Cissy likes to drive fast, counting on her matronly appearance and southern charm to avoid getting a speeding ticket. She believes that most speeders who get tickets are young males driving high-performance cars, so she was surprised when an officer pulled her over and gave her a $200 speeding ticket despite the fact that she had three kids in her SUV with soccer balls and uniforms in the back. Cissy was misled by _____ inher belief that she was highly unlikely to get a speeding ticket.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Cissy's belief that most speeders who get tickets are young males driving high-performance cars is an example of the representativeness heuristic, which is when we make judgments based on how closely something matches a typical example or prototype. She assumed that because she did not fit the typical prototype of someone who gets a speeding ticket, she would be unlikely to get one. However, this assumption is not always accurate, as Cissy found out.

Cissy Likes to Drive Fast, Counting on Her Matronly Appearance