The availability heuristic is a mental shortcut in which people judge the frequency, probability or typicality of an event by how easily relevant examples come to mind, rather than by consulting actual statistics. Because vivid, recent or emotionally striking events are recalled more easily, the heuristic systematically skews probability judgments toward whatever is most memorable rather than what is most common. Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman introduced the availability heuristic as part of their heuristics-and-biases research program in 1973.
Facts
Core ClaimPeople estimate how likely or common something is by how easily examples of it come to mind, which systematically overweights vivid or recent events relative to their true frequency. 1 First Described Year Classification
Type of Phenomenon Connections
Associated With
Introduced the availability heuristic with Kahneman in 1973.
Introduced the availability heuristic with Tversky in 1973.
In Branch
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Availability Heuristic
Wikimedia FoundationOverview and history section
a mental shortcut that relies on immediate examples that come to a given person's mind when evaluating a specific topic, concept, method, or decision
Overview and history section
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman began work on a series of papers examining "heuristic and biases" used in judgment under uncertainty.
lead section, phenomenon-kind classification
The availability heuristic, also known as availability bias, is a mental shortcut that relies on immediate examples that come to a given person's mind when evaluating a specific topic, concept, method, or decision.
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