What is availability bias?

As you may guess, availability bias is the cause of a lot of errors in judgment. Let’s look at a few… Excessive coverage on the news or social media about plane crashes uses vivid images and stories to elicit an emotional response. That’s why many people develop a fear of flying - they remember those images the next time they fly.

What is availability bias according to Marx & Weber?

According to Marx and Weber (2012), availability bias or the availability heuristic refers to the human tendency to judge an event by the ease with which examples of the event can be retrieved from your memory or constructed anew. View our comprehensive playlist of revision videos on behavioural economics over on the Tutor2u Youtube Channel:

What is availability heuristic?

The availability heuristic (or availability bias) is a type of cognitive bias that helps us make fast, but sometimes incorrect, assessments. It involves relying on information that comes to mind quickly or is most available to us.

What is an example of a bias in analytical research?

His 1979 paper "Bias in Analytic Research" served as the first draft of a "catalog of biases which may distort the design, execution, analysis, and interpretation of research." As an example of the availability bias, the Catalogue of Bias points to the work of researchers at Erasmus University in Rotterdam.