Mrs.Blair concludes that boys do not read as well as girls because most of the students in her remedial reading classes are boys.Mrs.Blair's conclusion best illustrates the danger of
A) random assignment.
B) generalizing from vivid cases.
C) confusing correlation with causation.
D) random sampling.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Mrs. Blair's conclusion is an example of generalizing from vivid cases. She is basing her conclusion on a small sample size (the students in her remedial reading classes) and ignoring other factors that may contribute to differences in reading ability between boys and girls. This is a common error known as the "availability heuristic," where we rely on easily available information (in this case, the students in her class) rather than seeking out more representative data. Therefore, the answer is B.

MrsBlair Concludes That Boys Do Not Read as Well as Girls