Question

______ is a mental shortcut that relies on the most immediate examples that might come to mind evaluating a decision. It operates on the notion that if you can recall it, it must be important.

A) Anchoring bias
B) Recency bias
C) Confirmation bias
D) Availability bias

Answer 1

The availability heuristic influences people to make decisions based on easily recalled information, which can result in biased thinking and inaccurate perceptions.

Step-by-step explanation:

The availability heuristic is a mental shortcut that people use when making judgments about the probability of events based on how easily examples come to mind. For example, a person might overestimate the prevalence of plane crashes if there have been two widely reported crashes in recent news, even though air travel is statistically much safer than car travel. This heuristic is efficient but can lead to inaccurate perceptions and biased decision-making because the most memorable instances are not always the most representative.

In simple terms, this cognitive bias causes individuals to rely on recent or vivid information when evaluating a decision, which often skews their understanding of reality. It emphasizes the influence of immediate examples that are readily available in one's memory, such as media reports of dramatic events like terrorism or celebrity scandals, despite statistical evidence indicating that these events are relatively rare.

Critical thinkers must be aware of the availability heuristic when assessing risks, forming opinions, or making important decisions to avoid letting this bias cloud their judgment and lead to poor conclusions.