a Finnish adjective used to describe actions, decisions, or arguments that are driven primarily by emotions rather than by reason or evidence. The related noun tunnevetoisuus refers to the quality or state of being emotion-driven. In media analysis, marketing, and social sciences, the term is commonly applied to characterize communication strategies, consumer behavior, or political rhetoric that aims to evoke emotional responses to influence attitudes or actions.

Etymology and usage notes: Tunne means "emotion," and veto means "drive" or "pull," forming a compound that describes motivation by feeling. The form tunnevetoisia can modify plural nouns (e.g., tunnevetoisia päätöksiä, tunnevetoisia kampanjoita) and appears in academic and journalistic Finnish.

Contexts and examples: In advertising and political campaigning, tunnevetoiset approaches seek to generate strong feelings such as fear, joy, anger, or nostalgia to persuade audiences. In psychology and behavioral economics, the concept aligns with affective decision making and the affect heuristic, where emotional responses influence judgments alongside or sometimes above logic. Critics warn that labeling behavior as tunnevetoista can oversimplify complex decision processes and risk discounting legitimate emotional and ethical considerations, since emotions can also contribute to value-consistent and creative outcomes.

See also: emotional appeal, affect heuristic, rational choice theory, cognitive bias, marketing communications.