You are employed as a commission-based sales clerk for a cosmetics retail store. You know that, on average, exactly 50 percent of the customers that enter your store will make at least one purchase. Thus far this morning, you have waited on eight customers without making a single sale. You are convinced that the next customer you wait on will buy something. This belief is known as:
A) aversion to ambiguity.
B) the law of small numbers.
C) anchoring and adjusting.
D) gambler's fallacy.
E) false consensus.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

This belief is known as the gambler's fallacy, which is the mistaken belief that a random event is more likely to occur after a series of events that have either been favorable or unfavorable. The belief that the next customer will definitely purchase something because the previous eight did not make a purchase is an example of the gambler's fallacy.

You Are Employed as a Commission-Based Sales Clerk for a Cosmetics