People sometimes form a stereotype about members of a certain group because they remember a few people who fit the stereotype and forget those who do not fit it. Reasoning of this type is an example of the

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The situation described in the question is an example of the availability heuristic, which is a mental shortcut where people judge the likelihood or frequency of an event based on how easily examples of it come to mind. In this case, people remember a few individuals who fit a stereotype, which makes those examples more accessible in memory and leads them to overestimate how representative those individuals are of the entire group.

People Sometimes Form a Stereotype About Members of a Certain