Suppose that you meet someone who is smart, adventurous, and highly knowledgeable about rockets and outer space. Even though there are not many astronauts in the world, you might immediately assume that this person is an astronaut just because he or she fits your image of what an astronaut is like. That is, you might ____ and rely on the ____.
A) commit the base rate fallacy; representativeness heuristic
B) commit the conjunction fallacy; representativeness heuristic
C) engage in the confirmation bias; availability heuristic
D) engage in the false consensus effect; availability heuristic

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The scenario describes the base rate fallacy, where one ignores statistical information (the rarity of astronauts) in favor of stereotypical information (the person's characteristics). This is an example of the representativeness heuristic, where judgments are made based on how much something fits a prototype.

Suppose That You Meet Someone Who Is Smart, Adventurous, and Highly