Question

Peter is a senior manager in an organization that is currently laying off its employees. It is Peter's responsibility to convey this message to the laid-off employees. Harry is one among them with whom Peter had a conflict a year ago. Therefore, in an attempt to avoid any such conflicts again, Peter requested a human resources representative to convey the message instead. In this case, Peter used the __________ heuristic.

a.) adjustment
b.) availability
c.) representativeness
d.) intuitive

Answer 1

Peter used the availability heuristic to decide on having a human resources representative convey the message of layoffs to avoid potential conflict with an employee.

This correct answer is b.)

Step-by-step explanation:

In the scenario presented, Peter delegated the task of conveying the message of layoffs to a human resources representative because he wanted to avoid conflict with an employee, Harry, with whom he had a previous disagreement. In doing so, Peter used the availability heuristic.

This heuristic involves making a decision based on easily recalled examples, rather than statistical probabilities. Peter most likely remembered the conflict with Harry vividly and, due to this memory being readily available, believed that a similar conflict would occur again.

Therefore, he acted upon this perceived likelihood by avoiding the situation altogether.

This correct answer is b.)