Availability Heuristic

Examples

• After news coverage of a rare shark attack, beach attendance drops dramatically because people overestimate the danger, even though drowning is statistically a much greater risk.
• Someone might worry excessively about a rare disease that recently affected a friend or family member while ignoring more common health risks that should receive more attention.
• Students might choose careers they frequently see portrayed in media (like forensic science after watching crime shows) without accurate information about job availability or daily realities.

All cognitive biases

• Confirmation Bias
• Availability Heuristic
• Dunning-Kruger Effect
• Anchoring Bias
• Fundamental Attribution Error
• Negativity Bias
• Hindsight Bias
• Sunk Cost Fallacy
• In-Group Bias
• Optimism Bias
• Framing Effect
• Self-Serving Bias
• Halo Effect
• Recency Bias
• Survivorship Bias
• Implicit Bias