Final answer:
Availability heuristics involve relying on readily available information when making judgments or decisions. In the context of your options: 3) If asked to list 10 improvements for a class rather than 2, you are more likely to give the class a lower rating.
The correct answer is 3).
Step-by-step explanation:
The availability heuristic can significantly influence our impressions and judgments by causing us to rely on the most recent or easily recalled information. For instance, in the context of evaluating professors, if you have attended their course frequently and the instances of the effort you put in are readily recalled, you might rate the professor higher at the end of the year, as your level of effort is directly associated with the perceived value of the course. Conversely, if you rarely attended their course, your lack of recent memories may lead you to rate the professor lower due to a lack of salient experiences.
Similarly, if you're asked to list many improvements for a class (e.g., 10), the challenge in coming up with so many may lead you to evaluate the class as needing significant improvement. On the flip side, being asked to list fewer improvements (e.g., 2) might give the impression that the class is already quite good and hence result in a higher overall rating. This is illustrated by the Student Efforts and Course Evaluation study by Heckert et al. (2006), which found that perceived class difficulty and effort were linked to positive course evaluations, demonstrating that the ease with which students recall their efforts impacts their judgments.