Question

check your understanding: 3 of 13
incomplete
question
when we use the availability heuristic as a mental shortcut, we
select an answer
a. are able to predict future events with a high level of accuracy.
b. ignore evidence that does not support the beliefs we already hold.
c. are more likely to notice cause - effect relationships that dont really exist.
d. believe that certain events are more common than they actually are.

Explanation:

The availability heuristic is a cognitive bias where people judge the frequency or likelihood of an event based on how easily examples of that event come to mind. This leads to overestimating the commonness of events that are memorable (e.g., dramatic, widely reported events) even if they are statistically rare.

• Option A is incorrect because this heuristic does not improve predictive accuracy.
• Option B describes confirmation bias, not the availability heuristic.
• Option C refers to illusory correlation, a different cognitive bias.

Answer:

D. believe that certain events are more common than they actually are.