In one study, people were asked whether English words that begin with the letter "k" were more common than English words with "k" as the third letter.Most people incorrectly stated that words beginning with the letter "k" were more common.This may have occurred because it is relatively easy to think of words that start with the letter "k" and relatively difficult to think of words with "k" as the third letter.The results of this study support the view that people often use:
A)the availability heuristic when they are making probability estimates
B)the representativeness heuristic when they are making probability estimates
C)anchoring and adjustment to make probability estimates
D)work backward incorrectly when attempting to solve the problem

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The availability heuristic is a cognitive shortcut where people rely on easily accessible examples to make a judgment or decision. In this case, participants relied on the easily accessible words that start with the letter "k" and overestimated their frequency.

In One Study, People Were Asked Whether English Words That