Availability Heuristic
Availability Heuristic
The tendency to judge the likelihood of events based on how easily examples come to mind, rather than on actual probability or statistical data.
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Origin
Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman introduced the availability heuristic in 1973 as part of their groundbreaking research on cognitive biases and judgment. Published in the journal Cognitive Psychology, their work challenged the prevailing view of humans as purely rational decision-makers. Kahneman later won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2002 for this pioneering work, six years after Tversky's death.
Updated February 22, 2026