Construct · 1 fields · 2 citations

availability heuristic: a standalone construct

One name. One construct. A landmark on the map.

● anchor · a standalone construct Nearest construct by meaningavailabilitycompare the meanings
How to read this

Every construct on the map is compared with every other by the meaning of its definitions, and the closest one is surfaced here. The nearest construct to availability heuristic is availability.

Hold this as a prompt, not a verdict. Two constructs sitting close in meaning is a reason to read them side by side and decide for yourself whether they are one idea under two names. It is not proof that they are. Compare the meanings in the Collider.

availabilityheuristic1 CONSTRUCTAvailabilityTVERSKY · EASE OF RECALL

A single standalone construct; nearby constructs are located against it in the Collider. Tap a field for its definition, unit, and measures.

Cognitive psychology

Judging frequency or likelihood by ease of recall

Tversky and Kahneman's 1973 paper Availability: A heuristic for judging frequency and probability introduced the availability heuristic, the mental shortcut by which a person judges how common or how likely something is by how easily examples of it come to mind. When instances are easy to recall or to imagine, the event is judged to be frequent or probable, so vivid, recent, or widely reported events tend to be rated as more common than they actually are. Schwarz and colleagues' 1991 study Ease of retrieval as information: Another look at the availability heuristic refined the idea by showing that the judgment often rests on the felt ease of bringing instances to mind rather than on the number of instances actually retrieved. As a construct it names one specific judgment process, inferring frequency or probability from retrieval fluency, studied through the predictable ways it departs from actual statistical frequency and measured in controlled recall and estimation tasks.[1][2]

Unit
One judgment strategy in which frequency or probability is inferred from how readily instances come to mind
Recovery means
Not applicable
Measured by
Studied through the systematic gap between availability-based estimates and actual frequencies, using controlled recall and probability-estimation tasks

Next

Run it through the Collider, or take the citations with you.

See how availability heuristic sits against neighbouring constructs in the Collider, or export every reference on this page in one click.

Open in ColliderExport BibTeXReport this entry

Nearby constructs

heuristic4 fields · 4 citationsjingle · one word, four constructsrepresentativeness heuristic4 names · 5 citationsjangle · one heuristic, many errorsbias6 fields · 8 citationsjingle · one name, six constructs

References

  1. Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1973). Availability: A heuristic for judging frequency and probability. Cognitive Psychology, 5(2), 207–232. https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-0285(73)90033-9
  2. Schwarz, N., Bless, H., Strack, F., Klumpp, G., Rittenauer-Schatka, H., & Simons, A. (1991). Ease of retrieval as information: Another look at the availability heuristic. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61(2), 195–202. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.61.2.195

Cited on this page?

Confirm your construct, or correct us.

If your work is cited behind one of these entries, you know better than we do whether we captured the meaning right. Confirm it, suggest an edit, or dispute it, and your name goes on the entry as an author who has checked it, linked to your ORCID.

Claim your construct