The fact that we hear about airplane crashes on the news more often than we hear about automobile crashes may lead us to believe that we are more likely to die in a plane than a car. This is an example of a(n)
A) subgoal strategy.
B) simulation heuristic.
C) availability heuristic.
D) representativeness heuristic.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The scenario described is an example of the availability heuristic, which is the tendency to overestimate the likelihood of events that are more easily recalled or available in our memory. The news tends to report airplane crashes more frequently than car crashes, leading us to believe that plane crashes are more common or more likely to occur, even though statistically speaking, car crashes are much more common.

The Fact That We Hear About Airplane Crashes on the News