social cognition
concepts
Definition The availability heuristic describes a mental strategy in which people judge probability, frequency, or extremity based on the ease with which and the amount of information that can be brought to mind. For example, people may judge easily imaginable risks such as terrorist attacks or airplane crashes as more likely than the less easily imaginable (but objectively more likely) risks of influenza or automobile accidents. [Source: Encyclopedia of Social Psychology; Availability Heuristic]
availability heuristic