The Availability Heuristic

question 45

Multiple Choice

The availability heuristic:

• A) is a time-consuming strategy, so is employed by participants only when a judgment requires special care
• B) leads us to overestimate frequency if category members are particularly difficult to remember
• C) leads us to underestimate frequency because there are usually more category members beyond the ones we recall
• D) often leads to correct estimates because availability in memory is often correlated with frequency in the world

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Definitions:

Cognitive Representation

The way in which knowledge and ideas are mentally structured and stored, influencing perception and understanding.

Central

Being at or forming the centre, often considered the most important part or aspect.

Primacy

An order of presentation effect in which earlier presented information has a disproportionate influence on social cognition.

Prototypes

Original models or early drafts used to test a concept or process, serving as a benchmark for future designs.