COGNITIVE availability heuristic

definition

a mental shortcut that relies on immediate examples that come to a given person’s mind, when evaluating a specific topic, concept, method or decision

additional information?

operates on the notion if something can be recalled, it must be important, or at least more important than alternative solutions which are not as readily recalled

real life example

• prioritising infrequent events based on how easily they are to

  recall

• for example, plane crashes can make people afraid of flying. However, the likelihood of dying in a car accident is far higher than dying as a passenger on an airplane. E.g. in 2019, someone’s odds of dying in a motor vehicle crash were 1 in 107, while there were too few airplane deaths that year to calculate the odds

• yet, very few people will avoid getting in a motor vehicle like they would an airplane

• the reason plane crashes seem scarier is because they’re typically treated with more gravity in news stories

• and, there’s much more media coverage of them in general

study

chou and edge