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heuristics
You make decisions based on the most easily recalled examples.
The availability heuristic leads you to judge the probability of events based on how easily specific instances come to mind.
You are more likely to overestimate the risk of rare events like plane crashes compared to common causes of death because vivid media coverage makes the former easier to imagine.
Your brain mistakes mental ease for statistical truth.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Tversky and Kahneman (1973)
- What the check found
- The definition is accurate and well-supported by the provided text. Tversky and Kahneman (1973) is the correct and widely accepted primary source for this finding.
- Confidence
- Solid, with limits
Related
One of these every day, and every one names the study it came from. When a finding is contested, it says so.