When Mandy and Joe meet, Joe tells her that he loves math and computers and his favourite hobbies have always involved building things. Mandy concludes that Joe must be an engineering student rather than a liberal arts student, even though there are many more liberal arts than engineering students at their school. Mandy is using the ____________ heuristic and ignoring ____________.
A) representativeness; base rates
B) availability; base rates
C) representativeness; subjective likelihood
D) availability; subjective likelihood

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Mandy is using the representativeness heuristic by relying on Joe's characteristics and interests to make a judgment about his major. She is ignoring base rates (the fact that there are more liberal arts students than engineering students at their school). Choice A is the only option that correctly matches these two concepts.

When Mandy and Joe Meet, Joe Tells Her That He