Eighty percent of people who live in your community are politically conservative. At a town event you are introduced to Jim who tells you he is pro-choice on the issue of abortion. Based on this information, you incorrectly conclude that Jim is politically liberal. Your failure to take into account the number of people who are coservatives when making your judgment about Jim illustrates an example of:

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The base rate fallacy is the tendency to ignore the overall frequency or "base rate" of a particular trait or behavior in a population when making judgments or predictions about individuals within that population. In this case, the base rate of conservatism in the community is relevant to understanding the likelihood of Jim being politically liberal or conservative, but it was not taken into account.

Eighty Percent of People Who Live in Your Community Are