College students judge that death by tornado is more frequent than death from asthma.In fact, asthma is 20 times more likely to kill.Which of the following judgment heuristics explains this result?
A)means-end
B)probability
C)representativeness
D)availability

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The judgment heuristic that best explains this result is availability heuristic. This is because the students' judgments were influenced by the ease with which they could recall instances of death by tornado, whereas instances of death from asthma were less salient and therefore less easily recalled. As a result, they overestimated the frequency of death by tornado while underestimating the frequency of death from asthma.

College Students Judge That Death by Tornado Is More Frequent