Editing Availability heuristic (section)

{{Short description|Bias towards recently acquired information}}

The '''availability heuristic''', also known as '''availability bias''', is a mental shortcut that relies on immediate examples that come to a given person's mind when evaluating a specific topic, concept, method, or decision. This [[heuristics in judgment and decision making|heuristic]], operating on the notion that, if something can be [[recall (memory)|recall]]ed, it must be important, or at least more important than alternative solutions not as readily recalled,<ref name="EsgateGroome2005">{{Cite book |last1=Esgate |first1=Anthony |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B4agXAUYv6QC |title=An Introduction to Applied Cognitive Psychology |last2=Groome |first2=David |publisher=Psychology Press |year=2005 |isbn=978-1-84169-318-7 |page=201}}</ref> is inherently biased toward recently acquired information.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Availability Heuristic |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095436724 |website=Oxford Reference }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Phung |first=Albert |date=February 25, 2009 |title=Behavioral Finance: Key Concept- Overreaction and Availability Bias |url=http://www.investopedia.com/university/behavioral_finance/ |access-date=December 1, 2013 |website=Investopedia |page=10}}</ref>

The mental availability of an action's consequences is positively related to those consequences' perceived magnitude. In other words, the easier it is to recall the consequences of something, the greater those consequences are often perceived to be. Most notably, people often rely on the content of their recall if its implications are not called into question by the difficulty they have in recalling it.<ref name="schwarz">{{Cite journal |last1=Schwarz |first1=Norbert |last2=Bless |first2=Herbert |last3=Strack |first3=Fritz |last4=Klumpp |first4=Gisela |last5=Rittenauer-Schatka |first5=Helga |last6=Simons |first6=Annette |year=1991 |title=Ease of retrieval as information: Another look at the availability heuristic |url=http://www.ssoar.info/ssoar/handle/document/6723 |journal=Journal of Personality and Social Psychology |volume=61 |issue=2 |pages=195–202 |doi=10.1037/0022-3514.61.2.195}}</ref>