People Typically Believe That Fires Cause More Deaths, but Statistics

question 490

Multiple Choice

People typically believe that fires cause more deaths, but statistics reveal that drowning actually causes significantly more deaths than fire. Some researchers argue that we make this error because TV news programs show much more footage of fires than drowning, because fires are more exciting to televise. This presumably makes it much easier for us to call up examples of death by fire. This particular finding is best considered as an example of a judgment error caused by

• A)a mental set
• B)a confirmation bias
• C)the availability heuristic
• D)the representativeness heuristic

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Definitions:

Kitty Genovese Case

A murder case that became famous for purportedly demonstrating bystander apathy, leading to research on the "bystander effect."

Social Loafing

The phenomenon where individuals exert less effort to achieve a goal when they work in a group than when they work alone.

Group Polarization

The tendency for group members' opinions to become more extreme (either stronger or weaker) after group discussions.

Bystander Effect

A social psychological phenomenon in which individuals are less likely to offer help to a victim when other people are present.