Question

People are more likely to say that there are more words that start with R, than there are words that have R as the third letter. This is due to

a) the Von Restorff effect
b) invalid deductive reasoning
c) availability heuristic
d) representativeness heuristic

Answer 1

The reason people think there are more words beginning with the letter R rather than having R as the third letter is due to the availability heuristic, a cognitive bias that leads to judgments based on easily recalled instances. Therefore, the correct answer is option c) availability heuristic

Step-by-step explanation:

The subject of this question is the phenomenon of cognitive bias in psychology, particularly in relation to probability and decision-making. People may incorrectly believe there are more words that start with the letter R than words with R as the third letter because of the availability heuristic. This cognitive bias makes individuals overestimate the likelihood of events based on how easily examples come to mind, rather than on statistical evidence.

When applied to the question at hand, the availability heuristic may cause people to easily recall words starting with R because they are more conspicuous or memorable, hence falsely assuming such words are more common. The availability heuristic is a mental shortcut that relies on immediate examples that come to mind, which can impact judgment and decision-making processes.