Which of the following situations best exemplifies the use of the availability heuristic?
A) Bryan expects the next lottery ticket he purchases to be a winning one because he has failed to win so many times before.
B) Aiko tells her friend that a certain restaurant has poor service because she was once served the wrong order there.
C) Jamie finds more and more evidence of the dangers of genetically modified crops by reading blogs that focus on criticizing such crops.
D) Kevin gets more upset when he loses $100 on a stock trade than when he fails to make $100 by forgetting to make a stock trade.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The availability heuristic involves making judgments based on what comes to mind easily. In this situation, Aiko is basing her judgment of the restaurant's service on her own personal experience, which is readily available in her memory. She is not considering other factors, such as the possibility that this was just an isolated incident or that other people have had good experiences at the restaurant.

Which of the Following Situations Best Exemplifies the Use of the Availability