Seventy percent of the students in a classroom are women and 30 percent are men. One student is described as ambitious, athletic, and assertive. Why are most people likely to think this description refers to a male student?
A) The anchoring effect can lead to gender bias.
B) They are using the representativeness heuristic.
C) People seek only confirming information.
D) People tend to make relative comparisons.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The representativeness heuristic is a cognitive bias where people categorize individuals based on how closely they match a stereotype or a representative model. In this case, the traits "ambitious, athletic, and assertive" might stereotypically be associated with men, leading people to assume the description refers to a male student despite the gender distribution in the classroom.

Seventy Percent of the Students in a Classroom Are Women