Talking about his acquaintance Doug who is really "into" technology, Dave says that it is more likely that Doug has both a Blu-ray player and a flat screen TV than just a Blu-ray player. Apparently influenced by the _____ heuristic, Dave has _____.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The statement "more likely" suggests that Dave is using the representativeness heuristic, which involves making judgments based on similarity to a prototype or stereotype. However, his statement also involves the conjunction fallacy, which is the tendency to believe that multiple specific conditions are more likely than a single general one. In this case, the conjunction fallacy occurs because it is less likely for someone to have both a Blu-ray player and a flat screen TV than just one of those things.

Talking About His Acquaintance Doug Who Is Really "Into" Technology