Suppose that you have a lot of friends who do not drink alcoholic beverages. Suppose further that you are asked in a class to answer the following question: "How many people do you think drink alcoholic beverages?" You reply, "Not many," based on the number of your friends who imbibe. In this case you have made an error based on your use of the __________ heuristic.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The availability heuristic is used when people estimate the probability of an outcome based on how easy it is to imagine or recall instances of that outcome. In this scenario, the person is basing their judgment on the number of their friends who do not drink, which is a readily available example, rather than on more comprehensive data or statistics.

Suppose That You Have a Lot of Friends Who Do