Once during a hospital stay, you observed a man and a woman (both in health professional attire) talking. You assumed that the man was a physician and that the woman was a nurse. Later, you found out the opposite was true. What type of heuristic did you use during your initial reaction to the two individuals?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The initial assumption made based on the individuals' attire and gender is an example of the representativeness heuristic, which involves basing judgments on how well an individual or scenario matches our pre-existing stereotypes or prototypes. In this case, the stereotype that physicians are typically male and nurses are typically female led to the mistaken assumption.

Once During a Hospital Stay, You Observed a Man and a Woman