A particular company employs 100 people; 80 are lawyers; and 20 are engineers.Albert,an employee at the company,is quiet,enjoys puzzles,and carries a calculator.Most people,when asked whether Albert is a lawyer or an engineer,will guess that he is an engineer.People are using the _______ heuristic to make this faulty guess.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The representativeness heuristic is a mental shortcut in which people make judgments based on how well an individual or event matches a certain prototype or stereotype. In this case, people are assuming that Albert fits the prototype for an engineer based on his quiet demeanor and problem-solving tools, even though there are five times as many lawyers as engineers in the company. This is an example of the representativeness heuristic leading to a faulty guess.

A Particular Company Employs 100 People; 80 Are Lawyers; and 20