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Rose believes that she is more likely to die from a tornado than from heart disease because tornados make big news. What type of error in reasoning does Rose's belief represent?

a) Confirmation bias
b) Availability heuristic
c) Overgeneralization
d) Representativeness heuristic

User Ozlu
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Final answer:

Rose's belief that tornadoes are a more likely cause of death than heart disease, due to their prominence in news, is an example of the availability heuristic error in reasoning.

Step-by-step explanation:

Rose believes that she is more likely to die from a tornado than from heart disease because tornados make big news. The error in reasoning that Rose's belief represents is the availability heuristic. This is a cognitive shortcut that relies on immediate examples that come to mind when evaluating a topic, concept, method, or decision. The availability heuristic occurs when individuals assess the probability of events based on how easily they can recall similar instances. In this case, the vividness and recency of tornado reports make Rose erroneously believe they are a more common cause of death than they objectively are based on statistical evidence.

User Tikky
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