Where Is The Availability Heuristic?

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What is the Availability Heuristic? A heuristic is a strategy that allows us to make quick judgments. It is a mental shortcut that is prone to errors. They can lead even extremely smart people into making unwise decisions or assumptions. The availability heuristic is when we estimate the likelihood of events due to their mental availability. Mental availability varies from bells in the casino, making someone believe they ae going to win, to an article about car accidents, making someone believe that they are at higher risk for getting into a motor vehicle accident. Availability can be perpetuated by misleading media reports that do not show the full story. The availability heuristic neglects other information, like how many people are losing at the casino, or how many people did not get into car accidents. Availability Heuristic Issues An availability heuristic issue that the video focuses on is the spread of misinformation. A newscast reported unwarranted claims of higher incidences of road rage, Triple A used this as evidence that road rage was on the rise, and then the newscast sa...

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