Which of the following best describes the difference between the availability heuristic and the representativeness heuristic in cognitive psychology?

• A. The availability heuristic is only used in mathematical reasoning, whereas the representativeness heuristic is used in emotional decision-making.
• B. The availability heuristic involves judging the likelihood of events based on how easily examples come to mind, while the representativeness heuristic involves judging the likelihood of events based on how much they resemble typical cases.
• C. The availability heuristic is used when people rely on stereotypes, while the representativeness heuristic is used when people recall recent experiences.
• D. The availability heuristic leads to more accurate decisions than the representativeness heuristic in all situations.

Answer: (B)

Verified step by step guidance

1. Step 1: Understand that heuristics are mental shortcuts or rules of thumb that people use to make judgments and decisions quickly and efficiently.
2. Step 2: Define the availability heuristic as a cognitive shortcut where people estimate the likelihood of an event based on how easily examples or instances come to mind. This means if something is more memorable or recent, it is judged as more probable.
3. Step 3: Define the representativeness heuristic as a mental shortcut where people judge the probability of an event by how much it resembles or matches a typical case or stereotype, often ignoring actual statistical probabilities.
4. Step 4: Compare the two heuristics by noting that the availability heuristic relies on memory accessibility, while the representativeness heuristic relies on similarity to a prototype or stereotype.
5. Step 5: Conclude that the best description differentiates these heuristics by their basis for judgment: availability heuristic is about ease of recall, and representativeness heuristic is about resemblance to typical cases.