Understanding Availability Heuristic:

Availability Heuristic:

Availability Heuristic is a mental shortcut (or cognitive bias) in which people judge the likelihood or frequency of an event based on how easily examples come to mind. The easier it is to recall an instance, the more common or probable we assume it is — even if that assumption is inaccurate.

Examples:

News Media Influence After watching news stories about airplane crashes, a person might overestimate the danger of flying — even though statistically, air travel is much safer than driving.

Fear of Shark Attacks Because shark attacks are dramatic and widely reported, people often think they’re more common than they actually are.

Personal Experience If someone you know recently got sick from food poisoning at a restaurant, you may judge that restaurant (or similar ones) as unsafe, even if it was a rare incident.

Why It Happens:

• Vividness: Emotional or dramatic events are easier to remember.

• Recency: Recently encountered information is easier to recall.

• Media Coverage: The more something is covered, the more we think it happens frequently.

  
  

Impact:

• Can skew risk assessment

• Leads to poor decision-making

• Feeds into stereotypes or irrational fears

Shervan K Shahhian