The availability heuristic refers to the observation that
A) Everything you desperately need is out of stock at the grocery store
B) People diagnose a situation because the pattern of cues is representative of a prototypical example
C) People make certain types of judgments by cognitively assessing how easily the state or event is brought to mind
D) None of the above

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The availability heuristic refers to the cognitive bias in which people make judgments about the likelihood of an event based on how easily examples come to mind. As a result, people often overestimate the frequency and likelihood of events that are more easily accessible in their memory, such as those that are recent, vivid, or emotionally charged. Option A is not relevant to the availability heuristic, and option B describes the representativeness heuristic. Option D is incorrect as well.

The Availability Heuristic Refers to the Observation That