In the 1980s and 1990s, many people became concerned that Satanic cults were abducting and abusing people, although no good evidence supported this claim. Some clinicians began to conduct workshops warning other clinicians about the dangers of Satanic ritual abuse and explaining how to identify repressed memories of Satanic ritual abuse they might observe. After much media attention, some clinicians began to identify many more cases of repressed memory of Satanic ritual abuse. The MOST likely reason for this great increase is that clinicians were making judgments based on the:
A) representativeness heuristic.
B) effects of contamination in their thinking.
C) availability heuristic.
D) anchoring and adjustment heuristic.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The availability heuristic is the most likely reason for the increase in cases of repressed memory of Satanic ritual abuse. This heuristic involves making judgments based on the ease with which examples come to mind. In this case, the clinicians had been attending workshops and hearing stories about Satanic cults and abuse, which made it easier for them to identify cases of repressed memories related to this topic. This led to an increase in reported cases, even though there was no good evidence to support the existence of Satanic cults abducting and abusing people.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Many People Became Concerned That