Question

When preparing for your upcoming trip, your friend confides in you that he is scared of getting on airplanes. When you press him as to why, he reports that he has seen several crashes reported on the news. You explain to him car accidents are more frequent, posing a higher risk. His fear of flying is mostly influenced by how easy it is for him to remember instances of plane crashes. In other words, his fear is influenced by the __________.

A) Representative heuristic
B) Availability heuristic
C) Memory bias
D) Hindsight bias

Answer 1

The student's fear of flying is influenced by the availability heuristic, which is a cognitive bias where we rely on easily recalled instances to evaluate new information. Despite car accidents being more frequent and posing a higher risk, the student's fear is driven by the dramatic and easily recalled instances of plane crashes from the news.

Step-by-step explanation:

The student's fear of flying is mostly influenced by the availability heuristic. The availability heuristic is a cognitive bias where we rely on easily recalled instances or examples to evaluate new information. In this case, the student's fear is influenced by how easily they can remember instances of plane crashes from the news. Despite car accidents being statistically more frequent and posing a higher risk, the dramatic and easily recalled nature of plane crashes skews their perception of the likelihood of a crash.