6.14) Types of Heuristics: Availability, Representativeness & Base-Rate

Availability Heuristic

a mental shortcut that helps us make a decision based on how easy it is to bring something to mind. In other words, we often rely on how easy it is to think of examples when making a decision or judgment.

Base-Rate Heuristic

a mental shortcut that helps us make a decision based on probability. For an example, imagine you live in a big city and hear an animal howling around midnight. You would probably assume it was just a dog, as wolves aren't likely to be found in the city. Statistically, a wolf howling in the city would be very improbable.

situations in which the availability heuristic is useful and accurate.

For example, it's part of what makes us careful in dangerous situations. If we can think of a similar situation that ended badly for someone else, we are more likely to be cautious and better protect ourselves.

types of heuristics.

availability, representativeness, and base-rate heuristics.

Representativeness Heuristic

a mental shortcut that helps us make a decision by comparing information to our mental prototypes. For example, if someone was to describe an older woman as warm and caring with a great love of children, most of us would assume that the older woman is a grandmother. She fits our mental representation of a grandmother, so we automatically classify her into that category.

Heuristic

a mental shortcut that helps us make decisions and judgments quickly without having to spend a lot of time researching and analyzing information.

The problem with the availability heuristic

is that we assume that if several examples are readily available in our mind, the event or subject matter is commonplace. But, as with our example of violent crime, that assumption is not always correct.