Harry makes a statement to a group of friends that, "people who drive red cars get more speeding tickets". The group agrees with the statement because a member of the group, "Jim", drives a red car and frequently gets speeding tickets. This is an example of making a decision based on
A)subgoal analysis
B)divergent thinking
C)an availability heuristic
D)convergent thinking
E)incubation

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The group is using the availability heuristic, which is a mental shortcut that relies on immediate examples that come to a person's mind when evaluating a specific topic, concept, method, or decision. In this case, the group is thinking of Jim, who drives a red car and gets a lot of speeding tickets, and using that single example to generalize about all people who drive red cars.

Harry Makes a Statement to a Group of Friends That