Availability

Heuristic
Availability heuristic
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.
Judges the probability of events by how
quickly and easily examples can come to mind.

We make decisions based on the knowledge

that is readily available in our minds rather
than examining all the alternatives.

Often this gives our brains the quick shortcut

to the answer we need, and in many cases, the
judgments are accurate.
 Availability bias is the human
tendency to think that examples of
things that come readily to mind are
more representative than is actually the
case. The psychological phenomenon
is just one of a number of cognitive
biases that hamper critical thinking
and, as a result, the validity of our
decisions.
Sometimes the availability heuristic
can lead us to make mistakes. Some
events are easier to recall than others,
not because they are more common but
because they stand out in our minds.