Nate thinks that Republicans and Democrats almost never work together in Congress. The reason he believes this is that he finds it much easier to think of examples of politicians from the two parties not working together than to think of examples them working together. It is likely that the ______________ has caused Nate to underestimate how frequently Democrats and Republicans work together.
A) availability heuristic
B) confirmation bias
C) representativeness heuristic
D) anchoring effect

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The availability heuristic is the tendency to base judgments on the examples that easily come to mind rather than on a complete analysis of all relevant information, and leads to an underestimation of the frequency of events that are less memorable or less easily brought to mind. In Nate's case, he can think of many examples of Democrats and Republicans not working together, but not as many examples of them working together, leading him to underestimate the frequency of cooperation between the two parties.

Nate Thinks That Republicans and Democrats Almost Never Work Together