Many people drew faulty conclusions about the relative safety of air travel compared to automobile travel in the wake of the September 11,2001,terrorist attacks.Such poor reasoning was the result of
A)hindsight bias.
B)mental sets.
C)the availability heuristic.
D)thin slicing.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The availability heuristic is a mental shortcut in which we make judgments about the likelihood of an event based on how easily an example comes to mind. In this case, the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, were a highly publicized and memorable event, leading people to overestimate the risk of flying and underestimate the risk of driving. This is an example of the availability heuristic.

Many People Drew Faulty Conclusions About the Relative Safety of Air