![]() Other events leave a lasting impression, which primes their chance of recall when we make decisions. Since words that begin with K are easier to think of, it seems like there are more of them. This is because it is much easier for people to think of words that begin with K (e.g., kitchen, kangaroo, kale, etc) than words that have K as the third letter (e.g., ask, cake, biking). 2 They asked participants whether more words begin with the letter K or if more words have K as their third letter.Įven though a typical text contains twice as many words in which K is the third letter rather than the first, 70% of the participants said that more words begin with K. ![]() This is seen with a study that Tversky and Kahneman, two pioneers of behavioral science, conducted in 1973. Those that appear to happen often generally coincide with other shortcuts we use to comprehend our world. Certain memories are recalled easier than others Certain memories are automatically recalled for two main reasons: they appear to happen often or they leave a lasting imprint on our minds. The availability heuristic exists because some memories and facts are spontaneously retrieved, whereas others take effort and reflection to be recalled. This is the availability heuristic bias at work. The memorable headline, paired with the image of a wrecked plane wreathed in flames, left an easily recalled impression, which causes you to wildly overrate the chance that you’ll be involved in a similar crash. Perhaps you had just read a news article about a massive plane crash in a nearby country. Your brain could use a common mental shortcut by drawing upon the information that most easily comes to mind. In fact, many of us do this on an everyday basis. Provided you didn’t google the relevant statistics, your brain may do something else to satisfy your curiosity. ![]() 1įor example, if you were about to board a plane, how would you go about calculating the probability that you would crash? Many different factors could impact the safety of your flight, and trying to calculate them all would be very difficult. However, the availability heuristic challenges our ability to accurately judge the probability of certain events, as our memories may not be realistic models for forecasting future outcomes. When we make a decision, the availability heuristic makes our choice easier. A heuristic is a ‘rule-of-thumb’, or a mental shortcut, that helps guide our decisions. ![]()
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